In at least 100 to 150 words, explain mutual defense alliances, and critique the role they played in starting World War I.

The war started when Austria Hungary declared war on Serbia and Russia got involved to help Serbia because of their treaty. However as that was happening Germany saw that Russia was getting ready to attack so Germany declared war on Russia  Once that happened France got involved due to their treaty.  

Germany then attacked France through Belgium which brought Britain into the war. Japan then entered the war and the United States and Italy soon joined on the allied side.

There were two sides or groups joined through treaties. These sides were the Triple Entente and the Triple Alliance.

The Triple Entente consisted of England, France, and Russia.

The Triple Alliance consisted of Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy.

Explanation:

117 words

Answer

A mutual defense alliance was a significant cause of World War 1 among the European nations. The alliances were Russian-Serbia, Germany-Austria-Hungary, France –Russia, Britain-France-Belgium and Japan-Britain. A conflict between different groups triggered the participation of another group with interests which resulted to a global conflict. For example the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria made the other parties (Russia) to be involved to protect its interests with Serbia which made Germany to declare war on Russia and France got involved to aid Russia. Imperialism was facilitated by formation of triple alliances and triple entente because the powerful nations took this advantage to exploit more colonies. A conflict between parties from different alliances was enough to cause war on global scale as observed in World War 1.Other factors that contributed to World War 1 were military alliances, and nationalism.