Read the passage given and answer the following questions: The final act of the long-drawn-out negotiations took place at Versailles on Saturday afternoon, and to-day Germany and the Allies — always with the exception of America — are at peace. Peace is a blessed word, and both the word and the fact are welcome to-day. So far as Germany is concerned there is for the present an end of strife, and at least a formal return to the decent relations of civilised states. — Editorial: Peace in force (12 January 1920), The Guardian
Mention any three causes of the World War which ended with the signing of the treaty being discussed in the passage above.
Topic: Causes of the First World War
Answer
The treaty is the Treaty of Versailles, and the war is the FIRST WORLD WAR. Three of its causes: (1) AGGRESSIVE NATIONALISM — each nation believed in its own superiority and sought to dominate others; France longed to recover Alsace and Lorraine, and Slav nationalism in the Balkans threatened Austria-Hungary. (2) IMPERIALISM AND ECONOMIC RIVALRY — the industrial powers competed fiercely for colonies, raw materials and markets in Africa and Asia, and Germany, a late entrant, resented the lion’s share held by Britain and France. (3) THE SYSTEM OF ALLIANCES AND THE ARMAMENT RACE — Europe was divided into the Triple Alliance (1882) and the Triple Entente (1907), each building up armies and navies, so that a quarrel between any two powers was bound to drag in the rest.
One mark per cause. First identify the war from the clue in the passage — Versailles, 1920 — and say so in your opening line; a source-based question expects you to use the source. The four standard underlying causes are aggressive nationalism, imperialism, the armament race and the system of alliances. Give any three, each with a concrete illustration. Do not offer the Sarajevo assassination here: that is the IMMEDIATE cause, and questions ask for one or the other.