Nationalism And Imperialism: An Analysis Of The Causes Of World War I

The flash of machine guns and the blare of shells were brand new to the veterans. Both the soldiers on the front and their family at home did not realize how much WW1 would change war forever. WW1, beginning in 1914 and ending in 1918 involved two major parties. The triple alliance, including Germany, Italy, and Austria-Hungary, and the triple entente, including France, Great Britain, and Russia fought the biggest War that the world had ever seen. We know the story, but when we read the between the pages, what were the underlying causes of the Great War that changed history? Through extensive research among primary and secondary documents, the answer has been found. The hidden causes were militarism, nationalism, and the system of

World War one, also known as the “great war” was directly caused by the assassination of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand. What you may not know is that the root causes to World War one were Nationalism, Militarism, and Alliances. Not only do they have a huge role in starting the war, but also making sure the war was finished.

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.

Some of the causes of world war one are imperialism, militarism, nationalism, and alliances. Imperialism is when one country rules over another through establishment of colonies. Imperialism resulted from Industrialization, which was needed for raw goods and markets for manufactured goods. The countries fought with each other over colonies. Militarism was used for building a strong military and in order for that country to have its interests dominate the government. In the past, war was seen as something that was acceptable to solve conflicts and enhance a country. Some examples of imperialism include: naval arms race between Great Britain and Germany. Nationalism is a strong feeling of loyalty and protection of culture and need of ethnic group to have a country that is their own. Alliances are countries that form cooperative groups in order to protect everyone’s interests. However, the most significant cause of world war one was industrialization, which had fueled imperialism, and Nationalism. Together they both caused three factors that led to war: German unification, territorial rivalries, and economic competition.

World War One was many years in the making with separate incidences occurring between the empires that ultimately lead up to war beginning. With many powerful empires on edge and wanting to be the most powerful, they did whatever they could to make this happen. The First World War was not sparked by one event or motive, but in turn was started due to many major factors. The war’s blame can be placed on all of the countries involved, rather than solely Germany. These factors from World War One were the product of each empire and their long-term needs such as nationalism, imperialism, militarism and the alliances. The short-term event that was the final push to start the war was the assassination of Franz Ferdinand.

Nationalism is a sense of pride one has towards their nation's achievements and the belief that the nation should be able to control the government, and each facet of manufacturing. After Napoleon’s exile to Elba, the Congress of Vienna tried to resolve the issues in Europe. Delegates from Austria, Britain, Prussia and Russia wanted a new Europe that left Germany and Italy as separate states. Strong nationalist groups led to the reuniting of Italy in 1861 and Germany in 1871. The resolution at the end of the Franco-Prussian war left France irritated at the loss of Alsace-Lorraine to Germany. France was destined to recover this lost territory. Large areas of both Austria-Hungary and Serbia were home to opposing nationalist groups, but all had the same vision to have freedom from the states in which they lived. (Crocker, 2017).

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.

The United States wasn’t jumping to get involved it WWI. They wanted to remain neutral for the duration of the war. However those plans did not last because we entered the war in 1917. There were many reasons the war started in general and that U.S. entered the war. There were many things that resulted from the war.

Ferdinand and his wife had arranged to tour Bosnia. As the couple rode through Sarajevo, the capital of Austro-Hungarian, on June 28, 1914, a man by the name of Gavrilo Princip jumped on their car and fired two shots, killing Ferdinand and his wife. Gavrilo Princip, was linked to a Serbian terrorist group called the Black hand("World War I History." ).

The story “The Age of Empire” was an epic story in the late 19th century to early 20th century. The Age of Empire was around the generation of Imperialism. The author Eric Hobsbawm that wrote The Age of Empire, made a controversy about Imperialism in the 1800’s. In the imperialism period there has been a significant issue between the economy, politics, racial slurs and ideology. The Europeans and Africans were involved in the imperialism period their important role was to search for raw materials. The age of empire took place in World War I which is around 1914.

Before World War 1 began there were many conflicts between many countries, these conflicts are what eventually led to the war. Nationalism lead to World War 1 for reasons people believed they needed to fight for their country, many people who weren’t fighting wanted to support their soldiers, and many soldiers felt as if they couldn’t back out of the war. Militarism was a cause because each country was building up their weapons and ammunition, as well as building up their armies. Finally Kaiser Wilhelm II was a cause because he had a very strong hate towards Britain, he was a very aggressive leader and he wanted Germany to be the number one country. Nationalism, militarism and Kaiser Wilhelm II were the three main causes of World War 1.

Britain initially stood as the “greatest” power of them all, with a population of 37 million by

I agree on your point of view for the cause of WWI. Nationalism will always play a big role within countries. Having power and pride for one's home was a big deal during this time. "Competitive attitude" was a good way to describe it. I believe this behavior was necessary in causing the war.

World War I occurred as a result of a number of political, social, and economic changes that were taking place at a rapid pace in the region. A prominent transformation was the onset of industrial revolution that accompanied these changes. Many countries were investing significantly in industrialization while undergoing transformation that was changing the face of society. To enhance patriotism and to achieve objectives that were otherwise impossible, political forces were utilizing notions like nationalism. In this scenario, the colonies of European nations became the cause of significant rivalry and disputes, settled only after the blood of millions was shed. The war had far-reaching consequences for all nations that were involved in the conflict such that the entire boundaries of many countries were remarked. This paper will discuss the impact of nationalism, industrialization, and colonialism on WWI and its occurrence.

In terms of militarism, it almost seemed to be a race- the arms race. As one country increased its armies, other countries followed suit to keep the balance of power. In 1914 Germany had the best army, but the Russian army was growing the fastest. Germany feared that in a few years Russia would be difficult to defeat.