Some people would say that nationalism, militarism, imperialism, and or industrialization were the cause of World War I. Colonies wanted the glorification of the military and fight for land, and its resources. What I prove is that the leading cause of WWI was caused by militarism and imperialism. Militarism was a major contributor to World War because new weapons, emerging technologies and developments industrial production, fuelled a Europeans arms race in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Militarism is the incorporation of military personnel and ideas into civilian government – and the belief that military power is essential for national strength. Furthermore, British militarism, though more subdued than its counterpart, was considered essential …show more content…
Imperialism is when a powerful nation-state seizes territories outside its own borders, transforming and governing them as colonies. Colonies would existed to profit and enrich in the imperial power. Furthermore, the British imperialism was driven chiefly by trade, the importation of raw materials and commercial sale of manufactured goods (J. Llewellyn, Jim Southey and Steve Thompson). The main advantages of imperialism, however, were economic. Britain wanted to trade special materials and essentially make profit of all these low priced items. During WWI saw a race to acquire the last territories open for colonization. Much of this occurred in Africa, where Britain, France and Germany all competed for new colonial possessions. The scramble for empire in Africa also gave rise to several diplomatic incidents. Furthermore, as the French were attempting to suppress a rebellion in Morocco, the Germans landed an armed vessel, the Panther, at the Moroccan port of Agadir – a landing made without permission, prior warning or any obvious purpose. This incident triggered an even stronger reaction and brought France and Germany to the brink of war (J. Llewellyn, Jim Southey and Steve Thompson). This shows that the French were attempting to fight and or rebel over land such as Africa. This causes tension between nations and later eventually becomes a factor of WWI. Nations …show more content…
Tensions on the rise, the great powers begin to build up their armies and navies. The fiercest competition was naval rivalry between Britain and Germany. Furthermore, Germany acquired overseas colonies, and began to build up its own navy army (Esler, 818). Germany wanted to beat Britain’s world’s most respected navy army. However, Britain just wanted to protect its overseas empire and trade routes. Furthermore, ‘scramble for empire’ fuelled rivalry and led to several diplomatic incidents, such as two ‘Moroccan crises’ that were largely precipitated by the German Kaiser (J. Llewellyn, Jim Southey and Steve Thompson). Colonies would race for the largest empire using militarism. Imperialism is major factor of World War one because colonies only wanted land to begin with and protect its valuable resources which causes
Imperialism was one of the four contributing factors to the cause of World War One, along with secret alliances, militarism, and nationalism. It is the most important cause of WW1, because it created a build-up of tension in Europe and outside of Europe, and through imperialism, the three other causes were able to affect the beginnings of the war. Imperialism is defined as the governing of one people by another country, which was a recurring dilemma prior to WW1 due to the industrialist movement. Although not all events that fall into the imperialistic category were about controlling another country, they contributed to the war, and imperialistic events were the foundation of the cause of WW1.
Tyler Jens Mrs. Ramminger U.S. History Monday 11, 2024. Imperialism in World War I Imperialism was the main reason for World War I because of Austria-Hungary’s threat to Serbia’s independence, the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, and Serbia getting sick of Austria-Hungary’s tyranny and colonization.
Moreover, Imperialism required weapons to maintain the control. All European expedentures from 1908 to 1913 had a competition of nations, and lead to rival nations forming alliances to better be equipped for defense with better military. When more weapons were created it had caused tensions to rise. In 1911 France tried to take over Morocco, Britain feared that Kaiser wanted to set up a naval base in Agadir. Later on, a conference was held and the British and French pointed their fingers at Germany. France took control of Morocco and Germany. This lead directly to Militarism. Militarism had not only done that but, it also made it increasingly hard to upkeep with all the changes going on. Not surprisingly, it was a significant cause of World War one because Kaiser was humiliated and could have felt determined to fight Britain and France earlier as an act of Revenge. Also, it would require militarism to defeat
Great Britain had the largest imperial empire prior to World War I which meant that other nations would envy Britain, therefore creating competition. The scramble for empire was more competitive between Britain, France, and Germany. However, since Britain and France were allies, Germany's confidence would diminish if Britain remained a strong imperial empire thus intensifying jealousy and igniting the first world war. Indeed, acquiring land included several benefits which would make their nation powerful to a greater extent. Norman Rich states in The Age of Nationalism and Reform, “Colonies were deemed essential as sources of raw material for the manufacture of modern weapons, and as naval bases to protect trade routes and strategic supply lines” (Doc. 12).
The first cause of WWI is both alliance systems and nationalism. This can be seen in the
Jessica Kasparian Period 3 Cause of World War 1 “If even one person is left standing at the end of a war, then the fight was worth it,” Garrus Vakarian, Mass Effect 3. World War 1 was one of the cruelest wars ever with more than 10 million deaths and 20 million wounded. With the major conflict with the alliances, World War 1 shifted how the world is now. There were many reason why World War 1 occurred.
Another main cause of World War I was Militarism. For each country there was a big increase in military and naval forces. For each country there was a big increase in military and navel forces. The policies and government created a big influence on the military men and because of this, force was a alternative as solutions to problems. This is what made militarism one of the main causes of World War I. There was a rise in military influence on policy making after 1907, in countries such as Germany and Russia. During this period of time the German Army was known as a “state within a state”. Everybody in the government such as the parliament and politicians were required to follow the General staff. The war atmosphere was endangered. It was because of the secret alliances and that triggered a armaments race among all the powers. During 1900-1914 the race became very serious and the international situation became much worse then ever before. During these years there was a rise in army and navel estimates. There was so much military rivalry within countries competing for the
During the 1700’s through the 1900’s empires like France and Britain began to take over land in various continents and turned them into colonies. Although Britain and France saw this as a positive thing, the colonies proved to be difficult to control. Today it is hard to tell if the acquisition of these colonies was more beneficial or detrimental to their respective motherlands. Britain was the first European nation to imperialize. This is because England is an island and was running out of natural resources, and with growing population, there was no way to tell when England would run out of resources. Britain also had the world’s strongest navy. This brought up the idea to imperialize. Some other reasons for imperialism was the desire for
Imperialism is the advocacy of power and domain by acquiring territory or gaining political and economic control of an area (“Imperialism”). British Imperialism was motivated by the nation’s success during Industrialization. The Industrial Revolution was a time period between 18th and 19th centuries where predominantly agrarian, rural societies in Europe and America became industrial and urban (“Industrialization”). Industrialization sparked an urge in the British nation to modernize the non industrialized countries. Britain’s economy improved as a result of the industrialization so they started to accumulate feeling of racial superiority against the non industrialized countries. The British justified their racial superiority by using a changed
Even before WW1 began, years of tension had built up a rivalry between the great powers of Europe, triggered by alliances, power plays, weapons races and security. Furthermore, the Balkans was a power-vacuum, formally under the control of a fast-deteriorating Ottoman Empire. Imperialist expansionism on the part of Austria-Hungary and the German Reich was also giving rise to tensions. The increased efforts of Germany to have a colonial empire in Africa was another factor that led to WW1. During the 19th century, Britain, France and Germany had been in competition with each other, trying to build colonies in the Americas, Africa and Asia. Russia, Japan and the United States were doing the same in the Asian
In the 16th century Britain began to establish overseas colonies and by 1783 they had a large empire with colonies throughout the world including America, the West Indies and India. How did they achieve this? It was through imperialism. Imperialism is the state policy whereby new British territories were obtained by extending power and control over them. Imperialism is morally reprehensible and although it benefited the British, the impact of British colonisation of these countries was never overly beneficial for the indigenous peoples.
Africa, which Europeans called the “dark continent” because its interior was still virtually unknown to them, was colonized by conquest from one end of the continent to the other. European Imperialism was caused by the loss of American colonies during 1700 and 1800s, As a result, France, Britain, Portugal, Spain, Germany fought for African territory to replace their lost American work force and source of raw materials. Africa became more Dependant on an industrialized economy. Africa was “disputed territory” that was needed for exploration,trade,and settlement. Conference divided Africa into sections,which were controlled by European Nations.
During the twentieth century, Europe seemed to enjoy a period of peace and prosperity. Yet below the surface, several forces were at work that would eventually lead Europe into a war that would forever shape its destiny. The US, officially, became involved in WWI in 1917. Some causes and impacts of WW1 include Schenk v. United States, Imperialism, the Flu, and labor. These are just some of the many causes and impacts of WW1.
The continents of Africa, South America, and Asia have an abundance of natural resources which attracted Europeans centuries ago. “The Scramble for Africa” began from 1880 to 1900 where rapid European powers began having interests in their resources; due to the end of the Atlantic-Slave Trade, unemployment, poverty, homelessness and social displacement in Europe (Boddy-Evans, 2015). Great Britain, France, Germany, Belgium, Italy, Portugal and Spain all claimed countries for themselves. They created declarations of exclusive claims to areas of trade, imposition of tariffs, control of waterways and commercial routes in different parts of Africa. The scramble for Africa became so intense that German chancellor Otto von Bismarck held the Berlin Conference to avoid inter-imperialist conflict and war between the countries. As a result, the conference divided the continent without any African participation. Europeans had no regards to the various ethnicities, culture, and tribes within the continent (Iweriebor, 2011). The French, German, Portuguese, and the Dutch used direct rulings to centralize their territories without any attempt to preserve African institutions (Colonialism and Africa's Integration into the Global Economy, n.d.).Africans signed treaties with the European diplomats thinking that they represented commercial friendships while the Europeans believed that the Africans signed over their sovereignties to European powers. This misunderstanding initiated many years of conflict between them. Africa was rich in minerals such as copper, iron, uranium, manganese, gas, gold and oil. These raw minerals were often manufactured and brought wealth back to Europe. Much of the same events happened throughout South America and Asia. Imperialists essentially wanted the land to
Militarism was one of the major causes of the Great War because it was an “arms race”, to glorify armed strength to prepare for war. Having a larger navy, Britain was on the lead but Germany wanted a large navy too. France and Germany competed to form a large battalion.