Another cause was Nationalism, germany mostly. Germany because they were a fairly new country who wanted to prove themselves as a nation. The final cause was imperialism. which was happening all over the place and it made countries scared their land might be attacked. World War One was not only caused by an assassination but was caused by alliances made throughout Europe along with insane nationalism, extreme militarism and frantic imperialism.
The British had dominated the seas and many far off colonies because of their naval fleet, granting them immense power. As the Germans began to propose a new and vast naval fleet, and France and Russia formed a new alliance sparking suspicion in Britain, Germany quickly became a threat to British supremacy. This created a chain reaction of stressed importance upon naval arme... ... middle of paper ... ...d conflict. The alliances among European countries were an imminent cause of World War One, because of the lack of trust between unallied nations and the ultra nationalistic view that one country was prominent over another. World War One was greatly influenced by many factors, and in many ways.
They did this hastily, comprehensively and most importantly, aggressively. The "Weltpolotik" of Germany meant consolidation and increase of power. They wanted an empire, and to achieve this they needed economic stability and subsequently milita... ... middle of paper ... ... united Germany, then there would not have been the desire which plagued them and Europe, and ultimately started war. However, it would be unfair not to recognise the other factors. Nationalism significantly altered the political structure of Europe; the unstable Balkans were both unknown and feared; and probably all the leaders of all the major powers have some blame for the war.
It became like a race between the countries to see who could gain better technology, weapons and soldiers. There was a big rivalry between Germany and Britain. Increased military and naval rivalry led not only to the belief that war was coming (The German ruling group felt that only through a war could Germany become a world power. Military preparations strengthened this belief.) and increase in military control of the civilian government (particularly in Germany and Russia) also increased cooperation among the military staff of the countries of the same camp.
The public wanted more battleships for the fear of the Germans rapidly growing navy.' Britain retaliated by launching the huge battleship HMS Dreadnought in 1906 to promote confidence in the British public. Germany '…simultaneously undermined the Royal Navy's long-standing supremacy, inevitably antagonised Britain, and inaugurated a bitter naval arms race…' There was now an increase of ships of the HMS Dreadnoughts class being brought into service. The Kaiser, resolute to have the best navy, ordered an even more prodigious fleet to compete with Britain's mass navy. Meanwhile Republican France was also a... ... middle of paper ... ... result of many events built up over some decades.
One could see alliances escalating the the amount of countries in the war, an extreme amount of nationalism, and tensions over colonies and technological advances. All of these ultimately led to commencement of World War I. First, and possibly one of the most crucial of all the reasons, was alliances. The Great War started off slowly, but it started a chain reaction that slowly brought most of Europe into it. The two sides in this war were the Allied forces which consisted of Britain, Russia, the United States, and a few more while the other side was the Central Powers which had Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria, and Turkey.
Nationalism led to the creation of a new power: Germany through the uniting of many small states. War had a major role in achieving nation unification in Germany. On the other hand, nationalism weakened the eastern European empires of Austria-Hungary, Russia, and Ottoman Turkey. Those empires ruled many national groups that clamored for independence. The Balkan Peninsula otherwise known as "Powder Keg of Europe" because tensions there threatened to ignite a major war.
Along with the hostile divisions in Europe came the expansion of armies and navies thus leading to an arms race. This arms race was also precipitated by the increase in war budgets after 1900. Attempts to restrict the arms race, like The Hague conference in 1899 and 1907 failed due to mutual suspicion. The great powers also elaborated plans for mass mobilisation. It was thought that a war would be decided in the opening phases and therefore who ever got into the field first and assembled the largest army in the sh... ... middle of paper ... ...;By 1914 the system of diplomacy in Europe had broken down.
As one can clearly see in the writings of the influential German historian, Heinrich von Treitschke, war and territorial expansion were seen as being necessary to the preservation and advancement of German society. He states that, “War is for an afflicted people the only remedy… Those who preach the nonsense about everlasting peace do not understand the life of the Aryan race, the Aryans are before all brave.” The mobilization of the people and resources, for the purpose of making war, were believed to be the means of preservation and advancement of German society. These ultra-nationalistic attitudes and beliefs resulted in widespread German enthusiasm with the coming of war in 1914. As expressed in a German newspaper, The Post, “Another forty years of peace would be a national misfortune for Germany.” With the armistice that took effect November 11,1918, the Great War had come to an end, four long years after it had begun. The German military machine had lost the war, and with it, hopes of German dominance in European affairs.
This was only the spark that started war in Europe; there were long term causes that contributed to the war and were the origins. This answer will explain the causes focusing on how they contributed to World War One and what the important links are between them. The Alliances not only contributed to war breaking out; it made the war last longer and become on a much larger scale; major political disputes would inevitably cause a large conflict. The alliances caused suspicion, fear, and tension among nations. The two camps were the Triple Entente (Britain, France and Russia) and the Triple Alliance (Germany, Italy and Austria-Hungary).