World War I Begins

1. What are the four main causes of World War I? Give an example for each as to why it was a cause.

The four main causes of World War I are nationalism, imperialism, militarism, and the formation of a system of alliances. Nationalism was a cause because many nations wanted independence, like the Slavs in Serbia and some in Austria-Hungary were wanted by Russia so they could have a better country and so Russia and Austria-Hungary were rivals. Imperialism was a cause because the more powerful nations like Germany and France wanted to conquer colonies which gave them manufactured goods and etc., soon the power nations (Britain, France, and Germany) competed for the colonies. Also, militarism is a cause of World War I because at first the power countries were just building them to protect their colonies, but then Germany started making a huge army and built up a stronger navy so Britain started competing with them and so did the other nations, like Italy, France, and even the United States. Lastly, the alliance system was a cause of the war because there were different alliances like the allies and central powers and all the nations were reluctant to fight, and the nations in their alliances promised to back each other up if a nation decided to declare war on one of them.

2. How did the June 1914 assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand become the spark for WWI?

The assassination of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand became the spark that started WWI because Austria-Hungary then declared war on Siberia, the assassinator was in a group called the Black Hand which promoted Siberian independence, then Germany declared war against Russia then France and invaded Belgium so Britain declared war on them. Overall, it started the dominoes of countries declaring war on each other.

3. What happened within the first few months of fighting?

Within the first few months of fighting Germany had made a plan, called the Schflieffen Plan, were they would try to hold action against Russia, then go through Belgium to Paris, and then they planned to defeat France and after defeat Russia. However, as Germany barged through Belgium the civilians freaked out and were terrified, which turned into a crisis with chaos. Also, there were many casualties because of the Trench Warfare.

4. Generally, why did the United States want to stay out of the war?

The United States wanted to stay out of the war because they didn't want their young men to be exposed to the horrific scenes on a battlefield, and they wanted to set a good example of peace saying that war was evil. However, only some people believed this while others wanted to go into war. There were strong opinions but they were divided.

5. Specifically, Why did the following groups of Americans tend to oppose U.S. participation in the war? Naturalized citizens; socialists; pacifists; parents.

Naturalized citizens wanted to go into war because they felt like they still had ties to their native countries. For example, the Irish saw this as an opportunity to get Ireland its' independence. Socialists opposed U.S. participation in the war because they saw it as a war between Germany and England that they were competing to control the lands in Africa, China, and the Middle East. Pacifists opposed America going to war because they saw it as evil and that the U.S. should set a good example of peace. Lastly, the parents opposed the war because they didn't want their sons going into war and seeing the horrors of it.

6. How did Germany respond to the British naval blockade of Germany’s ports? What was the U.S. response?

Germany responded to the British naval blockade of Germany's ports by sending their submarines to the ports of Britain and tries to sink all their boats that were there without warning. The U.S. response to this was that after they sank Lusitania off the coast of Ireland, which killed 128 Americans, the U.S. opinion of Germany was angry and they turned against Germany and the Central Powers. Also, Germany kept sinking other ships that had Americans on it and the U.S. responded with protests against Germany. Germany then made a promise to stop sinking ships, but on a condition that the U.S. would have to convince Britain to remove its blockade, which the U.S. was unable to do.

7. What forced the United States into the war?

What forced the United States into war was the fact that Germany threatened to sink any ship in the British ports wether neutral or not, and then an intercepted telegraph by Britain from Germany saying that if Mexico made an alliance with Germany then Germany would help back them up by getting Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona if America were to declare war on them. Also, when the Russian monarchy was replaced with a representative government, which gave Americans the idea that this was a war against brutal monarchies and democracies.