Western Civilization - World War

Western Civilization - World War One to the Present Era

The events that lead to the outbreak of World War One are hauntingly familiar. Preexisting strife between Austria-Hungry and Serbia was sparked to fire with the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the heir to the Austria-Hungry throne. Ferdinand's assassin was a Slavic teenager, Gavrilo Princip, a nineteen-year-old member of the terrorist organization the Black Hand (Duffy 2007, "Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, 1914"). Although the Serbian government claimed that it did not officially sponsor the Black Hand's terrorist activities, and Ferdinand was no JFK, Austria Hungry saw the assassination as an opportunity to further its influence in the Balkans, a spatial region already taught with ethnic and nationalistic violence (Duffy 2007). In fact, Duffy asserts that Serbia's proposed involvement in the assassination was "unlikely" and points out that Austria-Hungry did not respond to the act of violence that took the life of their national symbol and heir to their throne for three weeks (2007). Thus, Duffy suggests there are enough facts to back up the theory that "the Austro-Hungarians opted to take the opportunity to stamp its authority upon the Serbians, crushing the nationalist movement there and cementing Austria-Hungry's influence in the Balkans" (2007). While the history of ethnic and nationalistic conflict in the Balkans resulted in the spark that began WWI, neither Austria-Hungry nor Serbia were major powers in the war. Instead, each country turned to its allied nations -- Russia and Germany -- for aid (Duffy 2007). The tangle of alliances was such that a general war could not help being declared, although Germany did not want war, desiring simply to remain in its unified state as Bismark had left it (Duffy 2007). The conflict of these nations brought the British, United States, and other states into the war as conflict progressed. For this reason, a spark in the Balkans over ethnic lines led to a world war. Oddly, the situation uniquely resembles that of the current Iraq war, or third Gulf war, in which the United States became involved with the country after an act of terrorism that Iraq claimed not to support. One can only hope that this conflict will not have as dire of consequences.

Question Two

At the end of the largest and most complex war in history, the victorious Allies were not willing to sit idly by while the Triple Entente went back to business as usual. Instead the Versailles Treaty sought to sufficiently make amends for personal and property losses during the war. Some of those losses included 750,000 dead British soldiers and 116,000 dead United States' soldiers. Totally, around 8.5 million were killed and 21 million injured (Trueman 2008). Although the lost lives can never be replaced, the Treaty of Versailles sought to punish the offending nations, and it was sufficiently harsh to accomplish that goal. The treaty gave away no less than segments of land were taken from the Germans, including Alsace-Lorraine, which was given to France, and the country's overseas colonies, which were managed by the League of Nations and generally turned into different countries. The treaty also reduced Germany's military, forced her to pay for war reparations and wounded her economy by giving resource-rich portions to other countries. Finally, Germany was forbidden from forming a larger state with Austria-Hungry, was forced to admit guilt, and was made to pay further costs associated with the war. Finally, the treaty established a League of Nations, a precursor to the United Nations, which would attempt to maintain world peace (Trueman 2008). Although war reparations and the admission of guilt are normal and necessary for most peace treaties, the severity of this act fostered nationalism and a sense that Germany had been wronged, leading to the Second World War through an attitudinal readiness on Germany's part (Tureman 2008).

Question Three

Not only was France the seat of the Treaty of Versailles that ended the First World War, but also it became an important actor in the international relations that would shape the international community with the end of the war. Destroyed by the German offensive and fearing another invasion, the Treaty of Versailles stipulated the demilitarization of the Rhineland between the two countries in addition to monetary war reparations on the part of Germany. These methods, intended to secure French security, allowed France to eventually take advantage of Germany, according to some historians. Once Germany began failing to make its war reparation payments, France invaded the demilitarized Rhineland, to which Germany responded with pacifism. Germany's military was not called upon to act, and citizens were urged to practice "passive resistance" by order of the German government. Even as French troops pushed further into Germany, the state did not respond with a military resistance. For their aggressive behavior toward a peaceful enemy, the French were rewarded with negative media. The occupation also produced negative affects for Germany, as uprisings within the state occurred as a result of the French invasion. Although France eventually agreed to a staggered withdrawal of troops and an easing of Germany's war reparations, they demanded that payments continue, a stipulation to which Germany agreed. In 1925, the French signed the Locarno Pact in Switzerland, which defined boarders and allowed for French security ("Pact of Locarno" 2008 "France 1918-1929: Foreign Policy" 2007). While France's signature on the Locarno Pact was necessary in order to redefine their security, the invasion of the Rhineland not only caused public relations problems for the French government, but also it resulted in a lessening of Germany's war reparations, a fact once can believe contributed to their World War Two aggression.