Causes of World War I World War I was the bar fight of all bar fights and was expected to end quickly. Unfortunately, the treacherous battle field held soldier's longer than expected. At first, Europe had been flourishing with colonies worldwide and had developed in technology greatly. Alliances had been put in place in order to balance power and prevent a world war to ever happen. Alas, the conflict between Austria-Hungary and Serbia was not prevented at all. The conflict was what pushed forward the war and caused countries to call for more alliances. This had gotten more and more nations involved in what started as a small conflict to a war. Countries started declaring war on eachother until it was, what some might call, a bar fight. Although …show more content…
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 …show more content…
Imperialism had taken over with increased wealth, trade, and industrialization among powerful nations. Many of the colonies that countries had were used to help in war. This caused much anger among colonies that were forced to fight in World War I. According to document F, a chart representing the size of colonies and who they belonged to in 1913 (a year before the war), Britain was the richest in colonies. Britain held 12,740,000 square miles of colonial land and a population 400,000,000 people living in those colonies. This mass amount of power not only caused the war to become more heated with countries like Britain using their colonies to fight on their side, but it also spread jealousy to less powerful nations. According to document E, a German propaganda poster, illustrates Britain as an octopus that is reaching over the world to its conquered colonies. The title reads “Freedom of the Seas,” (Document E) with a caption reading “England, the bloodsucker of the world,” (Document E). In document F, Germany had less colonial rule than Britain and therefore are angry that Britain has so much power. This brings on more bitterness that caused the war. Imperialism is the underlying cause of World War I because it not only caused bitterness among countries with less colonial rule, it also promoted the increase in militarism and alliances. Colonies were forced to fight alongside
Cause(s) of WWI Over many decades, there have been thousands and almost millions of reasons for what caused World War 1. Some say it was the only assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary or the European expansion alone. Furthermore, there is not just one factor that led to the cause of World War 1, yet possibly three. In simple terms, the causes of World War 1 are militarism, nationalism, and alliances.
Prior World War I Europe had a long term of peace with in the countries. Lots of imperialism was happening at the time. Most of the European countries had colonies around the world. Although most of the countries were threatened by each other due to the amount of colonies each country had. In attempts to show their superiority over its surrounding countries Germany decided to build up their army, causing the surrounding counties to mimic Germany's actions The European countries where frighten by each other leading to the creation of alliances more specifically the Triple Alliance consisting of Germany, Italy, and Austria-Hungary and the Triple Entente containing Russia, France, and Great Britain.
War broke out in 1914 due to forces that had been building up in Europe for years. While the Allies blamed Germany for the war too harshly, its actions certainly did directly contribute to World War I, as did those of Austria Hungary. However, each country involved fostered militarism in their country, and became in entrenched in the web of alliances and race for imperial power, all causes of the environment that led to the Great War. Therefore, it could be said that all European countries were responsible, in part, for World War I, as reflected in Documents 5, 6, and 7.
Flor Martinez Mr. Coker World History DBQ 19 April 2023 Causes of World War I There are many factors that contributed to the start of World War I in 1914. After having studied them all, I have narrowed it down to Militarism and Imperialism, but I believe that the main cause was Alliances. The term Militarism refers to a country’s belief to have a strong military and be prepared to use it whenever necessary in order to defend their country.
How did nationalism cause WW1? 1910-1919 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.
Although the people during that time period thought that the war was going to end quickly, simply because it was between Austria and Serbia, the war surprisingly included many other strong countries because of nationalism especially regarding the Balkan colonies wanting to be self-governed. But meanwhile, after Austria-Hungary proclaimed war with Serbia, countries from the Triple Entente later joined into war in a matter of time. As shown in Document A: the European Alliances and nations are shown on a map. The nations then started to pick sides. Austria-Hungary and Germany formed the Central Powers
Colonies helped mother country economically by providing more resources, and they helped the militarily by providing more soldiers. The Milsim is a cause of world war I. Although there are more to cover the main idea is that Miles was the main cause of World War I. Just because of milsim there was a large war in many countries.
The Nations not so blest as thee, Shall in their turns to tyrants fall; While thou shalt flourish great and free, The dread and envy of them all.(DBQ: What Were the Underlying Causes of World War 1, 2010, Document 5) These people believe in themselves and took serving their nation as a duty to themselves and their pride and nations used propaganda (information, especially of a biased or misleading nature, used to promote or publicize a particular political cause or point of view.) in which made people angry at other nations and wanted to fight.
“...The rise of Germany, whose supremacy France dreaded and whose navy menaced Engliand, has created an alliance in which claimed it was defensive in nature but was denounced by Germany propaganda as an attempt at encirclement of germany…” (Document G) The quote from Document G speaks to the fear and mistrust that Germany’s rise to power caused among its neighbors. Countries such as France and England were wary of Germany’s growing naval strength and its potential to threaten the balance of power in Europe. To protect themselves, these countries formed alliances with one another, creating a mix of military and political ties that further increased tensions between them.
Militarism made nations want to prove their power. Imperialism caused distrust and propaganda. Allies caused nations to fight for dominance. World War I was a big battle and caused nations to spend money and lose millions of people during the
Britain had a large and powerful navy. Germany wanted to have the same thing too, or even bigger and better. All the countries felt like they had to build up their militaries to keep up with everyone else. Not just one of the four causes takes the blame for starting WWI. All of these things: imperialism, nationalism, alliances, and militarism combined to make a large war, involving many countries, which took several years to
There are many causes of World War I. The immediate cause of the war was the assassination of the Archduke Francis Ferdinand, the heir of the Austria-Hungary throne, but the inchoations of the war date back further and involve national politics, cultures, economics, and coalitions between
The European Alliances caused a big outbreak of countless events such as the war between the borders and the balance of power. Imperialism was a big contribution to World War 1. The amount of land that Britain and France owned caused a rivalry with Germany. This later on had to do with the controlling portions of Africa. “In the late 1800’s tension had arisen during the battle for Africa, when the other countries such as France, Germany, and Britain had secured the remaining of the continent.”
The Causes of the First World War Carmen 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. I think the most significant cause of WW1 was the alliance system.
The First World War ended on November 11th, 1918 when the German government signed an armistice treaty with the Allied powers, leaving 9 million soldiers dead and 21 million wounded. This has lead World War I to be commonly known as the “war to end all wars”. There several key reasons as to why the Central Powers lost the war. Generally, it was a mixture of the Central Powers weakness and the Allied power’s strength. However, more specifically, the Central Powers had weak and unreliable Allies such as Austro - Hungary and the Ottoman Empire which both collapsed, leaving Germany isolated.