Causes of WWI

One cause of WWI was militarism, or the “glorification of armed strength.” Militarism is the idea that the more powerful your army is, the more superior you are. This view led to the build up of armies, and where there are large armies, there is going to be a large war. One of the countries that believed in militarism the most was Germany. Otto Von Bismarck strengthened Germany’s military, but he didn’t threaten his neighbors, because of the system of alliances he created. But when William II took over he fired Bismarck, and undid all of his brilliant work. For example, he built up a navy which threatened the British. His focus on extending Germany’s military helped lead Europe into the direction of war.

Another cause of WWI was the alteration to Europe’s alliances. The Triple Alliance that was set up by Bismarck, kept peace between Russia, Germany, and Austria-Hungry. After William II fired Bismarck and broke up the alliance, Russia made an alliance with France and Britain, called the Triple Entente. Even though Austria-Hungry was still an ally of Germany, the balance of power fluctuated enough to start a war. These changes in alliances changed the balance of power in Europe.

In the Late 1800’s European Nations began colonizing the rest of the world. They were in need of natural resources to power their nations through the Industrial Revolution. Tension between nations occurred because they were trying to colonize the same areas of land, which included Africa and China. This tension carried over to the early 1900′ s and added to the problems between the European nations which led to WWI.