Causes of World War 1:
Nationalism:
Nationalism is having devotion and loyalty to one's own country. The origin of the war was largely based on the desire of the Slavic people in Bosnia and Herzegovina to be a part of Serbia rather than Austria-Hungary. This was a direct influence of the war. Also, the nationalism of many other countries in Europe not only played a part in the beginning of the war, but also extended its length as they continuously tried to prove their power and dominance over others. This in turn led to imperialism.
Imperialism:
Imperialism is when a country increases their power and wealth by controlling additional territories. Great Britain, France, and Germany were in need of foreign markets after the increase in manufaturing caused by the Industrial Revolution. These countries started competing for resources and important raw materials in Africa and parts of Asia.This increase in competition between them and their desires for wealth led to more tension that helped to push them closer to war.
Militarism:
Militarism is a policy of maintaining a strong military organization in aggressive preparedness for war. Countries in Europe would purposely grow their armies and make them as big and powerful as they could so that they would look intimidating and no one would try to declare war on them. By the 20th century, an arms race had begun because many countries were doing just that. Germany had the greatest increase in military backup by 1914, almost doubling. France, Germany, and Britain increased their military serving period up to three and a half years. Great Britain and Germany had both greatly increased their navys by this time as well and were in a fierce competition to gain control over the seas. Britain soon introduced a battleship called the Dreadnought which was heavily armored by plates 28cm thick and could reach speeds of up to 21 knots. These powerul ships also had more accurate and long-distance fire. Germany felt threatened and began building their own Dreadnoughts, and soo the two countries were in a race to build the most. By 1914, the British navy had 19 and Germany only had 13. As a result of this rivarly, World War 1 was getting closer and closer.
System of Alliances:
The alliance system was started by Bismarck, the German Chancellor from 1871 to 1890. After the end of the Franco-Prussian War, Bismarck said that Germany should give up any ideas of further conquest. He then orgainized a system of alliances which was designed to maintain Germany's hegemony (aggression or expansionism by large nations in an effort to achieve world domination) on all of Europe. France wanted to challenge their hegemony after being defeated by Germany in 1871 and having to give up two of their provinces. As a result, Bismarck tried to become friends with Austria, Russia, and Italy to leave France by themselves. Over time, these countries formed different alliances and made agreements that if one country was attacked, their allied country had to help defend them. These were the alliances that existed prior to WW1: Russia/Serbia, Germany/Austria-Hungary, France/Russia, Britain/France/Belgium, and Japan/Belgium. Eventually, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia so Russia joined in to defend them. Germany saw that Russia was organizing their military and declared war on them. France then joined in against Germany and Austria-Hungary. Then, Germany attacked France Belgium after they pulled in Great Britain. Since Great Britain was getting attacked, Japan entered in. Eventually, Italy and the United States joined in as well and World War 1 had officially begun.
I thought that some of this information was a little hard to understand at times, especially imperialism and maybe nationalism but I think I get the gist of it for the most part. This blog kind of took a while too because many websites said the same stuff and it wasn't explained very clearly. Anyways, I think that the causes of World War 1 were interesting to learn about. I had no idea that there were so many factors involved in the events leading up to the war and what could make countries turn on each other like they did. The world would be a much better place if everyone just got along but of course, that never happens.
Sources:
http://americanhistory.about.com/od/worldwari/tp/causes-of-world-war-1.htm
http://www.thecorner.org/hist/wwi/alliance.htm
http://dictionary.reference.com/ for many of the definitions
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