Some countries such as Russia and Austria-Hungary didn’t greatly increase expidentures until around 1910, but this still evidences growing aggression before the war. The average of these country’s expidentures in 1870 was $1.91, and in 1910 this had increased to an average of $3.99. Instead of doing so in a way that made allies feel safer, it seemed this new technology could be used against anyone; “the imperialism of all European states has chronically poisons international relations” (document 5). Counrtries prioritized advancing their own military far over helping allies, and thusly allies became aggresive. Eventually, “a European war broke out. Why? Because in each country [of Europe] political and military leaders did certain things that led to the mobilization [of troops].” Leaders wanted the best military in Europe, even the world, which meant they tried to beat friends and enemies alike. This made for the means for Europe to break into a world-scale
Militarism, the glorification of the military, affected most of Europe at the turn of the twentieth century as demonstrated by Documents 1 and 7. Military spending in three of the major powers in Europe, Great Britain, France, and Germany, more than doubled per capita from 1870 to 1914, according to Document 1. Great Britian and Germany in particular were involved in an arms race with each other. Germany attempted to build a navy to rival Great Britian’s, whose navy was considered the best in the world at the time, and Great Britian responded by improving on their own navy. In the rest of Europe, countries were building up their stores of weapons, including rifles, bombs, and artillery, causing international
In July 28, 1914 to November 11,1918 World War 1 took place where over 17 million lives were lost and over 20 million wounded soldiers. This war was between Britain, France, Russia, Italy and the United States against Germany, and Austria-Hungary. The main cause of World War 1 was militarism where many European countries kept increasing their size of their army and navy without a war going on.
Militarism is the belief of keeping a strong military. Each nation would spend millions on weapons and keeping their military strong. Document C ‘‘Growth in Armaments, 1890-1914’’, states that nations including Great Britain, Austria-Hungary and many more spent millions on developing their armies, Great Britain being the nation that spent the most. Militarism helped
There were a variety of underlying causes in World War I. They were militarism, alliances, nationalism, and a mix of imperialism. Before the war Nations started to build up their arms (DBQ: What Were the Underlying Causes of World War 1, 2010, Doc 7) making a competition for dominance, and alliances are formed making powerful armies. Nations produced propaganda infuriating the citizens and giving the pride in their nation which led to nationalism.
Militarism is the policy in which a country glorifies its military power by having an army prepared at any time. This militarism also came from nationalism, or extreme patriotism, within countries. According to document C, a graph adapted from The London Times History of The World, shows the amount of money (pounds) that went towards the production of armaments from 1890 to the start of the war (1914). It also shows how the armaments increase among the navy and army within certain countries that were involved in the start of the war. Every country was recorded to have an increase in currency that fueled the production of weaponry. According to the document, by 1914, the Entente Powers (France, Great Britain, and Africa) had 2.23 million men ready to fight while Germany and Austria-Hungary had 1.2 million men; a tremendous amount of soldiers. According to document D, a speech from a German Chancellor, explained that Germany would be in shambles if they did not take military action in the war. “...to battle its way through in the struggle for existence without strong armaments on land at sea, have not yet been found,” (Document D). The German Chancellor is saying that without a strong military, Germany will go down. Chancellor describes Germany as the Hammer or the Anvil. This means Germany either build up their military like a hammer or become a sitting anvil, waiting to
Nationalism was the main cause of World War One. The direct result of it led to the militarization of Europe’s countries, nationalistic feelings in Yugoslavia, and the alliances formed before the war. Despite the common idea that the first world war started because of Archduke Franz Ferdinand’s assassination, it was only a reason for Austria-Hungary to declare war. Nationalism was the driving factor to his assassination, and would not have happened without it.
According to alphahistory.com “Imperialism is a system where a powerful nation controls and exploits one or more colonies”.Toward the end of the 1800s, several imperial powers existed. The British empire was the largest. Both France and Britain had many colonies in Africa and Asia. Germany, Italy and others, including the United States wanted to expand their empires
There are five major causes to World War I, militarism, alliances, nationalism, imperialism, and the spark that ignited the war; the assassination of Franz Ferdinand. The European powers did not make any active effort for more internationalist/cooperative policy that would have been the antithesis for the growing causes of World War I. It would only be after World War II and to some extent the European Union that would encourage Europeans to work together instead of turning the continent into a wasteland every few decades.
World War I occurred between July 1914 and November 11, 1918. By the end of the war, over 17 million people were being killed including over 100,000 American troops. The reason why war erupted is actually much more complicated than a simple list of causes. There are some chain of events that directly led to the fighting. Among all the reasons, let us highlight on the top and main five reasons/causes that led to World War I in Europe (1914). The first reason/cause is “Mutual Defense Alliance” - Over the time countries throughout Europe made mutual defense agreements that would pull them into battle. Simply it is nothing but if one country was attacked ultimately the allied countries were being bounded to defend them. Before the World War I Russia &Serbia, Germany & Austria, Japan & Britain, France &Russia were the only alliances that existed. The second reason/cause is “Imperialism” - when a country increases their power and wealth by bringing additional territories under their control. Before World War 1, Africa and parts of Asia were points of contention amongst the European countries. This was especially true because of the raw materials these areas could provide.
Imperialism is a policy of extending a country’s power and influence through diplomacy or military force. Once conquering a territory a nation wants, it becomes a colony for the mother country. Mother countries want colonies so they can profit and enrich their imperial power. All the European nations wanted to pursue all the same actions of gaining land, resources and power. Mother countries were all willing to go to war to have the most colonies. Great Britain was the largest imperial power in the world (Document E). Great Britain was also known as the British Octopus because of how many colonies Great Britain has claimed. Mother countries were envious of Great Britain which caused jealousy and vexation towards Great Britain. When a mother country owns more colonies, they gain more money. This helps a mother country militarily and economically. The more colonies the better. The data displays the area and population of how much each European nation controls (Document F). Colonies were important to each nation because it represented power. Also, it helped gain protection for the mother country. Nations such as Austria-Hungary and Russia were way behind on becoming an imperial power. Germany however, was behind Great Britain which bothered Germany. The jealousy and competitiveness led to
There were quite a few causes of the first world war (WW1). The long-term causes were the militarism, alliance system, imperialism and nationalism- MAIN. The short-term cause was the fact that Austria-Hungary blamed Serbia for killing Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife. I personally think the most significant cause to WW1 is the alliance system and here, I will justify why I think like this.
Imperialism is a system where a powerful nation rules and exploits one or more colonies. The main advantages of imperialism were economic and beneficial for a country occupying the territory.
Militarism is a desire of a government or people that a country should have a strong military. So militarism had a big impact on the First World War. It increased in the military and naval forces. Also since Britain had a great navy, so Germany wanted to build and have a navy too. France and Germany start to compete for who could have the larger army. Another thing they did to become stronger, was that they advanced in technology and on weapons. Flamethrowers were created, which was introduced by Germans. The geophone was also invented. It was made to hear through walls and floors. The soldiers wore steel helmets to protect themselves from shell splinters and bullets. Barbed wire was used to defend the front lines of both sides. Therefore, militarism was a big cause of World War 1.
The causes that began World War One were things like Alliances between countries, growing armies, and the major cause and start to the War: the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. The main alliances were the Triple Entente (Allies) and the Triple Alliance (Axis). The Triple Entente consisted of Britain, Russia and France and the Triple Alliance had Germany, Italy and Austria-Hungary.