History Assessment: How Has WW1 Been Remembered?
WW1 has, and always will be seen as one, if not the most significant war in all of history. One of the reasons for it being such a tragic event was that it was deemed at the time to have been ‘the war to end all wars,’ however that tragically was not the case. World War One was caused by several contributing factors, which resulted on Britain declaring war on Germany. They are: The alliance system, Imperialism, The Naval Race, The Schlieffen Plan and finally, the assassination of Franz Ferdinand.
1. The alliance system: At the end of the 19th century, alliances were made between countries. The alliances were formed so that if any of the countries in an alliance went to war, the other countries would have to help the country that had gone to war. At this point, there were two major alliances. The first consisted of Germany, Austro-Hungary and Italy, named the Triple Alliance. The other, made up of Britain, France and Russia, was named the Triple Entente. As these alliances were formed, there became immediate friction between the two alliances, as each one tried to overpower the other.
2. Imperialism: At that time, Kaiser, as well as the rest of Germany wanted a vast empire, like the British. Although they had the money as well as the resources, they had nothing to show for it. Kaiser wanted Germany to have access to raw materials and new markets. He also wanted to give Germany more respect. This angered Britain as Germany were trying to take some of Britain’s land.
3. The Naval Race: Britain at the beginning of the 20th century had the best Navy in the world. Germany wanted to have the best navy instead, and in 1906, when Britain launched the HMS Dreadnought, Germany ‘wanted in.’ Great Britain by 1914 had 38 dreadnoughts and dreadnought battle cruisers in comparison with Germany’s 24. This resulted with even more