German Imperialism

From 1890 to 1914, there was a drastic increase in the amount of money nations began to spend on their navy and army advancements. In fact, as the war began to approach, Germany raised the amount they spent towards armaments from 30 million to 120 million pounds and the Triple Entente raised their total money spent to 225 million pounds in 1914 (Document C). The presence of more armaments created an environment ready for war. Their existence meant that the countries are more likely to use them, which only discouraged time to cool off. Additionally, as one country built up their armies more, the others felt they had to do the same which increased tensions. Britain who increased its colonial empire to the largest in the world since the Romans’, caused an arms race where the nations were competing only to have more armaments than the others. Being an island, they began spending more money on their navy, needing to defend its waters. On the opposing side, Germany did not want to get their own feet tramped by any foreign power, fearing to become the anvil rather than the hammer. Bernhard von Bülow, the German Chancellor, said the only way to “keep ourselves at the fore if we realize that there is no welfare for us without power, without a strong army and a strong fleet” (Document D). Using the idea of survival of the fittest, individual countries became stronger in the fear of being destroyed by the aggressors. Clearly, having arms was a

M- Militarism, was an “arms race”, a race to the become stronger, between Britain and Germany. Britain had a strong

Nationalism created distrust of other nations due to cultural variances, political goals, aggressive competition, and rivalry between Europe’s powers for natural resources. Advertisements appeared all over promoting the idea that young men in Europe should go and fight for the greatness of their country. All types of men in Europe signed up for war believing entirely that it was a heroic and worthwhile cause that they were going to fight for. Another cause leading to WWI was imperialism which is a policy or practice by which a

It is heavily debated that the display of German aggression inevitably contributed to the outbreak of general European tensions, and war in 1914. The use of strategies such as the Anglo-German Naval Race, as stated in Joll’s source, highlighted the aggression by Germany prior to war. Moreover, this type of tactic also demonstrated the desire and hunger Germany obtained for continental power, another factor towards European tensions. The sources in question both support and contest the set statement, to an extent. Sources 1 and 3 by Corrigan and Joll, respectively, argue how Germany’s use of tactics agitated European powers, thus causing war. However, Source 2 by Turner disagrees with the statement, arguing how other European powers were to

Fischer argues that German imperialism bears the onus for the Great War, as he concluded that they had gone to war to achieve European and worldwide domination. He states that Germany had ‘confidence in the invincibility of her military strength,’ implying that Germany had been building up their forces. This indicates Germany must have already been preparing for war, strengthening her army until she saw that both France and Russia were ‘militarily weak’ in comparison - to the extent that German elites believed they would remain somewhat unhindered in their continuation of ‘aggressive intentions.’ This is significant for several reasons. First, it was controversial as these ideas challenged the pre-existing general consensus of historians’ outlook since the 1930s: that all involved European nations shared a collective war-guilt from the First World War. Fischer rejects this view. He references a document written by Bethmann’s private secretary on 9 September 1914, outlining the Chancellor’s plan for peace negotiations which he anticipated would soon take place, as according to the September Programme. Fischer extrapolated that these detailed plans (that already had the support of the wider political nation in Germany) must have existed in August and July, and that this was indication towards Germany’s

Before World War I European society believed that war presented a time to show the nationalism and strength of your country. Young

During 1901, Germany was ruled by Kaiser Wilhelm II who was an activist of trade and expansion into foreign areas. Document 3 quotes a speech he gave to the North German Regatta Association in which he proposes how sending out German ships to explore and represent their nation will benefit their country. Document 6 in which Jules Ferry gives a speech to the French National Assembly addresses the same idea. Jules states that more powerful nations will always have power over smaller ones, and because of this France must step up as a European power and begin to spread its influence throughout the world. Since most of the world had already been claimed, some countries debated taking control of others. Document 4 presents the question of whether it would be beneficial for India to be put under British rule. This document presents putting India under British rule as 100% beneficial with no

Explain nationalism and militarism as causes of WWI. – 273 words Nationalism and militarism are the core reasons that World War 1 started. Nationalism is an extreme form of patriotism or loyalty to the country that person is from. Nationalists placed the interests of his / her country above any other country. As seen in source 1, nationalist recruitment posters were often used by governments, such as Britain to target young men in the colonies so that they believed it was their duty to protect their nation at all costs.

Throughout the nineteenth century, the British Royal Navy was a force that could not be matched. Not only did the Navy connect the heart of the empire to its colonies, it also assured the transportation of resources. In previous years, Britain's possession of coal had been the primary fuel for global British domination. However, industrialization brought with it new and more efficient innovations and technology. Embracing technology would lead to the continuation of British domination, but to not adapt at a time when nations such as Germany and Italy were learning to flex their military might, would be detrimental to British Naval supremacy.

During WWI, Imperialism is seen through the ways the countries tried to expand their power by using military forces. For example, according to Colin Nicolson’s book, The First World War, in 1913 Germany had a colonial population of 12 million while Britain had a 400 million colonial population. Also, Britain had almost 11 million more square miles than Germany. This shows how Britain had a major lead in being the most powerful and reveals why Germany was wanting to extend their power. The German propaganda cartoon “The British Octopus” supports the idea that Germany was jealous of Britain’s power and they showed this by portraying Britain as an octopus, sucking power out of the world.

Up until the late middle of the nineteenth century, Britain had ruled the waves and was the only dominant global power. As the nineteenth century came to a close, fears of the British Empire’s weaknesses were beginning to emerge, as German and Russian forces were growing in strength.

In the 1840s, it was the end of the first European industrial revolution. This tremendous revolution that has changed the course of human civilization has brought not only rapid advances in science and technology, but also profound changes in human society. The German Second Reich, which took the last train of the first industrial revolution, dominated the second industrial revolution in the 1860s. After vigorously developing heavy industry and railway transportation, Germany established a substantial foundation for the rise of the imperialism in it. This paper is devoted to researching the influence of the first and the second industrial revolution in the development of German imperialism, mainly concerning the mutual influence between imperialism

The political and social conditions of Europe before the onset of the World War I were extremely unstable and undergoing a rapid transition that was driven by national interests of different nations living in the region. Nationalism was endorsed to promote patriotism among masses and to achieve political objectives that were in alignment with the national or political interests of countries. As the time passed, the growing influence of imperialism and the ideology of nationalism manifested multifaceted

In order to fully understand how Britain’s decision to go to war against Germany is best explained one must engage into the debate revolving around the question of the extent to which Britain and other countries were responsible for causing war. This helps explain the intention Britain had for war which is vital in understanding their decision making process to cause war in the first place. Some schools of thought have come to the conclusion that it was everybody or nobody- the continent “slithered over the brink into the boiling cauldron of war without any trace of apprehension or dismay.”1 That analysis will be considered in this essay as will the widespread thesis that it was Germany’s aggression which not only created the preconditions for war, but also triggered Britain into war with the political imbalance of power being created from the growing naval and colonial expansion of Germany. Other factors that help explain why Britain went to war against Germany

wanted more power. The Kaiser Wilhelm II wanted to match the great Naval power of the British Empire, something that he greatly admired (Winter 31,) and gain territories abroad such as had been done by France and Great Britain. It is the personality of the Kaiser, “when he was provoked or offended – and he always seemed in danger of being offended – Wilhelm’s language was full of spleen, hatred, and rhetorical violence” (Winter 32,) along with his position as the Supreme War Lord that lead to trouble. The violent and obsessive Kaiser and his disillusions are what leads to trouble. In Germany’s final gamble with the Kaiser’s Battle, the Kaiser childishly got ahead of himself with excitement over an effort that resulted in eventual failure. Admiral Georg Von Müller recounted that the Kaiser yelled from a train to a guard on a platform that “the battle is won! The English have been utterly defeated” (Winter 292.) However, as it is worded by Winter, “the Kaiser’s emotions clouded his vision. Within a week, the advance had ground to a halt” (294.) It is the disillusionment of the Kaiser and his immaturity that set the tone for Germany’s failure. The failed, flawed, over-emotional, irrational, and infantile leadership of the Kaiser set the tone for the poor decisions and failed missions to come for Germany. The next major fault would be the Schlieffen Plan as it was the first failed battle of Germany’s, but it was not the only battle where the results were not as what was