Padrão de Resposta

The ultimate responsibility for the start of the First World War is still widely debated in specialized literature, whereas there is a general agreement in regard to its causes. The emergence of extremist nationalism, the system of alliances in Europe and imperialist disputes between colonial empires led Europe and the years of the Belle Époche to their tragic destiny. The complexity, intensity and interdependence of these problems prevented world leaders from considering peaceful solutions possible, which would later result in their common assessment of the war as inevitable.
Nationalism was a relatively recent phenomenon in the political field at the beginning of the twentieth century, but it had already proven its force both in the revolutions of 1848 (the “Spring of the Peoples”) and in the emergence of new States, such as Germany and Italy. By the end of the nineteenth century nationalism was a key factor of the legitimacy of States and of their leaders, regarded as protectors of their people. Moreover, the will of the Balkan people to become independent from both the Austro-Hungarian and the Turkish empires transformed the region in a great source rivalries, problem that would remain unresolved event after the Congress of Berlin, in 1878. In this way, national pride could not be hurt by world leaders at risk of costing them their legitimacy, narrowing the chances of peaceful solutions to crises, which made the war seem inevitable.
This extremist nationalism was worsened by imperialist disputes. Colonies overseas were needed as supplyers (sic) of basic products and markets for rising industrial economies. The Conference of Berlin tried to settle most disagreements concerning African colonies in 1885, but this solution did not last. Radical military solutions tend to prevail when diplomacy fails to lead countries to a compromise, which are harder to achieve at times of overblown nationalism.
Although diplomacy was not able to achieve lasting and peaceful agreements, military alliances were abundant in the years before the war. Since many European States were bound by treaty to wage war if an ally was attacked, it was reasonable to admit that a war would occur. Lloyd George had no other option besides declaring war on Germany when Germans invaded Belgium, in the same way that the Russian tsar had to come to the rescue of the Serbians against the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
The First World War could have been avoided, but only if most of these circumstances had been different. Nationalism, imperialism and military alliances induced leaders to think that the war was inevitable, both from a domestic and an international point-of-view. The sense of inevitability of past facts in history is hard to avoid, but so was the First World War.