Alex Blawat

Outline

- Thesis: The alliance system (largely a result of militarism) combined with

nationalism did make the war inevitable.

- Militarism pushed counties into alliance system, separate into two groups

- AS + nationalism = inevitable long and short term cause

- Argument against blaming germany – militarism was everywhere

- Argument against short-term – mobilization, two groups

The traditional view in 1919 was that the alliance system caused World
War I. The alliance system (largely a result of militarism) combined with
nationalism caused the war.

In the early 1900’s, most countries in Europe feared for their safeties.
Most European powers were expanding their armies. Militarism (the idea that
each country had the have a larger army than everyone else) spread rampantly
across Europe. The size of the armies in Europe worried the powers to the point
that alliances were the most important part of foreign policy. France and Russia
were part of the same alliance in 1914, clearly showing that even political
ideologies on opposite sides of the spectrum would not come between an
alliance. These alliances were not all binding, but because of the growth of
militarism in Europe, countries in the alliances wanted to keep these alliances.
The alliance systems separated the major European powers into two groups. This
made a war involving all of Europe inevitable because if one country attacked
another, it would draw in all of Europe.

The separation of the countries into two groups would inevitably lead to a
war involving all these countries should something spark any one of them. In this
case the spark was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. The short
term cause was nationalism, but nationalism had been around for a long time.
Nationalism in the form of panslavism caused Russia to support Serbia. Yet
without the alliance system, the assassination would not have drawn in
Germany, Britain, and France into the war, causing it to become a world war.

The idea that the alliance system caused World War I was the orthodox
point of view and a backlash against the idea that Germany caused the war.
Some historians have argued that Germany was aggressive and militaristic, and
consciously caused the war. However, at the time militarism was everywhere.
Russia was in the process of reforming its army, and the British navy had been
the biggest navy in Europe for a long time. Germany had as much fear to for
their safety as any other country in Europe. All the countries were equally to
blame for the war because of the alliance systems.
 During the July Crisis, the alliance systems prevented countries from
diplomacy, as they felt they had to stand by their allies. Brita got involved in the
war because Germany invaded Belgium. Germany supported Austria-Hungary
when they issued an ultimatum to the Serbs during the July Crisis as they could
not risk losing an ally. A.J.P Taylor argued that Europe “stumbled into war” and it
was the countries unfortunate diplomacy during the July Crisis that led to the
war. This is an invalid argument, as the alliance systems had been around for
many years, and the lack of good diplomacy was partly caused by the alliance
system.

Militarism pushed countries into alliance systems when nationalism

caused the assassination of the Archduke, the alliance systems prevented
countries from free diplomacy and made a war involving all major European
powers inevitable.