Sunday, April 7, 2013

Militarism and Alliances - Madison


              The roots of the issues that caused World War I started back in the 1860s, while America was stuck in the Civil War.  Prussia, the German kingdom, won a series of wars to gain more land and support, and by 1871 it had reunited all of the Germany puzzle pieces to form the German Empire.  During these wars, Prussia attacked and defeated France, and they became indignant enemies.  From this mutual hatred, two alliances arose: the Triple Alliance and the Franco-Russian Alliance.  The Triple Alliance was composed of Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy.  The Franco-Russian Alliance was between France and Russia.  Later, it added Great Britain and turned into the Triple Entente. 
                In Europe, militarism was expanding exponentially throughout its countries.  This caused the countries to be wary of each other and they continued to increase their militarism for protection.  Germany began to construct a strong Navy to intimidate the British, and the tension between them grew when they started to compete in building warships.  Great Britain joined France and Russia in their alliance because they were threatened by Germany.

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