Julia McKenna Mr. Chambers IB World History Oct 31, 2011 What Were the Underlying Causes of WWI? 1. Emile Zola’s main point is that war is necessary for war Nations to survive. War will sort out the weak countries from the strong countries. War teaches the soldiers and citizens of the country discipline, sacrifice and courage. I think that Zola has definitely been influenced by Charles Darwin and his ideas about survival of the fittest. Charles Darwin once said "In the struggle for survival, the fittest win out at the expense of their rivals because they succeed in adapting themselves best to their environment." This applied directly to what Zola said countries needed do what was best for them so they fought. During Zola’s time the ideas of evolution and natural selection were being applied to human society, so was most definitely influenced by this. This kind of belief could certainly become an underlying cause of going to war. Today, we have a negative connotation of war but with this belief people would be more willing and eager to go to war. 2. These three quotations are all showing how positive people were about the aspect of war. They had not idea about the horrors that were about to come. People knew there was tension between the countries and they just wanted to get war over with and win. These statements definitely suggest and underlying reason for WW1. Since people were anxious and excited at the prospect of war it made it inevitable. Countries wanted to show their strength against each other and thought it only take a short period of time, which obviously was not the case. 3. The two great alliances were the Triple Alliance and the Triple Entente. The Triple Alliance was made up of Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy. The Triple Entente included the United Kingdom, France, and Russia. 4. This cartoon is from the Chicago Tribune on August 5, 1914. The cartoon artist is John T. McCutcheon. In the cartoon the countries are all blaming each other for the war. Russia, England, Belgium and France all blame Germany for the war, while Germany blames Russia. Austria and Serbia blame each other. Italy does not want to take any part in the madness. No country wants to take responsibility for what has happened. The cartoonist is saying that the death of the peace of Europe is the cause of “the greatest crime of the century.” No one knows who is responsible for this death, so they all blame each other. 5. These two songs are militaristic because they talk about being superior to other countries and defending their way of life. If they need to fight to protect their country and their ruler they will. These documents do not have much in common with the Star Spangled Banner. The Star Spangled Banner is more about strength and patriotism of the US against enemies while the others send the message that their superiority will come at the expense of others. Julia McKenna Mr. Chambers IB World History Oct 31, 2011 6. The Black Hand was a secret society whose main objective was the creation of a greater Serbia, by means of violence. It’s stated aim was "To realize the national ideal, the unification of all Serbs. This organization prefers terrorist action to cultural activities; it will therefore remain secret." The objective of the Black Hand is connected to the songs in Document 5. The songs in Document 5 say they will fight other countries in order to preserve their country just like the Black Hand will use terrorist actions to unify the Serbs. 7. Armaments are military weapons and equipment such as machine guns, tanks, grenades, poison gas, etc. Between 1910 and 1914 Germany increased its military spending at the fastest rate. In 1910 they spent about 61 million pounds and in 1914 they spent 115 million pounds. 8. Basically, Prince von Bulow is saying that he would rather the Germany nation be the one attacking than the one getting attacked. If he happens to be the one being attacked he wants to have the means to defend the German nation. 9. In this cartoon Germany is the fool and her folly is increasing her armaments by an additional expenditure of fifty million pounds. Based on “The Growth in Armaments” chart this British cartoonist is justified to his opinion. Great Britain kept their expenditure the same while Germany increases theirs by fifty million pounds. Based on the previous documents I do believe that militarism was an underlying cause of the war. Nations began to pour money and resources into their military and then wanted to “show off” the strength of their military. German militarism should absolutely be included as an underlying cause of the war. Germany built up their military so much it is inevitable that they would go to war. 10. Germany is the source of this cartoon and England is the target. Germany thinks that England is taking over the world. They have colonies/interests in all the places where the octopus stretches. After seeing this cartoon it is likely that someone may be convinced that England is trying to take over. 11. The short definition of colonialism is “the policy or practice of acquiring full or partial political control over another country, occupying it with settlers, and exploiting it economically.” Britain controlled the largest colonial area and the largest colonial population in 1913. I definitely understand the concern of the German cartoonist. To Germany and other countries it could seem like Britain was slowly trying to take over. Britain had about 11 times more land of colonial populations that Germany in 1913 which could lead Germany to think that Britain was up to something.