War of Attrition

World war one was named a war of attrition since it was a war in which each side tried to bring down the other by constant attacks. Therefore they had to develop new weapons and strategies in order to bring down the enemy. Since both sides were constantly attacking therefore in many battles fought in world war one had no clear winner. However we know that the most affected country at the end was Germany. Their imperialist ideas lead them to their own defeat. 

Weapons

During World War I the different military systems were having a competition. Each one of the great empires was trying to destroy the other. The alliances helped to provide fear among those small countries who believed they could fight against them. The main goal was to show power and kill all members of the rival empire. All of the mentioned above lead to the development  of new weapons who caused millions of deaths at World War I.

*Machine guns: were guns who allowed a single man to kill hundred of men in seconds.

*Airplanes: they were first used for spying but later on they were used to deliver bombs and fight the enemy aircraft in the air.

 *Poisonous gas: another new weapons formed at that time were the poisonous gases. The Germans were the first ones to use them and two types of gases were formed by them:
a) chlorine gas: caused blindness,choking,vomiting,torn lungs and death
b)Mustard gas: mostly deadly,caused skin blisters,sore eyes, vomiting, internal and external bleeding causing a long slow death.

*submarines: were used to transport supplies to countries at war. The German u–boats destroyed warships, supply ships, commercial and passenger ships. Causing another series of events.

*Tanks: were able to invade the trenches of the enemy, they would kill hundreds of soldiers with one single shot.

Key Personalities

Kaiser Whilhem: Emperor of Germany in World War 1. In 1890, he broke ties with Russia, which lead to strong consequences for Germany. Breaking ties with Russia lead to hate between the Germans with the French who were allied with the Russians and Great Britian. Since Germany had to split up and try to defeat them all they ended up losing. Kaiser was the one who pushed most of the Austrians for war and used Franz as his base. Kaiser main goal was to develop a great militaryy system therefore he could not agree with other rulers such as Franz Ferdinand.

Archduke Franz Ferdinand: An independent thinker who focused more on creating alliances than forming a great military system. He was the Archduke of Austria Hungary who got deceased by the black hand and Gavrilo Princip(Serbians). Due to his assassination the Austrian Hungarians found the perfect excuse to declare war on the Serbians. Then the alliances were formed and a whole of events went by. He was considered as probably the only person who might have stopped the war unfortunately, he was killed along with his family.

Czar Nicholas II: He was the absolute monarch of Russia at that time. At war he began the process of mobilising against Germany and Great Britian. However that plan was not going to work because there was going to be no control of the military system in that way. Since he decided to mobilize against the Germans on July 24,1914. In 1914 mobilizing was considered at act of war therefore, the Germans warned the Russians to stop. Russians did not stop mobilizing so the Germans declared war on the Russians. All due because of Czar plans of attack.

Main Causes of WWI

M.A.N.I.A.C.S caused WWI due to the following reasons:

*Militarism: militarism produced rivalry between the great empires. A competition was formed within all of the great empires because they wanted to show their power and strength. Showing their power and strength consisted of using their weapons and well build military systems.

*Alliances: The Triple Entente and The Triple alliance were the alliances formed throughout world war one. The Alliance within Germany, Austria Hungary and Italy caused France,Great Britain and Russia to unify. The more allies you had at that time the more powerful you became.

*Nationalism : liberals believed that if European states were organized along nation lines,states will work together and create a peaceful empire. However, nationalism builded a great ego in big empires.

*imperialism: Great empires instead of building nationalism they builded imperialism. They had the desire of expanding their territory and gaining more military power.

*Assasination of Franz Ferdinand: Ferdinand was killed along with his pregnant wife by Gravilo Princip. The Serbians were part of the Austrian Hungarian empire however, they wanted to get rid of the alliance and Bosnia to join them. The BLACK HAND  was formed and killed Ferdinand which gave the perfect excuse to the Austrian Hungarians to attack the Serbians. Since the Russians defended the Serbians the Germans joined the Austrian Hungarians.

*wConflict in The Balkans Peninsula:  the Balkans Peninsula had different religions and nationalities therefore, the Russians and Austrian Hungarians wanted to conquer them due to their imperialist ideas.

*Series of diplomatic failures:All of the mentioned above lead to a series of diplomatic failures which caused war. Ultimatum from Austria Hungarians fails to Serbia so Serbia were at war with the Austrian Hungarians. Russia and France mobilize against Germany because it was their common enemy also Germans were defending the Austrian Hungarians. Then Germany attacks french with Schlieffen plan through neutral Belgium and failed. England attacks the Germans because they had an alliance with Belgium and Belgium was being attacked by the Germans. 

conclusion: due to alliances and common enemies the war was formed. Nationalism gave Great Britian advantage and imperialist ideas made the Germans produce great lose of soldiers. WWI was a war for ambitious empires like the Germans who tried to their "power."