The Causes of World War I

The Causes of World War I

It has been suggested that naval rivalry was the main cause of World

War One because, this was one of the most significant causes of

tension between some of the most powerful countries in Europe. I

strongly agree that this contributed to World War One but there are

also several other factors that have to be considered such as the

Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the First Moroccan Crisis,

the Second Moroccan Crisis, the Balkan Wars and the Arms Race.

Naval Rivalry

When Kaiser Wilhelm announced that he intended to build a powerful

navy in 1898.Britains natural reaction was to feel very threatened and

intimidated, especially since Britain had been the unchallenged

rulers of the sea ever since the battle of Trafalgar in 1805. Britain

had a vast and powerful navy, which was used to protect its large

empire that was located all over the world. Germany had no real need

for a navy which made Britain extremely suspicious; they suspected

Germany may want control of Britain’s empire. To try and prevent this

from happening Britain launched the new state of the art battleship,

the ‘Dreadnought’ in 1906. In response to this Germany built their own

dreadnoughts and widened the Kiel Canal to enable its navy to enter

the north and Baltic sea. This sparked off a race between Germany and

Britain; build as many ships as quickly as possible, which became

particularly vicious during 1911-1914. In total Britain produced 18

Dreadnoughts which were constructed in Scotland. This whole ordeal

contributed to World War One because it caused great tension between

two of the most powerful countries in Europe.

The...

... middle of paper ...

...build up of tension contributed to the

start of World War One.

The Arms Race

From 1870-1914 the Armies and Navies were greatly expanded. The

standing armies of France and Germany doubled in size between 1870 and

1914. Naval expansion was also extremely competitive, particularly

between Germany and Britain. By 1880, the British had established the

principle that in order to maintain naval superiority in the event of

war they would have to have a navy two and a half times as large as

the second- largest navy. This motivated the British to launch the

Dreadnought, invented by Admiral Sir John Fisher in 1906.International

rivalry caused the arms race to feed on itself. This rivalry between

the countries made them competitive, suspicious and paranoid and built

tension between them with contributed to World War One.