Essay On The Origins Of World War One

Although the build-up to war had included a naval arms race between Britain and Germany, the only large naval engagement of the conflict was the Battle of Jutland, where both sides claimed victory.Instead, the defining struggle involved submarines and the German decision to pursue Unrestricted Submarine Warfare (USW).The war remains highly controversial and as subject to attack and defense as the newspapers of the day.

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Much of the war was characterized by stagnant trench warfare and massive loss of life in failed attacks; over eight million people were killed in battle.

The war was fought by two main power blocks: the Entente Powers, or ' Allies,' comprised of Russia, France, Britain (and later the U.

Russia mobilized to support Serbia, so Germany declared war on Russia; France then declared war on Germany.

As German troops swung through Belgium into France days later, Britain declared war on Germany too.

This policy allowed submarines to attack any target they found, including those belonging to the 'neutral' United States, which caused the latter to enter the war in 1917 on behalf of the Allies, supplying much-needed manpower.

Despite Austria-Hungary becoming little more than a German satellite, the Eastern Front was the first to be resolved, the war causing massive political and military instability in Russia, leading to the Revolutions of 1917, the emergence of socialist government and surrender on December 15.

Efforts by the Germans to redirect manpower and take the offensive in the west failed and, on November 11, 1918 (at am), faced with allied successes, massive disruption at home and the impending arrival of vast US manpower, Germany signed an Armistice, the last Central power to do so.

Each of the defeated nations signed a treaty with the Allies, most significantly the Treaty of Versailles which was signed with Germany, and which has been blamed for causing further disruption ever since.

The use of aircraft evolved from simply reconnaissance to a whole new form of aerial warfare.

Thanks partly to a generation of war poets who recorded the horrors of the war and a generation of historians who castigated the Allied high command for their decisions and ‘waste of life’ (Allied soldiers being the ' Lions led by Donkeys'), the war was generally viewed as a pointless tragedy.