Essay: Causes and consequences of World War I

I chose to write about the major causes and consequences of World War I because I feel like World War II is more widely familiar and well-versed in history lessons. There were many causes that led to World War I, following the era of industrialization in Europe. Competition continued to rise among existing European nation-states, as well as other groups that sought for an established nationhood, such as the ethnic groups of the Balkans.
World War I primarily began by the tension that rose in the Balkans. On June 28, 1914, Serbian nationalists led out the assassination of Archduke Francis Ferdinand of Austria. Austria presented an ultimatum to Serbia in July, to which Serbian nationalists refused in their proclaimed desire of separate nationalism and to break free of Austrian control. Thus, an official declaration of war began on July 28, 1914.
By August, all great powers of Europe were at war: The Triple Entente (France, Russia, Great Britain) and the Axis (Germany, Austria, and Italy). Due to the existence of European colonies globally, this created the spread of war that had become “World War” I. Such colonies included troops in the Middle East and in Africa, where African troops also had fought in the European Front. Japan then joined to side with the axis, with the intention to gain German possessions in Asia that would strengthen Japan. This included the rise in military technology that was fueled by militarism, revolutionizing warfare by use of chemical weapons, tanks, airplanes, machine guns, zeppelins, and “U-boats”/submarines. It was not until 1917 that the United States had entered war due to unrestricted submarine warfare. This provided advantages to the allies.
The consequences of World War I resulted in about 8-9 million soldiers killed throughout the course of the war, accompanied by the death of millions of civilians that became accessory to the war efforts. There followed a tremendous sense of disillusionment and despair as a long period of mourning, with which followed a cycle of violence and the ideals of pacifism, trying to promote peaceful alternative agendas to oppose war, militarism, and violence. The need for political and economic regulation came with government intervention for price controls, planned economies, and rationing. Public order and opinion was now to be controlled through censorship and propaganda in order to avoid rebellion and opposition. Although the impact of war temporarily ended unemployment during wartime, it allowed new roles for women and the rise of trade unions during this time. However, as the “prosperity” of the era of the 1920s would soon become, it would not be long after that domestic economies would begin to crumble.
The longing for a sense of unity and security resulted in a weak League of Nations and tensions between France and Germany for German reparations from the war. However, the Dawes Plan was introduced from the United States loaning to Germany in the efforts of repairing the physical and political damages in the war. Barely ten years after World War I, the Great Depression occurred, which was caused by an international financial crisis and decline in domestic economies. Thus, in 1929, the U.S. Stock Market crashed, leaving many people internationally to unemployment, homelessness, violence, and the rise in demagogues. Demagogues took advantage of the poor morale and wellbeing of citizens by articulating radicalized political ideas built upon popular prejudices and false claims in order to create the façade of potential leadership, which would then be used to instill false hope in order to obtain support and power. An example of a powerful demagogue in modern history is that of Adolf Hitler or Benito Mussolini, which indoctrinated the ideals of Fascism, leading to several tragic and notable wars between other global powers and third-world nations. For example, World War II, the Holocaust, The Cold War, and The Korean War followed down the line from World War I and other repercussions that are still to this day being repaired.
Identifications:
1. Vladimir Lenin
Despite its involvement during World War I, Imperial Russia had dealt with its own monarch troubles and economic despair. The Tsar, Nicholas Romanov II resigned the throne due to unstable conditions and food supply for the people. Soon, troops began to join protests, to which Vladimir Lenin sought to overthrow what provisional government was left attempting to further the war effort. Vladimir Lenin was the leader of the Bolshevik party, which was a radical revolutionary group based on the foundations of Marxism. The overthrow of the provisional government in November of 1917 was known as the Bolshevik Revolution, transforming into the principality of communism, with efforts to be made in the direction of dismantling the bourgeoisie and proliferating the proletariat.
2. Surrealism
Surrealism was an art style that was introduced as cultural and intellectual trends rose from post-World War I and Great Depression eras. This art style depicted a distortion of reality with a dream-like or unrealistic, perhaps hallucinated, appearance. The influence of the artistic rendition of perceiving the “subconscious” often came from the works of Sigmund Freud, who was a Jewish Czech man that developed psycho-analysis philosophy while working in Austria. A famous artist renowned for his surrealist works is Salvador Dali, with works such as the famous “melting clocks” from his piece, “The Persistence of Memory.”
3. Truman Doctrine
The Truman Doctrine was a policy that former U.S. President Harry Truman created after World War II, in the late 1940s, when tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union became prominent. The policy states that the United States would provide aid to countries threatened by communist expansion, in an effort to reduce the possibility of a “Domino Theory.” There were no specifications of which countries, but the United States heavily supported the idea of containment, which would implement the cease of communism to spread to other nations.
4. Marshall Plan
The Marshall Plan was created by the United States Secretary of State General George Marshall, in an effort for U.S. economic assistance for post-World War II recovery in Western Europe. This $13 billion aid would benefit the United States economically by the idea of American made supplies being purchased by countries in Western Europe. This policy also promoted capitalism in hopes of preventing the spread of Communism from Eastern Europe.
5. Good Neighbor Policy
The Good Neighbor Policy was implemented in the 1930s by Franklin D. Roosevelt as he sought World War II looming on the horizon. The effort of this policy would be to have allies and improved relations for the United States and for Latin American Countries. This was especially since after World War I, economic investments in Latin American countries from Europe were down, but the United States’ investments were up. This was especially critical since these countries were primarily known for export economies, which hurt them severely during the Great Depression.