How did the Napoleon wars lead to the large amount of countries being involved in WW1?

Question

this is a test question and it is worth 40% of the test. All i have written down is

-entangling alliances
-catharticism (tension building)

thats it but the answer is suppose to be a paragraph long. It would great if the answer is short, simple, and to the point but long enough so i could make it into a paragraph. Thanks.

Answer 1

Napoleon had defeated several enemies during his drive for territory. Eventually several of them teamed up so they could beat him. This demostrated the value of having allies at the ready.

By 1914 most of the nations of Europe had "mutual defence pacts" with other nations. This meant that if one party of the pact was attacked, the other was obliged to immediately join the war to support their ally. But, when both sides have a series of these treaties, if one country is attacked it just keeps expanding as each nations allies jump in and defend them.

Answer 2

Your question is important. It really needs more than one paragraph. I will be as much to the point as much as possible. However, some background of Europe and wars is necessary.

There are several premises that need considering. One is that if you go back to the time of the 1500s, Spanish Armada and Dutch Revolt, the four wars of Louis XIV that included again a Dutch War, and war of Spanish Succession, and later events such as the Seven Years' War, 1756 to 1763, you must recognize that war has been the rule and not the exception in Europe. These were not small wars and many alliances existed then.

Now to your time period. In short most historians would say Napoleon Bonaparte sought to conquer and control Europe from 1799 to 1815. I really do not believe he could have been appeased. I am not aware, for example, of any serious historian who would say Great Britian instigated the wars of this time.

There are some different angles to consider here, but I will keep it brief since it appears that is more what you want in your answer. During his rule Napoleon launched many wars, and took much territory for France. He invaded Spain and Russia; suffering a fisaco in Russia, but still surviving in power and still going on the aggressive. Even after the latter campaign he launched attacks that resulted in defeats at Leipzig and Waterloo. Now what is unusual is that the leaders opposing him , unlike in other cases, recognized that if France suffered too harsh a peace treaty, then it would plant seeds of rebellion. Therefore, the Congress of Vienna, largely at the direction of Metternich of Austria did not impose a harsh penalty on France. So from Vienna to World War I in 1914 was a relatively long time of stability in Europe. There were wars, Crimean, Franco-Prussian, but they were much more limited than the War of Spanish Succession, Seven Years War, French Revolution, and Napoleonic Wars.

Then that gets to the answer I wanted to give earlier, but had to set the stage for. Despite his autocracy Napoleon Bonaparte was very much a creature of the French Revolution, and posed as an advocate of democratic nationalism. Really unintenionallly Napoleon encouraged democratic nationalism that flew in his face. Therefore while the Congress of Vienna can be applauded for its fairness to France and encouraging stability in that regard, it did have TWO FATAL WEAKNESSES. It failed to address nationalism. One might have expected Germany and Italy to become countries then, but they did not and were basically kept under the Austria-Hungary Hapsburg rule. World War I was caused by the assassination of the Archduke Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary by a Serb. Therefore, the Napoleonic Wars encouraged a nationalism that the otherwise reasonable Treaty of Vienna failed to address. German militarism and the problems of an Austria-Hungary nation that was composed of numerous different nationalities were the basic causes of World War I.

Answer 3

If you think about it, ww 1 was the first "big war", that Europe had seen since the time of Napoleon... Europe had enjoyed at least a good one hundred years of peace.... So I think Europeans were itching for some "real action".... Thats all I can help you with....