U.S. History HIST405N-63210: World War I

Us History Hist 405n-63210 Name Institution Us History Hist 405n-63210 The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand was the immediate cause of World War I. But the events that led to the Great War go further back into the nineteenth century. As with the Boxer Rebellion of 1900, nationalism, imperialism, and militarisms all played a part.Analyze how the forces of nationalism, imperialism, and militarism irrevocably led to World War I. Pay particular attention to the rise of Pan-Slavism in Eastern Europe and the corresponding rise of nationalism in German-speaking states. Analyze how the alliance system contributed to the ultimate outbreak of war. Many people believe that the World War I started as a result of the death of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. Well, they are not wrong because it did put the last nail in the coffin, but historians seem to believe that the First World War started way before the 20th century. The truth is, they are right, and their notions seem to make sense because evidence can be drawn from the events of the 19th century. Evidence from the 19th century seems to include factors such as nationalism, imperialism, and militarism as causes of the First World War. Europe was relatively peaceful in the 19thcentury,andpeople had become accustomed to wars which were fought with crude weapons and over long distances. In these wars, victory was assured, but slowly, the quest for more land, power, and dominion was soon to become the major factor in leading the world to war. As a factor that led to the First World War, nationalism has indeed been widely discussed. Llewellyn et al. (2017) define nationalism as “an extreme form of patriotism or loyalty to one’s country.” He continues to state that “nationalism was prevalent in early 20th century Europe and became a significant cause of World War 1.” However, what this article fails to recognize is the evidence of the rise of nationalism before the 20th century. A good example of increased nationalism can be found in Germany. Germany is relatively younger than Britain and France,and from history, it can be argued that it was formed in 1871. In the 1860s, Prussia emerged as the leading German power and the leaders of Prussia were working towards a unified Germany. Apparently, it grew continuously obvious that the unification of German-speaking states would lead to the emergence of a powerful nation and the Franco-Prussian War was a testament to this fact. Immediately after this war, all the leaders that assumed leadership in Germany started making nationalism a weapon which they would use to generate public support. Evidently, their use of nationalism worked, and Germans grew more ‘patriotic’ than ever before. The only problem with nationalism was that it often cast the other nations in a bad light and the people believed in these notions. Aside from Germany’s example of nationalism as a cause of World War I, one can also point towards the Pan-Slavism in Eastern Europe. Pan-Slavism is defined by the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary as “a political and cultural movement, originally emphasizing the cultural ties between the Slavic people, but later associated with Russian expansionism.”This movement was solely based on the idea that all the Slavic speaking co...