First Midterm

1.   Everyone can agree that World War was a mistake, but what factors caused the war to happen in the first place? How did imperialism, nationalism, and militarism all play a critical role in the coming of the conflict?

2.      Europeans had forgotten about the horrors of war and that may be one of the factors that made war highly probable in 1914. What were wars like between 1871 and 1914? What should have policymakers learned from those conflicts before deciding on war in the summer of 1914?

3.  Traditionally revisionist historians have argued that there was enough blame for World War I to go around; however, only recently has one writer, David Fromkin, challenged that assumption. What is the basis of his arguments? Who does he blame more than others for the outbreak of the First World War?

4. One could argue that the Versailles Treaty contributed to the coming of World War II. Why did the peacemakers fail in 1919? What went wrong in Paris, London, and Washington?