The Causes Of Naval Militarization Leading To World War

Militarism was felt very strongly in 20th century Europe. Between 1890 and 1914, the countries involved in WW1’s armament growth was tremendous. Germany’s army and navy rose

When the war began there was a growth in weapons. From 1890 to 1914 the rate of weapons shot up (Document C). Germany spent millions of dollars improving their military to get ready for war (Document C). To keep up with Germany many of the other countries had to update their militaries. Arms build-up is more important than the network of alliances because Bulow had a feeling Germany would win, and due to his feeling, it would get self-determination levels to a high standard. If the Germans lost, all confidence would be lowered making war strategies difficult to defeat in the future. Arms build up was important because Bernhard Von Bulow had a feeling Germany was gonna win (Document D). Militarism was a huge factor in the cause of World War

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

Militarism in the nations was shown through its military spending (as shown in document 4). Militarism was also shown through military recruitment posters (shown in document 6) which encouraged enlistment. I believe this was the most important cause of WWI because Germany had an industrialized nation and military.

The decisions of Bismarck and Wilhelm were significant to World War I because each of their methods were so different. While maintaining most of the same goals, their approach to solving these methods caused World War I. For example, Wilhelm’s attempt to isolate France did not go as well as he had hoped and gave a completely opposite effect than what he was aiming for, as well as angering the other countries. His fumble in Morocco caused him to gain more foes and give France more allies, as well as give him a bad reputation. Additionally, by adding a naval force, he came off as a threat to the other countries. Bismarck did not want to establish a naval force, but Wilhelm’s thirst for power blinded him to make inadequate decisions. People began to develop a distrust and fear of Germany, which was what Bismarck worked to prevent (“German”). Bismarck’s and Wilhelm’s decisions on foreign policy and its execution were some of the key factors that lead to this war. Who they chose to become allies with, and who they caused others to become allies with was one of the major causes of World War I (Dobbs).

It all started with Germany wanting to prove they were a force to be reckoned with, so they used militarism to bring the colonies together and unify as one country. Then, they were very aggressive and believed being militaristic helped show they were powerful. The Germans way of living looked as a threat to the other countries. It caused them to worry that if one country had a stronger army or a stronger navy than that country would easily take over the other countries because of the strength that country’s army would have. This concern started making militarism a more popular trend because each country felt if they were based off of military no one would be able to “touch them”, as if the country was invincible or they could get whatever they wanted because they were a strong nation. Of course this wasn’t the case, but since so many countries believed power and strength was everything to one’s country, then they did whatever helped getting there. Militarism started spreading more and more through the European countries, which turned the concern of one country being more powerful in to a paranoia . The countries started focusing on being better than one another and the paranoia turned into almost a competition. All the European countries started to believe things like,whoever had the best army was the most powerful, whoever had

Beginning the year of 1906, Germany came up with a twofold strategy. Germany had been involved for several years in building a massive navy also on land

Germany had been preparing for war long before WWI started. In 1898, Kaiser Wilhelm II directed the German Chief of Staff Alfred Von Schlieffen to think up a plan that would allow Germany to obtain power and declare itself as a dominant state.

Foremost we must make clear the reasoning behind the expansion of the German armed forces before the outbreak of World War One. Military expansion was in direct consequence of increased competition among European colonial powers. Unlike Europe’s traditional powers such as England, France, and Russia, Germany was

Every power in Europe was fighting to gain power to prove it’s greatness as a nation, and would do so by whatever means necessary. Germany and Russia were particularly ahead of the others, boosting their egos and even influencing their public policy. Europeans wanted bigger, better militaries because they believed that having more power would prove their strength as a country. This belief would prove to be a great mistake and was, of course, was sprouted under the same notion mentioned previously;

Preceding World War I, the desire for national greatness in Europe sparked a rise in nationalism and the desire for expansion, which could only happen through military force. “Public relations campaigns encouraged military buildup. When critics of the arms race suggested a temporary “naval Holiday” to stop British and German building, British officials sent out news releases warning that such a cutback “would throw innumerable men on the pavement.” (Hunt 796). This shows that Britain was attempting to convince their population that they must put money and effort into fortifying their nation because a war was imminent. This persuasion worked not just in Britain but all across Europe, nations were pouring money into the military due to their rising level of patriotism and need for national expansion.

As the world entered the 20th century, an arms race had begun. By 1914, Germany had the greatest increase in military buildup. Great Britain and Germany both greatly increased their navies in this time period. Further, in Germany and Russia particularly, the military establishment began to have a greater influence on public policy. This increase in militarism helped push the countries involved to war.

Blackbourn believes Tirpitz, Secretary of the Navy, “bores more responsibility” towards Germanys of blame for the war by using this aggressive tactic of Flottenpolitik, agreeing with the argument that Germany used an aggressive policy contributing to the outbreak of the war. Therefore, Sources V and W clearly interlink and agree with Fischer’s thesis on the basis that Germany was attempting expansionism which resulted in tensions between European powers, leading to the outbreak of war.

In WWI militarism, the alliances, and imperialism started the war due to this it was the underlying cause of WWI. Countries were scared and some felt threatened. Imperialism is a policy of extending a country's power and influence through diplomacy or military force. An alliance is a union or association formed for mutual benefit, especially between countries or organizations. Militarism is the belief or desire of a government or people that a country should maintain a strong military capability and be prepared to use it aggressively to defend or promote national interests. These were the three most important parts of why WWI happened scaring some, threatening to some, and a lot of it was just pure jealousy of land.

Great Britain had one of the greatest and strongest navies in the world which allowed it to gain, protect and control its colossal empire. Germany had an efficient army due to the fact that it was in the middle of Europe which risked encirclement at all time, however its navy was lacking during the 1900’s because it was far from the sea and whatever waters it was close by, Britain ruled over and if not, Germany would be stopped by potential enemies. The German Kriegsmarine wanted to become more powerful in order to expand its rather trivial, compared to the British and French, empire. Thus, the Kriegsmarine began to expand and innovate. This threatened Britain due to the fact that it relied on its navy to keep its island nation protected