Introduction

This blog, "The War to End All Wars," will cover the events of World War I and chapter 27 from the A History of Western Society textbook.

It is said that all modern wars are started by a combination of four things (or five depending on which acronym suits your fancy) - militarism, alliances, imperialism, and nationalism. In the summer of 1914, each one of these "forces of war" came together and culminated into what would be arguably the most long, indecisive, and tremendously destructive war of the twentieth century, or quite possibly the history of European culture. Unlike other wars, World War I had cultural, economic, social, political, and intellectuals repercussions that influenced not only Europe but the entire world. During the five years that the war was fought and peace was settled, Europe changed drastically. Historic empires fell and imperialism and radical nationalism was crushed*. Though the first World War was not the war to end all wars, although my blog's title would disagree, it had a huge impact on modern society and certainly deserves to be studied.

*However, certain African and Asian peoples would disagree with this statement. Outside of Europe, imperialism was going strong!

Through this blog, I hope to better understand and display my knowledge of the causes, impacts, and artistic responses to the first World War. I also hope to show relevant connections between the events that were taking place in America at the time of the war.

Essential Question: Who should be blamed for starting World War I?

The blame for World War I has been a matter of intense debate over the past century. Essentially there are three sides. One group of people believes that no one country in particular should be blamed for the war. While it is true that the entire blame cannot be placed on one country, certain countries had a greater influence on the start of the war than others. Another group of people believe that Austria-Hungary is to blame for the war. Once Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated, Austria-Hungary looked for no other possibility but war to solve the problem of the Slavic Nationalist movement. Austria wanted a small, localized war, not the much larger scale war the Germany blew it up into. Austria would never have even gotten involved in such a war had it not been for the promise of financial assistance from the Hapsburgs. The Germans were the facilitators of the Austrian War effort. Germany was also the first Great power to declare war on another when she declared war on Russia. Also, Germany's invasion of France was entirely unprovoked. Therefore, Germany is primarily responsible for the escalation of the Austro-Serbian War into World War I.