User:Chopperpoison

Causes of World War One

Before World War One the map of Europe and the rest of the world looked very different to today. You have seen that it was made up Empires as well as different countries. These were large countries that had expanded and taken control of smaller countries, growing rich and powerful on the profits. With all of these powerful Empires competing for trade, land, control of the seas and wealth, Europe was a time bomb waiting to explode. Many countries had recognised this and to stop a war they had formed two alliances, the Triple Entente (Russia, France and Britain) and the Triple Alliance (Germany, Austro Hungary and Italy). With such powerful opposing forces it was thought that a war would not break out as each side had too much to lose.

However war did break out in 1914. It broke out because there was much tension within a small group of countries called the Balkans. The Slavic people of the Balkan countries (Bosnia, Serbia, Montenegro and Albania) felt that they should be together in one country made of Slavic people, however, Bosnia had been taken over by Austro Hungary and split from the rest of the countries of the Balkans. A spy group in Serbia called the Black Hand trained some young Bosnian’s to assassinate the Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austro Hungary as a form of protest and when he visited the capital city of Bosnia, called Sarajevo, he was assassinated by Gavrilo Princip.

After the assassination of Franz Ferdinand the countries were slowly drawn into war because of the alliance system. Austro Hungary wanted to invade Serbia to get revenge for the wrong done and to take more land to add to their empire. Russia supported Serbia and from there, first Germany, and then Britain and France were drawn into the war in support of their allies.

Therefore it is fair to say that three causes of World War One were revenge for a wrong done, countries wanting more land, money and power as well as assassination.

Causes of World War Two

After World War One the victors, who were Britain, France and Italy, met at Versailles to discuss the peace. As Germany had lost they were not invited but were instead forced to sign the Treaty of Versailles in 1919. The Treaty stated that Germany accepted the blame for starting the war and so they had to pay for it. These repayments were called ‘reparations’ and were set at a very high amount. The treaty also took key areas of land from Germany. The German’s felt very hard done by as they didn’t feel they were to blame for starting the war and the reparations payments made them broke. Unfortunately a government called the Weimar Government had to sign the treaty and received the blame. When Adolf Hitler arrived and promised the Germans wealth, they voted him in as leader. Hitler then blamed the Jews for Germany’s money troubles and got rid of all his opposition. In the 1930’s he then took back all the land that had been taken from Germany and more. First he took back the Rhineland, then Austria and then Czechoslovakia. Throughout all of this the rest of world followed a policy of appeasement; that is to say they let him do it in the hope that he would stop once he was satisfied. Soon England realised he would not stop and so they said that if Hitler invaded Poland then they would declare war. Hitler did invade Poland and so War broke out.

Therefore it is fair to say that a desire for more land, revenge for a previous wrong done as well as racial hatred and monetary issues were causes of World War Two