Was World War 1 Inevitable

World War I, which began in the Balkan Peninsula in July 1914, had many immediate and underlying causes which originated from different nations. Unlike World War II, it is not clear which party started World War I. Germany has been blamed by some, but there are others who see it differently. While the assassination of Franz Ferdinand, archduke of Austria, and his wife is widely regarded as an immediate and impactful origin of the war, the underlying origins have not been so clear. Political, territorial, and economic conflicts amongst all the great European powers in the years leading up to the war had been tense, and with ideas such as nationalism and militarism coming into play, many stated that war was inevitable. Alliances also played a vital role, since as one alliance got stronger, the other needed to be able to hold their own. This had a hand in breaking the established balance of power, which is the idea that no one nation or state should be …show more content…
In 1912, when the German Foreign Secretary, Gottlieb von Jagow, expressed the idea that if “Austria is forced, for whatever reason, to fight for its position as a Great Power, then we must stand by her” (Fromkin, 88-92), it provoked an immediate warning from the British Foreign Secretary that if Germany were to give what is essentially a blank cheque to Austria, "the consequences of such a policy would be incalculable”. Britain went so far as to state that it would intervene if Germany were to attack France (Fromkin, 88-92). At this time, the possibility of war were already a hotly-debated topic at the German Imperial War Council. Along with the announcement of the Russian Great Military Programme around the same time, the leaders of the German Army began to call for a preventive war against Russia. Although this call for war was stalled, Germany ultimately got what what was wished for when war hit in