Nationalism had two different types. The first was the desire of common people's independence which would lead to struggles among the Balkan people and when other powers got involved there was a lot of instability in the country. Type two was the desire of independent nations wanting prestige and power, so when you have different powers in Europe trying to dominate each other, the rivalries can be considered a main cause of the first World War. In 1871, Germany was united as a result of the Franco-Prussian War and rapidly built a strong economy and military. Germany allied itself with other countries and aimed to build it's world politics. Italy was not a very powerful country around 1870 after being united, but even though the government was corrupt and didn't work well, Italy was in the mood for more land. Basically, Russia and France wanted more land. All Britain wanted to do was preserve it's large empire and trading businesses.
Imperialism around the time of World War 1 was led by England and France. England's reach was spread about in five countries. France had claims in most of Africa. This made Germany jealous, which led to her wanting to expand.
*This is a picture of the world and where the powers had land.*
The militarism led to an arms race. Germany and England were in competition for the seas. The British created a new ship called the "Dreadnaught" in 1907 and was very effective. In retaliation, Germany also created new ships to compete. The militaries had a role in governments in which they influenced policies. All countries built up their arms, defenses, more modern weapons and technologies, and more strategeticc railways. The result was coming to agreements about where naval forces could stretch to.
The Dual Alliance of 1879 was between Germany and Austria-Hungary to protect themselves from Russia. Austria-Hungary allied with Serbia to stop Russia from gaining control of Serbia in 1881 called the Austro-Serbian Alliance. Germany and Austria-Hungary made an alliance with Italy in 1882 to stop Italy from siding with Russia, called The Triple Alliance. Franco-Russian Alliance in 1894 was between Russia and France to protect Russia from Germany and Austria-Hungary. An agreement and not formal alliance, was made between France and Britain in 1904 called The Entente Cordiale. The Anglo-Russian Entente in 1907 was an agreement between Britain and Russia. In 1907 the Triple Entente was made between Russia, France, and Britain to counter the German threat. Seven years later, the Triple Entente, Russia, France, and Britain, agreed not to sign for peace seperately.
*This picture is a representation of the powers and their alliances.*
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