How To Gain Power In 1914 Dbq

Europe was in a time of peace then in 1914 changed everything. Countries were starting to grow and build up their military due to other countries doing the same. The straw to break the camel's back was the assassination of Prince Franz Ferdinand. The four years of war was fueled by the support of military power with help from nationalism. Along with military, countries united into alliances and surrounded germany and other central alliances. The Great War was a european arms race to be the biggest and the best. Militaries are starting to grow and compete with one another to have the most power. The countries were bumping chest with others with their military seeing who would stand down. The spending of countries into their military doubled or tripled in France, Great Britain, Germany, and Russia seen in Doc. 1. The graph shows the spending in 1890 and then in 1914 and you can clearly see it was becoming a race for the biggest power. European countries spread their military and became a world power. They went into Africa and Asia to expand their military, this is talked about in Doc. 3.
During this alliance time Germany was the biggest power for their side called Central Powers. Since Germany was the biggest they had to make up for the smaller countries and over tripled their spending. With Germany leading this side with Austro-Hungarian empire, Bulgaria, and the Ottoman Empire they were surrounded by the Allied powers seen on Doc. 2. Europe was often blamed for the starting of WW1 because of the mobilization of their armies even though Russia started mobilizing However, in The Master of the Seas by Eugene-Melchior de Vogue it says “Any country that does not wish to become less important must obtain as much new territory as their rivals are