“Could World War I have been prevented”;
“War is what happens when language fails.” This is shown all throughout history with wars between and within nations. War has been a part of human life for all time that history has been recorded. War gradually changes and advances over time, but it is not always the best option. This is shown in World War I because it was a complex war that showed change to many aspects of war, but there is evidence that this war could have been avoided.
World War I was a massive war between the Allies and the Central Powers. The Allies included Britain, France, Russia, Italy, and the United States. The Central Powers included Germany, Austria-Hungary, Ottoman Empire and Bulgaria. This war was mostly fought on the mainland of Europe between 1914 and 1918, and it was recorded as one of the most disparaging and gruesome wars of all time. During this war, over 17 million people were killed between all the countries involved. These facts show why it would have made a huge impact on the world today if the war had been prevented all together.
One way the war could have been prevented was due to the poor display of leadership following the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria. There are many people that claim this assassination was one of the major causes of the war, but this Archduke was not favored and had no influence on Europe. This meant that this assassination would not have caused the world to enter this war as many believe. Also, this murder was not committed by the Serbian government as it was portrayed to be, but it was actually done by a small group of people in Serbia that did not like the archduke. He came to visit Serbia with his wife, despite being advised not to, and this group of people saw this as an opportunity to take him out. Therefore, if the leaders would have put an end to what resulted within the country, then this would not have even been a factor. This is because the Austrians did not immediately retaliate after this happened, and this meant that if the leadership would have been in better hands this issue would have remained local just like the other conflicts that frequently occurred in this country.
The leaders in Serbia did not attempt to seek a settlement after this assassination. The Serbian and Austrian governments then turned to their allies and mad treaties for immediate response. The allies caused the situation to grow from a localized issue to an issue among many countries. Austria got assistance from Germany, and Russia came to the aid of Serbia for the same reason. These two countries had also signed treaties prior to this, and this caused the rest of the European nations to get involved in the conflict.
Therefore, this display of poor leadership was the reason that this assassination is known as a primary factor in the cause of the war. The people in leadership positions displayed selfishness and greed in the way they determined to handle the controversy. They did not think about what the consequences of their actions would be or how it would affect the rest of the world. These leaders increased the severity of the situation by only thinking about the benefits of themselves. This failure to keep positive foreign relations lead to several countries entering into this war. If Russia would have kept from going to war with Austria-Hungary the conflict could have been stopped. In the same way, Germany, being a larger country, could have calmed the controversy between Serbia and Austria, but the leaders made the alliance and made the conflict even larger. All of these factors that display poor leadership show the possibility that World War I could have been prevented if there was sound leadership.
However, there are also many factors of World War I that would lead one to believe that it could not have been prevented because it was an important war with much purpose behind it. One of the main proponents to the belief that this war was unavoidable was the presence of nationalism. During this time many countries were motivated and driven by nationalism. This increase of nationalism was particular present in Europe because the nations in Europe were growing in many areas, particularly economics. This caused their them to be in a position where politics and economics were mixed into the same systems. Therefore, when a country seeked growth in economy there was also rise in political tension between the neighboring countries. This caused there to be patriotic rivalries within Europe. Countries like Germany and Britain were in competition because as Germany pursued growth Britain began to fall lower.
Another aspect of nationalism was shown in individuals when they would seek to see the fall of other nations. In this form people in different countries vowed their loyalty to their country and swore to make their country rise above the others in Europe.