Essay on World War I

Submitted By nchuang14
Words: 1642
Pages: 7
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World War I was the first major war involving many countries. One of these countries was Serbia, which wanted their independence from Austria-Hungary. This anger that built up over time in Serbia and it lead to the killing of the Archduke of Austria-Hungary Francis Ferdinand, and his wife by Gavrillo Princip, a Serbian. The killing lead to war between Serbia who was allies with Russia called for help. Russia was also allies with France, Great Britain, and the later turned from neutral United States, had a lot of power to bring in defense of the Serbians. On the other side, Austria-Hungary was allies with Germany, who later in World War I became a powerhouse, and thus World War I begun. World War I was the result of the need for power between European countries and the United States joined because they wanted to stimulate their economy.
One of these needs for power was the fight over Africa for their resources. Africa had all kinds of resources coming from the earth as well as agricultural production. It was rich with mineral resources including diamond and gold which provided many establishments for mining by various European countries. Africa’s agricultural production was huge for the Europeans because the products were valuable cash crops. These crops included coffee in both Angola and Kenya, tea also from Kenya, and tobacco from Southern Rhodesia or today known as Zimbabwe. Even with all of the crop production there were still huge rubber and cocoa plantations. These crops were a great help to the Europeans because these crops could not be grown in the climate of Europe.
The need for power was a huge factor throughout both Europe and the war. The allied Powers had a bigger population then the Central Powers. The Allied Powers were the countries of the United Kingdom, France, and Russia. The Central Powers were the countries of Germany, Austria-Hungary, The Ottoman Empire, and Bulgaria. The Allied Powers had 265.5 million and the Central Powers had 115.2 million. The Allied Powers also had 212 army divisions available at the beginning of the war and the Central Powers had a significantly less amount of 146. Even though they had a bigger population, and more soldiers the allied powers did not have as many resources. The Central Powers had 17 million metric tons of steel production and the Allied Powers only had 15.3 million tons. Even though the Central Powers had more steel then the Allied Powers, the Allied Powers had more battleships. The Allied Powers had 39 battleships and the Central Powers only had 20. The Allied Powers looked to have more power than the Central Powers.
The Central Powers were looking to expand their power. The Austria-Hungary government wanted to get back at Serbia for the killing of their Archduke and Duchess. Serbia which was a member of the Allied Powers had the Allied Powers as backups. Each would go to each other’s need if the other country was dealing with hardships. The Austria-Hungary Government sent a list of ultimatums to Serbia which said that the Austria-Hungary army would march if the demand weren’t met. In a letter to one of his close friends, Prime Minister Sir Herbert Asquith of Great Britain said “Austria has sent a bullying and humiliating ultimatum to Serbia, who cannot possibly comply with it, and demanded an answer within forty-eight hours-failing which she (Austria) will march. This means, almost inevitably, that Russia will come to the scene in defense of Serbia and in defiance of Austria, and if so, it is difficult for Germany and France to refrain from lending a hand to one side or the other.” which shows that he knows what is coming. That letter was just one way in which the two powers fought for power.
Even some of these ideas of power came to the head of Charles Darwin. In his book, The Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex, Darwin says “We must therefore bear the undoubtedly bad effects of the weak surviving and propagating their kind; but there appears
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