Was the First World War Caused by the Alliance System?

First World War caused by the Alliance system?

Introduction:

The Great Powers in Europe were seeking to make alliances along Europe for defensive purposes and the settlement of outstanding disputes between them. However, these alliances were not just normal alliances where one country would agree to defend the other in case of war, these alliances of the 19-20th century which eventually lead to the First World War, were by 1914 translated to war-tactics alliances. This meant that alliances were accompanied by military discussions in which generals were seeking to find how they could best combine their troops if there was a war. Also, countries and alliances would choose who their enemy was, (for example France would choose Germany as a most likely enemy in case of a war) and how they should attack a certain country if war happened. So the alliance system that was created by 1914 was a very big push in to being one of the main reasons why World War one broke out in 1914.

Paragraph 1:

    - 1879- Dual Alliance between Germany and Austria-Hungary

    - It agreed that in the event of either being attacked by Russia, the other would come to its aid with ALL its forces.

    - If either were attacked by any other country, then the partner would at least be neutral if not lend assistance.

    - If Russia came to the aid of another country (like it happened in 1915 with Britain and France joining the First World war and this helping Russia who was helping Serbia) that attacked either, then the partner had to come to its aid.

    - First example of how alliances played a big role in terms of the start of the First World War, if one country was in war with another one, always its ally had to come and help. This shows that it was inevitable that the First World War happened when mostly all the countries in Europe had this situation.

Paragraph 2:

    - 1882- Triple Alliance between Germany, Austria and Italy.

    - Germany and Austria were...