You need to respond to at least two of your peers’ discussion post for this week. The reflection should demonstrate an understanding of the topic and should include referenced evidence from the readings to demonstrate your view point to receive full credit. Instructions: Length is between 100-200 words (1 to 2 paragraphs)

Student #1

WILLIAM MARSHALL

Although it was not an single reason behind WW1, “shortly after the assassination of Austria’s Archduke, Franz Ferdinand, the war begin and lasted more than four years.” the article said. The war left more than 20 million dead and 21 million wounded, which can be attributed to trench warfare and the number of countries involved in the war. Another social issue or reason being behind the war was the European expansion. The sources state”European nations had empires across the globe, where they had control over vast swath of lands.” The expansion of European nations as empires can be seen as a key reason of the war, because countries like France and Britain expanded their empires which resulted the increase of tension among the European countries. conflicts over alliances was another social issue behind the war, the alliances “promised that each country would support the other if war ever broke out” the article states,”The alliance between France,Britain, and Russia formed 1907 and was called the triple entente caused the most friction among nations”. Which made Germany feel like this alliance surrounding them was a threat to their power and existence, as tension continued to rise over alliances, the preexisting alliances fed into other countries declaring war against one another in the face of conflict.

References: www.norwich.edu

Student#2

JOSE SUAREZ HERNANDO

There is no simple and straightforward reason that caused the First World War, however, there were different causes and motives that led to its development.

At the beginning of the 20th century Europe had achieved an important growth in different areas and was politically, economically and militarily dominant on a world level. Even though an attempt was being made to maintain a balance of power between the countries of the region there were some conflicts and differences between nations. Some events that could lead to war were the dismiss of the general Bismarck which caused the possible alliance between Germany and Russia to fail and instead led to the formation of the triple alliance of Austria, Germany and Italy and the dual alliance of France and Russia.

Also in this moment there was a tension between Great Britain and France because of the commercial rivalry and the ambitious of the nations of expanding and colonizing territories and with the crisis of Morocco, in which Germany was asking to have the same trading rights as France in Morocco lead to the alliance of France and Great Britain. The triggering event of the war was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria on June 28, 1914 who after an assassination attempt by a youth group of the secret organization “Black Hand” was finally killed by Gavrilo Princip who shot his wife.