Taylor Scott Period 1 World War I Causes World War I, also known as the Great War was one of the most revolutionary wars in modern history. The war started in 1914 and ended in 1919 and included many advancements such as tanks and mustard gas. The Great War was one of the most deadly and gruesome wars ever. There were many different pivotal things that led to the breakout of war in Europe and eventually the world. 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.
World War I was generated through a myriad of incentives, which were genuinely difficult to prevent. Although there were many key factors sparking the Great War, entangling alliances was the mainspring. The entangling alliances were complex and contained many problems amongst them. There were many chaotic issues that occurred between the entangling alliances, which led to World War I forming. The foundation of entangling alliances between 1881 and 1917 directly generated World War I by the increasing rivalries, growing national self-interest, and the drawing of nation’s into conflict.
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.
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).
Nationalism causes other nations to become suspicious, and it also leads to a war that could easily be resolved other ways. The system of alliances was another underlying cause, as it made the war a world war by bringing all of Europe into it. WW1 began because of militarism, nationalism, and the system of alliances. The presence of militarism, an ideology that claims that the military is the most important aspect of a society, before and during the war led to jealousy and hard feelings, thus escalating the war far before it needed to be. Although this was not the primary cause, it was still an extremely important factor in the playing out of WW1.
During World War I, Great Britain and the United States of America used propaganda very efficiently in efforts to increase nationalism, gain support and raise money for the war. One of the main causes of the outbreak of World War I, nationalism, was promoted through propagandistic campaigns. Posters and slogans were created to build this sense of pride in one’s nation. Nationalism, or powerful patriotism towards one’s own country, fueled the idea of superiority amongst the nations on the warfront. Many countries’ egotism in the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century led to the belief that if a war were to break out, that specific country would come out victorious in any conflict.
Since the late 19th century and early 20th century, there has been major tension within Europe. With many countries making alliances, building up better and stronger navies or armies and fighting over land was all recipe for disaster and ultimately led to a World War. In 1871 when Germany unified, many tensions grew in Europe as other countries such as Russia and France saw this young power house country coming through. Germany was not only wealthy, it was industrialized, had lots of resources, a very strong economy and a few years after unification became one of the super power countries. This made other European powers such as Britain, France and Russia threatened.
Reasons for Break Out of World War One 1. War broke out as a result of a combination of short and long term factors. The system of alliances contributed to the outbreak of war as this caused tension between the countries and everyone became suspicious of everyone else. The triple alliance consisted of Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy, and the triple Entente consisted of Britain, Franceand Russia. There was a lot of mistrust between the alliances and if say Russiaand Britainwere to fall out, then all of the countries would be involved.
Militarism was one of the most important thing to all of the countries that fought in World War I. World War I was a huge war. Several countries were involved in World War I. Many lives were lost during this horrible time. Many people believe that imperialism, nationalism, and militarism caused it all to happen.
This led to competition to try to control the most foreign colonies, and in turn, sustain their economy. And whenever there is competition, there are tensions formed, as was the case between the powers prior to WW1, driving the nations to war. The most significant causes of World War One include alliances, nationalism, and imperialism, but there are multiple other reasons that led to the tensions that created this war. This was one of the biggest, bloodiest wars in history, as almost the entire world was involved in some way. At the time it was called “the war to end all wars”, but unfortunately that was not true; it was just so giant compared to previous engagements that people couldn’t see how it could possibly progress past the state it was in.