Politics of the Extreme and World War I (^) ‹ 179
- B is correct because the passage indicates that when war broke out, “the organiza-
tion of the proletariat [joined itself ] completely to the service of imperialism,” and
that “the... political class struggle of the working class so totally surrendered... in
Germany.” A is incorrect because the passage makes no reference to any attempt at
revolution. C is incorrect because the passage does not refer to a call for work stop-
pages. D is incorrect because the passage implies that the socialist parties of Germany
failed to unite in opposition to the war. - D is correct because the passage says that the “war was ordained to thrust forward the
cause of the proletariat.... It was ordained to drive the German proletariat to the
pinnacle of the nation.” A is incorrect because the passage does not refer to an oppor-
tunity for Germany. B is incorrect because the passage does not refer to the end of
European civilization. C is incorrect because the passage does not predict the end of
class antagonism. - Suggested answer:
Thesis: The Alliance System, created to make war more costly and, therefore, less likely,
actually helped to cause World War I by making neutrality nearly impossible.
Paragraph Outline:
I. Bismarck sought to gain security by creating the Triple Alliance (Germany, Austria-
Hungary, and Italy), but this so alarmed Great Britain and its longtime adversaries, France
and Russia, that they countered by creating the Triple Entente.
II. The Alliance System was supposed to make war between the major powers too costly;
instead its assurance of military reprisal limited diplomatic options and created the specter
of two-front war for Germany, convincing Germany that it had to go to war sooner rather
than later. Once Germany attacked, all of the countries of the Alliance were honor-bound
to join in.
Rapid Review
At the turn of the twentieth century, political gains were made by parties on the extreme
left and right of the political spectrum, as the gradual reform of liberalism lost its appeal.
The great powers of Europe constructed an alliance system that divided them into two
armed camps. From August 1914 to November 1918, the two camps fought a total war of
attrition. In the process, the oppressive police state of the Romanovs fell to Marxist revolu-
tionaries in November 1917. The peace settlement that followed the war sought to weaken
and punish Germany.KEY IDEA21_Bartolini_Ch21_171-180.indd 179 27/04/18 1:55 PM