How Did The European Alliance Cause Ww1

How the European Alliance Helped Cause World War 1Historians have spent many years analyzing the origins of World War 1. Many factors are considered by historians when asked this question; nationalism, imperialism, militarism, etc. However all of these factors are influenced and tied together by the alliance system in place at the time tensions in the Balkans erupted. In this time period the Ottoman Empire had lost much of its control and power in the corridor to Europe. Many of the leading nations of Europe sought to emplace their influence in this region to serve as an economical attributor to its powerbase. With land being the primary means of travel between the East and West, having control of the corridor would be extremely favorable for
The Balkans had been a problem for Europe for at least a century before. The many ethnic groups in the Ottoman Empire wanted to break away and form their own nation. To prevent war the Great Powers met and formed two more countries, Montenegro and Serbia, and gave Austria the control of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Serbia still wanted to form a new nation, Yugoslavia that would be comprised of Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia (Etty 42). Austria opposed this due the amount of Russian influence in Serbia. In 1908 Austria made a political maneuver that would prove costly by deciding it wanted to own Bosnia-Herzegovina to prevent an invasion from Serbia, so they annexed it, making it part of their own empire. The Serbs and Russia were furious. For a time it seemed Russia would declare war on Austria, however Germany backed Austria, its good friend and ally. Russia knew that the German army was too strong for Russia 's, so it did nothing. In 1912 the region became completely unstable when war broke out among the Balkan states as they quarreled over new boundaries gained from the final removal of the Ottoman Empire. The Great Powers were forced to intervene and settled the dispute. The Serbs were furious with the dispute because they did not get the land they wanted to form Yugoslavia. Tempers ran high in the Balkans and the only friendships that remained were the Alliances. Following the Ottomans withdraw completely from the Balkans, Pauli
The heir to the throne was on his way to visit the capital of Bosnia, Sarajevo, with his wife. Etty and Pauli describe a young man of 19 belonging to a secret society known as Mlada Bosna (Young Bosnia) shooting the Archduke on their way to the station to return home. The investigation that followed implicated a number of members of the Serbian military, leaving Austria-Hungary and the Emperor of Austria determined to make Serbia pay. He presented Serbia with a series of ten demands to be met; Serbia met nine of the demands and part of the tenth. This list of demands became known as the July Ultimatum (Tucker 10). In the end Austria and Germany used this opportunity to invoke war on Serbia even though their pact was only for defense purposes. Serbia quickly gained the support of Russian help. The rest of the European Powers followed due to the Alliance system, and then the rest of the world followed due to imperialism. It is therefore reasonable to suggest the Alliance System was a significant cause of the war in Europe escalating into a world war. Although the immediate trigger of WWI was the assassination, the war would never have happened without the pre-war tension buildup and alliance system in