World War 1 Dbq Analysis

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World War I was a pivotal point in the history of the world, it was the first war where almost every nation was involved in some way. Tensions between countries were growing more and more as the twentieth century began. The world was becoming increasingly more complex and intertwined with other nations which would inevitably lead to disagreements between them. The formation of alliances and the ascension of militarism and nationalism caused one of the world’s most complicated wars. Prior to World War I countries were slowly beginning to emphasize development of their military. In a continent with as many countries as Europe, war was never a surprise and their imperialistic ambitions contributed to their rise in military. A French writer …show more content…
More people began to identify with their country and were willing to risk their lives for it. Evidence of this can be seen in an excerpt from the Russian National Anthem (doc.12). Pledges of allegiance, patriotic songs, and powerful poems became more popular and helped spread nationalism. Historian Sidney Bradshaw Fay’s explanation of the causes of the war are displayed in document 11 (doc. 11). Fay claims that each country is at fault for the war and growing nationalism supported nations tunnel vision to do what their country wants. Being German-educated Fay would be biased. Because the Treaty of Versailles places much of the blame on the Germans the German would not have wanted to take responsibility and would obviously be in favor of everyone taking the blame. His German-educated background could have taught him differently than another country would have, such as England. An excerpt from the ultimatum that Austria-Hungary sent to Serbia on July 23, 1914 displays Austria’s demands of Serbia. The assassination of Archduke Ferdinand is considered the start of World War I however, other factors also contributed to their feud. During this time Serbia’s growing nationalism refused to back down to Austria and consequently fought +back and engaged in