Internationalism In World War I
In recent history, an international community has proved to be anything but international, nor a community. Internationalism is the prime cause of conflict, as it has caused localized issues to be expanded into worldwide wars, therefore it should only be pursued to the extent of regional communication. Key examples are both world wars, as well as current day conflicts and human rights infringements in Middle Eastern countries. World War 1 was not initially a worldwide war, but a conflict between two neighbouring countries with numerous allies. By extension, World War 2 was started due to failures of internationalism at the end of the first world war, which then resulted in one of, if not the, largest genocide in recent history. Furthermore,
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On June the 28th of 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria was assassinated by a Serbian man by the name of Gavrilo Princip. This sparked a conflict between Austria-Hungary and Serbia, who both declared war on each other. Each country had previously engaged in international alliances, which caused close to a dozen other countries to become involved. Austria-Hungary was allied with Germany, and by extension Italy, who formed what was known as the “Axis-Powers”. Serbia, however, was allied to Russia, who was in an alliance with France. France itself had an alliance with Britain, who drawed in its colonies and dominions, including Canada, Australia, India, New Zealand, and numerous others. This was not the end of what would be known as the “Allies”, Japan and the United States soon joined, as well as Italy, despite being allied to Germany. The sheer amount of nations, and therefore citizens, that were drawn into World War 1 can all be drawn back to internationalism. If internationalism was not pursued to the extent of cross continental alliances, millions of deaths could have been avoided. The military casualties globally amounts to approximately 9 720 450 people, but it does not end with that. Civilian casualties amounted to over 8.8 million people, 66 655 of which were Canadian. Canada was not in anyway allied to Serbia directly, it was the dominion of an ally of an ally, yet it was drawn into a war from which it would not recover from fully until after another war. Internationalism may not have been the cause of the initial conflict, but because of internationalistic ideals, something that could have been solved regionally resulted in millions of deaths, and paved the way for more death in decades to come. Therefore, internationalism should be kept at the extent of regional cooperation, in order to prevent millions of civilian
On June the 28th of 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria was assassinated by a Serbian man by the name of Gavrilo Princip. This sparked a conflict between Austria-Hungary and Serbia, who both declared war on each other. Each country had previously engaged in international alliances, which caused close to a dozen other countries to become involved. Austria-Hungary was allied with Germany, and by extension Italy, who formed what was known as the “Axis-Powers”. Serbia, however, was allied to Russia, who was in an alliance with France. France itself had an alliance with Britain, who drawed in its colonies and dominions, including Canada, Australia, India, New Zealand, and numerous others. This was not the end of what would be known as the “Allies”, Japan and the United States soon joined, as well as Italy, despite being allied to Germany. The sheer amount of nations, and therefore citizens, that were drawn into World War 1 can all be drawn back to internationalism. If internationalism was not pursued to the extent of cross continental alliances, millions of deaths could have been avoided. The military casualties globally amounts to approximately 9 720 450 people, but it does not end with that. Civilian casualties amounted to over 8.8 million people, 66 655 of which were Canadian. Canada was not in anyway allied to Serbia directly, it was the dominion of an ally of an ally, yet it was drawn into a war from which it would not recover from fully until after another war. Internationalism may not have been the cause of the initial conflict, but because of internationalistic ideals, something that could have been solved regionally resulted in millions of deaths, and paved the way for more death in decades to come. Therefore, internationalism should be kept at the extent of regional cooperation, in order to prevent millions of civilian