Why Was The First World War Inevitable

:The extreme love of one’s country ➔ Some extreme nationalists proudly believed that they were superior to their neighbours and that war was an excellent means of proving their nation’s superiority ➔ Those who are labelled nationalists often ignore their country’s shortcomings and failures ➔ In pre-war Europe, numerous governments were seeking opportunities to gain power ➔ itizens of some nations, such as Italy and Austria-Hungary, were led to believe that they were destined to be powerful forces in Europe

: The creation of an empire, usually consisting of colonies, to benefit the mother country ➔ By founding colonies around the world, the nations of Europe were able to gain control of valuable commodities and raw materials that could be sold cheaply

This created an atmosphere of fear and distrust ➔ When Germany began producing more arms and ships to counter Britain, Britain responded by producing more weapons to ensure its dominance ➔ Unlike traditional races, however, there is rarely a clear winner in an arms race by spending large sums of money on weapons, governments make conflict increasingly likely ➔ As a result, Germany’s and Britain’s spending on weapons made war almost inevitable.

● : A union formed for mutual benefit between countries ➔ The nations of Europe began making alliances with each other to increase bargaining power and to create a deterrent for attacks from enemies ➔ England and France formed an alliance with Russia all three nations wanted to limit the strength of Germany ➔ Germany forged alliances with Austria-Hungary and Italy ➔ Italy, however, had a secret agreement with France that would result in Italy gaining control of certain regions of Austria-Hungary if war occurred ➔ The alliances were really opportunities for nations to gain more land or