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Causes of the First World War

Decent Essays

World War I Essay

When a nation’s hunger for power and control become too great, the nation may be pushed to do things that may have harsh consequences. This was the case in the early 1900’s when the world engaged in its first major global military conflict. There were a number of causes of the First World War; due to the Treaty of Versailles, Germany accepted full responsibility for the war. Although the Germans had a large contribution in starting the war, they should not be fully held accountable for starting the war. The world was a place where only the strongest nations could thrive and expand. The major powers of Europe were all doing whatever it took to gain power, wealth, and control different areas of land; this caused …show more content…

France had plans of its own; they wanted to quickly overtake Germany’s industrial heartland, Ruhr Valley. France felt that if they could get into Ruhr Valley they could lower the Germany’s chance to start a modern war. The Russians planned on preparing their army for a war against the armies of both Austria-Hungary and Germany. The pressure that each one of these plans put on the other nations led to a war where speed was a major determining factor in the victor of the war. Once each army began mobilization, turning back was no longer an option and the war became more inevitable than ever. A new innovation that brought the ongoing naval battle between the major powers was the introduction of the dreadnought. The threat of the new more powerful battleship started a race to see who could produce the most dreadnoughts and control the sea. The pride of each nation became a contributing factor in the war; all the major powers felt they could reign supreme and that is exactly what they all tried to do.

One of the dominant influencing factors of the war, according to the president of the United States at the time (Woodrow Wilson) and many others, was militarism. Military personnel had too much power in nations such as Germany, Russia, and Austria-Hungary. Surely this could not be blamed solely on Germany as a nation, this type of military based mindset could not be blamed on any single nation in particular, and it was just the way things were run in

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