I heard that it started when a bloke called Archie Duke shot an ostrich because he was hungry. Essay Example

I heard that it started when a bloke called Archie Duke shot an ostrich because he was hungry. Paper There are few historical debates that have aroused such controversy as that of the causes and origins of World War One. There is an abundance of sources, both reliable and not so, and the blame for the war has been thrown around and indeed at everybody involved. Unlike the Second World War, where Germany is generally accepted as being to blame, WW1 is steeped in disagreement even to this day. Unfortunately for the historian, the blame for the war simply depends on who you ask. Britain, Germany, France, Russia, even capitalism itself have strong arguments against them. A problem one faces when investigating the crisis is that each argument does have its strong points, and, if approached unwarily, each could be accepted as the main cause of the war.Perhaps it is not surprising, then, that Baldrick should become a little confused as to the state of affairs. It accepted that at the time of the war, many Tommies and indeed civilians were unclear as to the reasons for conflict. The obvious point Baldrick is referring to is the assassination of Franz Ferdinand in June of 1914. This short term cause was accepted by many at the time to be the main cause of the war, but I believe this is only because of the events proximity to war itself, and media hype (the British popular press becoming prominent in the late eighteen hundreds).I do not question the fact that the death of Ferdinand contributed to the start of the war, but I believe that war would have broken out if the assassination had not taken place. It was, we must remember, the state of international affairs which made Ferdinands death so significant in the first place. For example, the Black Hand, the organisation to which Gavro Princip, Ferdinands killer belonged, had been formed to aid the creation of a Greater Serbia. I think that this is evidence that international diplomacy, although perhaps not so dramatic (and accessible to the masses), played the key role in the start of war.I think that, as has been refle cted in the media coverage of war in Iraq, peoples ideas of the causes and justification of war are largely influenced by the popular press. As is the same now, different newspapers had different opinions on the war. The most prominent papers, such as The Daily Mail, promoted the idea of the evil hun, skewering babies on bayonets and suchlike, and the idea was generally accepted by the British public. I think it is the presss influence which is largely responsible for the public perception of war, but with the extremely useful tool known as hindsight, we can see the whole picture.Marxist historians state Imperial rivalry and capitalism as the underlying causes of war. I agree with the idea that Imperialism significantly contributed to the war. The fact that there was a fairly hefty rivalry between nations is clear from their aggressive actions overseas, with the major powers such as Britain and Germany scrabbling to obtain and retain significant areas around the globe. The Marxist t heory, however, goes on to say that the acquisition of new territory led capitalists to look for new markets abroad, which in turn encouraged governments to obtain more and more land, adding to the tensions between states.They claim that this ultimately led to war. I disagree with this theory, one, because the hostilities in Africa and Asia never truly threatened international war, and two, because I think that business heads at the time were keen to encourage amiable relations between states, with trading between nations truly coming into is own at this time. Fritz Fischer, a prominent German historian, claimed that all of the nations international diplomacy was ruled by domestic policy. I disagree with this statement. If we look at the political circumstances of the nations at the time, I think it is clear that the general public were not adequately empowered to influence diplomacy. For example, Germany, who had more voters than any other country, parliament had no actual power ov er the government. This meant that although public opinion was probably taken into consideration, it is unlikely that her actions were actually dictated by the masses.It is my opinion that the First World War was not caused by a single event. It may be fair to say that Ferdinands assassination sparked the war, but I find it incredulous to think that this one spark was the actual cause of a world war. I think that the reasons for war are numerous and interlinked; a patchwork quilt if you will of diplomacy and economy. The treaties and agreements at the time the Franco-Russian alliance of 1892 (although it was not made public until 1918), the triple entente, the German-Habsburg alliance of 1879, and the various trade treaties at the time all set the stage for war. So was war inevitable?I believe so, although I think that the circumstances of war could have been very different. I think that the rise of Germany itself thanks to Bismarck, and the amazing acceleration of production there , was bound to lead to competition with another state. The theory of Social Darwinism; that if you are not growing you are dying (originally invented by English philosopher Herbert Spencer), could be argued to be illustrated by the actions of Germany and Britain during the naval arms race. Their expansion, both militarily and territorially, I think is fair to say was only down to competition with each other; Britain had been a clear leader in Europe, and had no real need to expand other than to prevent a rival close to home.There is an idea that if Britain had made its stance clear during the July crisis in 1914 (we must remember that the triple entente was only an informal agreement, rather than a binding alliance), then Germany would not have gone to war with France. I think that this is plausible, as Germany would certainly have been reluctant to fight such a close rival, but I retain the belief that war would have taken place, if not that month, perhaps not in 1914, but at some point in the near future.So how close was Baldrick to the truth? It could be argued that he is right in saying the war started when Franz Ferdinand was assassinated, but I think it would be wrong to say it started because of his death. The tangled web of alliances in Europe at the time ensured that if one country went down, they all went down. Because of this I believe that if Princip had not shot Ferdinand and his wife, there would have been another incident to act as a catalyst to war.

The Battle of the Bulge essays

The Battle of the Bulge essays The Battle of the Bulge, also known as Battle of the Ardennes, began on December 16, 1944 at about 5:30 in the morning. This was supposed to be Hitlers last attempt on trying to defeat the Allied forces. He thought that the bond between the British, the US, and Russia was weak, so he didnt have to worry about the three countries joining forces and outnumbering him. He also thought that he had enough troops to launch a surprise attack on the Western Front. He believed that things like bad weather-especially the cold, rugged terrain, and the Christmas holiday would probably catch the Allied Forces by surprise. Hitler planned on lowering Allied air power and cutting off a main supply base for the armies on the Western Front. If he did that, he would be able to surround Canadas 1st army, Britains 2nd Army, and the USs 1st and 9th armies. And, if that happened, the northern forces would all be surrounded and they would be cut off from supplies, and the southern forces would be pushed out of Germany. Hitler expected it to be an easy fight. The night before the battle, Hitler sent in troops to infiltrate the front. Some of the troops were dropped in a parachute, and some others drove American jeeps. They spoke considerable English, and wore American uniforms so that they wouldnt look suspicious. They tried to confuse the US army by cutting down telephone lines, giving false directions, changing signs on the roads, and just creating havoc. The battle began at the crack of dawn. Hitler managed to push back American forces. Because of surprise, lack of communication, and being outnumbered, it gave Hitler a great chance of success. But, after two days of fighting, the Germans had not made very much progress, but Hitler did manage to attack two southern American divisions and surround the least experienced division of the American VIII Corps. On December 17, 72 prisoners of war, or ...