Unavoidable War Essays - Foreign Relations Of The Soviet Union

Unavoidable War Historians have been analyzing the causes of World War I or the Great War since it?s conclusion. Common consensus indicates several underlying circumstances setting the stage for the subsequent outbreak of carnage. The major world power participating in the formation of alliances between, the buildup of weapons, and nationalist feelings considered the primary reasons. Such preparation and posturing by World powers turned the war of Austria-Hungry and Serbia to escalate into the largest scale conflict in history up to that point. The nature of European history made the buildup and outbreak of World War I unavoidable and inevitable. The nature of Europe made the build?up of alliances between the continents superpowers unstoppable. European nations throughout history have required no greater provocation to declare war other than a high chance of success. Previous to World War I small countries only possible defense against inevitable invaders was to ally itself with a larger more powerful countries. The continual struggle for power in Europe called for countries to become empires purely out of competitive necessity. Such a trend could never have been stopped since European nature before the World Wars involved everyone trying to gain an advantage in whatever way possible and anyone who did not comply was quickly conquered. The alliances that eventually formed directly transformed a common invasion with a common inadequate justification into the Great War. In addition to the formation of alliances, the build-up of military previous to World War I was a culturally motivated and could not have been prevented. The history between European countries of repeatedly attacking each other caused a feeling of fear between nations. They responded to this terror by attempting to create the most powerful military and navy to defend themselves. Previous to World War I Germany and Britain were in a heated race to control the seas while the rest of the continent was scrambling to stay close on both land and sea. Such a situation was unavoidable since in Europe, a climate where countries rise and fall constantly, to have an inferior military is unacceptable. Due to constant competition between countries World War I was waiting to happen and when it did it featured a scale of armed forces that had never been seen. The formation alliances and gargantuan militaries were made possible by the nationalist feelings within various European nations. Germany, France, Britain, and Russia all were motivated by deep feelings of nationalism. These countries feelings of entitlement, and the bitter rivalries between them have been a leading cause in various European conflicts including World War I. Nationalist feelings took shape by Germany wanting to take over neighboring countries due to it?s feelings of superiority and how France was furious at Germany for taking over part of their land in a previous war. The rivalry between France and Germany was made more apparent after the war when France campaigned for the crippling of Germany through the Versailles Treaty. Nationalism motivated World War I the same way that it has motivated wars between European nations for centuries. Whenever something terrible happens it is human nature to go back and wonder what one could have done better. Usually a bad decision, mistake or chance was what caused a misfortune but sometimes something is predetermined and going to happen eventually no matter the actions of and individual or group. The blame for World War I has been passed around for a hundred years now but what one must remember is that a ?great war? was going to happen anyways and that immediate preventable causes are insignificant compared to underlying causes, which are often outside of anyone?s control.