preview

Essay On The Underlying Causes Of World War 1

Decent Essays

WW1\ World War 1 was the first total war that the world had ever gone through. World war 1 began on July 28, 1914, and lasted till November 11, of 1918, lasting over 4 years producing over 10 million casualties. The main question is “What was the underlying cause of World war 1?” this is asking what were the causes that led to the war. There were a few causes to world war 1, the most underlying cause was militarism. Militarism was the most impactful reason for the war, and what ultimately pulled the last straw. The main factor to causing world war 1 was militarism. Militarism was the purpose for world war 1, because all of these countries involved were very aggressive with their militaries, and it caused a violent reaction from each other. The definition of militarism is the belief or desire of a government or people that a country should maintain a strong military capability, and be prepared to …show more content…

Imperialism was not the underlying cause of World War 1. “The amount of lands ‘owned’ by Britain and France increased the rivalry with Germany who had entered the scramble to acquire colonies late and only had small areas of Africa.” Imperialism was in common in many countries, and did play a role in leading to the war. The deciding factor to start the war was militarism. Nationalism was a factor that produced the war, it was not the underlying cause to world war 1. Nationalism means that the people living in their country, are very patriotic, have principles, and supports their country immensely. There were many countries that were nationalistic before the war started, but nearing the end the losing countries had no nationalism. This wasn’t a major cause to World war 1, because it is natural for people to want their country to fight so they don’t appear as weak. Nationalism was prevalent in early 20th century Europe and was a significant cause of World War I. Most pre-war Europeans believed in the cultural, economic and military supremacy of their

Get Access