Ms. Kempin
World History Honors
9 June 2015
“Chapter Questions”
Question 1: Many factors triggered World War I. One factor was militarism. Right before the war, each country was concerned about growing and perfecting their army and to do so spent a lot of money. Countries expanded their armies and with the use of conscription were able to double the size of their military. Many militaries also practiced brinksmanship (or brinkmanship) in order to show strength. Meaning, that each nation would go to war until the highest point of danger and back out right before that point is officially reached. Countries who did not do so were humiliated whereas countries who did, preserved national honor. All this militarism made everyone apprehensive. …show more content…
By 1914, there were two alliances-the Triple Alliances and the Triple Entente. The Triple Alliances consisted of Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy. The Triple Entente, on the other hand, consisted of France, Great Britain, and Russia. This system of alliances made a world war more probable. Knowing that they had allies, countries were more eager to declare war on a country because they knew they would be backed up by their allies and felt safe. If a country was attacked, all of its allies felt obligated to defend that country, expanding the war from just being between two countries. Allies felt that their security depended on supporting their allies, no matter how risky. The alliances caused fear, distrust, and …show more content…
Since Russia was not yet industrialized, Germany figured that their mobilization would take a while. So, Germany wanted to pass through Belgium who was neutral, quickly defeat France who was weaker, and go back to fight with Russia. This did not happen at all. To begin with, Belgium resisted and fought with Germany for two weeks, which slowed their to France. When Germany reached France, Great Britain had mobilized their troops and so Germany did not even defeat France, let alone defeat them quickly. Furthermore, Russia had mobilized much quicker than