WWI DBQ

World War I, " the Great War," involved all of the great powers of Europe and killed more than eight million soldiers. Discuss the reasons which led to the rising international tensions that sparked World War I.

The Great War, later called World War I after the Second World War occurred, was one of the greatest most devastating wars Europe had seen in its time. This war was the cause of nearly eight million deaths alone. During the beginning of the 20^th century everyone expected war to be inevitable and they were right. Rising tensions between European nations in the early 20^th century particularly Britain, Russia, Germany, France, and Serbia along with the death of the Austrian crown prince at the hands of Serbian nationalists were the significant events that lead to the start of what is now called World War I.

As soon as Germany united it became a powerhouse in Europe. It began to challenge Britain and France and other European countries in manufacturing, finance, shipping, and population. This began to worry the other European countries and they were soon all competing with each other to be the best and most powerful. The British felt threatened by Germany’s naval power and its success in foreign markets. France also had not forgotten all of the defeats at the hand of Germany and so was not on very good terms. With all of these tensions, countries were allying themselves to nations that had similar goals in mind or religious views. In this way Russia and Serbia were allied together and Russia with France. Germany on the other hand allied itself with Austria-Hungary and Italy in what is known as the Triple Alliance. This said that if any country is attacked, then the other two countries had to come to its aid (doc. 1). These countries also made a deal to not ally themselves with any country that is engaged in combat against their first allies being Germany, Austria-Hungary, or Italy (doc. 2). With Germany becoming a powerhouse, European countries were becoming worried and so made alliances; these alliances eventually became their allies during times of war.

Rising patriotism and nationalism was one of the major causes for World War One. Germany believed in the Aryan race and that they were physically and mentally better than everyone else (doc. 3). With this kind of belief and Serbian nationalism rising, the two were going to come head to head. When the Austria-Hungarian crown prince visited Serbia, and a Serbian nationalist part of the Black Hand killed him, this sparked the beginning of World War one. People part of the Black Hand knew they were signing up for a chance to commit terrorist acts (doc. 6). Because of this act of aggression, Austria-Hungary acknowledged themselves to be at war with Serbia (doc. 7.) With this declaration, Russia started to mobilize her forces. Germany became worried because Russia and France were allied. They tried to talk to Russia and tell her to stop mobilizing her forces, but since she didn’t, Germany declared war on Russia (doc. 8).

Because of the rising tensions between the powerhouses of Europe and the aggression of Serbian nationalists, war was inevitable in Europe. With two groups of alliances and tension between the two, war was foreseen, it was just a matter of time. Economic and military power along with patriotism and nationalism lead to the international tension, and from their sparked the Great War.

Romanticism Free Response revised

To what extent did Romanticism challenge Enlightenment views of human beings and the natural world and how did this challenge illustrate changes between the Enlightenment and Romantic views of the relationship between God and the individual?

During the 19^th century in Europe, the world was going through dramatic changes. It was heading into the era of the Romantics. During this time people were moving away from the conventional ideas of music and art and exploring more of the natural world and what they thought about it. They took God out of the equation and focused more on themselves and the natural world itself. Romanticism changed Enlightenment views dramatically and because of this, destroyed the relationship between God and the individual.

There were many famous people during the time of the Romantics. One famous Romantic was Percy Shelley. After getting away from the Enlightenment and God, Shelley focused on his love of poems and writing. He was an atheist and had no problem not believing in God. His works accurately described his feelings. During his time at Oxford, Shelley published a pamphlet expressing his views on atheism. Subsequently, he was expelled from the university because he failed to take back what he had said and burn the pamphlets. Lord Byron was another famous person of the Romantics. He was seen as the first celebrity. Byron would get letters from women expressing their wants of him. During the Enlightenment, men had one wife and rarely got divorced because it was against the Catholic ideology. However, during the Romantics it was not uncommon for many people to have several wives during their life. At one point a wife and child were left because the man did not want to be with them anymore. He wanted to explore his talent as a writer and so went away with another woman. During the time of Romanticism, Catholic views were not held in high esteem as before. Men had several wives, people were expressively atheist, and women threw themselves at men. This is not to say that all people were like this, but it was the beginning of a new era in the world. An era in which people began to become more open with the world and their feelings.

Much of the art work done after the Enlightenment complimented the views on Romanticism. Famous artists took their work to the next level and improved on the work of those before them. Now instead of boring dreary colors, paintings were vibrant with lots of color and action. Instead of just one person, there were several colorful and active people in paintings. These paintings, like the one with the ship at sea during the sunset summarized the period of Romanticism. This was a step toward exploring nature and getting away from religious people and biblical paintings. More people were interested in what was happening around them instead of the Bible. The great patrons were no longer directly from the clergy and did not commission religious paintings. Paintings of war, royalty, and tragedy began to appear. For example, the Raft of the Medusa depicted a scene of a famous shipwreck.

Music was also big during the Romantics. Great musicians like Beethoven composed such great compositions that nothing could be compared to them even to this day. They spoke directly to a person’s soul and how they felt. He composed music without lyrics and was able to touch people through his harmonies and just the sound produced that made people shiver. Some people say that the eyes are a pathway to the soul but the ears are as well. For those who listen to Beethoven know just how great his music is compared to all the rest. This music did not destroy the relationship with God, but it did not build it up either. It allowed people to express the natural feelings they felt and let their emotions out.

Moving from the Enlightenment to Romanticism challenged the views many people had of the natural world and in essence destroyed their relationship with God. They no longer created paintings for religious purposes, composed music, and several people became atheist. It was during this time that people’s true feelings were embraced and expressed through works of art such as poems, music, and paintings. In these various ways, people forgot about God and went their own way and discovered the natural world. This lead the way for an even greater tolerance of religious views and even atheism. People forgot about Catholic ideas and started to venerate people and other objects. As seen by Lord Byron, he became the first celebrity and many women wanted him. Because of the move to Romanticism, the relationship between God and the individual deteriorated throughout Europe.

Industrial Revolution revised

Explain how the Industrial Revolution influenced the rise of conservative and liberal philosophies and explain how those philosophies competed with or related to nationalism in Greece and Germany.

The Industrial Revolution brought about much change in Europe. New ways of producing things better and faster caused many changes in the government and people’s political views. It was because of the Industrial revolution that Greece and Germany nationalism related to conservative and liberal philosophies. The Industrial revolution started off the entire viewpoints of liberalism and conservatism because of the radical and rational viewpoints people had which then flowed over to countries as a whole and influenced nationalism in countries such as Germany and Greece.

During the nineteenth century the Industrial revolution was in full swing. Britain, France and many other countries were now changing their ways, and their economy was changing. They were able to produce things better, faster, and more efficiently. At this time in France, Louis Bonaparte became the leader of France and decided to go to war with Germany. He was defeated and was also defeated by the Austrians. At this time, Russia had power over Prussia and the King was Wilhelm I. He united much of Germany at the time and throughout all of this nationalism was setting in. The chancellor from Russia influenced much of what happened in Prussia. Russia was ruled by a conservative czar, Czar Alexander. He wanted to keep the country the way it was with nobles in power and the middle and lower class in check.

The Peterloo massacre was because of the horrible conditions that people had to work in factories. They did not have child labor laws or anything of the sort. Children could work no matter what the age, the conditions were horrible, and there was no set work day. People could work for 14 hours a day seven days a week with no rest and be paid very little. There were also no health laws and if people lost hands in the factories it was tough luck. These liberal philosophies related to nationalism because they wanted freedom as well. They wanted to be united as the same people and fight for the same causes. The Germans did not want to be ruled by a Prussian king or owe their allegiance to anyone else. They were banded together due to the influence of a conservative Russian czar looking to expand his empire.

Without the Industrial revolution conservatism and liberalism of the time what not have been the same. Because the world was changing so fast, the people were changing as well. They wanted a democracy and to be ruled by fair ruler like in England. With the flood of people from the rural areas to the city, new rules and laws had to be created. Since so many people were working in the factories, those who had a lot of money wanted to keep things the way there were to continue to make money. However, the people who were poor wanted to be able to get more money and work jobs that were fair. They couldn’t do this without a liberal viewpoint. In England the country was heading toward liberalism in which the middle class was put above the nobility. With this liberal viewpoint, it helped unite the country and make it more powerful.

Without liberalism and conservatism, nationalism in Germany and Greece would not be the same. Conservatism made the Russian czar influence the nationalism of both Greece and Germany. He was so caught up in expanding his empire that he unwittingly helped Greece unite against the Turks in his hopes of gaining more land. He also essentially did the same thing with Germany, however it was because he controlled a Prussian King who ended up uniting north and south Germany.