Imperialism, Militarism, And Failure In The Alliance System

There have been countless debates over what was truly the main cause of World War One (WW1).

The largest portion of underlying causes fit into three general categories: imperialism, militarism, and

failure in the alliance system. Of course the assassination of Archduke of Austria ignited the flame that

was WW1, but there had to be fuel to keep the fire burning. All of these three categories had influence

on the lasting of the war, but upon analysis of historical documents and actions it can be noted that the

militaristic aspect and the failure in the present alliance system can be arbitrarily tied back into

imperialism.

Militarism was a large impacting factor in WW1 being as lasting as it was. Everyone wanted to have

the largest and
most able military to have dominant control. This led to disagreements between

alliances and neighboring countries and was the root of many conflicts. The sinking of the Lusitania was

a prime example; one country hid militaristic resources on a civilian ship, and in turn another country

fatally attacked civilians on the hunch that there were weapons on that ship.
This tied into imperialism

because militarism allowed the imperialistic leaders to have the motivation and resources required to

seek the creation of an empire.

Failure in the Alliance Systems in place was only yet another fuel to add to the raging blaze of WW1.

The disagreement of neighboring countries along with countries continuously switching sides added not

only rage but confusion and unpredictability into the nature of the war. Even during the height of the

success of the alliance system it was the root of conflict. It continuously tied countries into conflict

under only the presumption that they were supposed to defend a country they were in alliance with in

the same way that a big brother protects his siblings. This also has imperialistic in such a way that

countries would be so devoted to the success of an alliance that they would bring themselves down to

the ground, just for the sake of satisfying the desire to be the most dominant alliance.

Imperialism is the root of all the other presumed underlying causes of WW1. In the most powerful

militaristic countries, the cause of wanting a dominant military force was the desire to be the
most

controlling nation which is imperialistic in its self. The alliance system in both success and in failure can

be viewed as tyrannical because of the almost destructive desire to be the dominant force. Naturally

militarism was tied into this as well. The reason this war went on for as long as it did is simply the

countries having such power hungry and stubborn refusal to be thought of as anything but a victorious

dominant force.

In concluding, the three reasons that were thought to be the underlying cause of WW1 definitely

were motivating enough to spark such a conflict. Naturally if a neighboring country is concocting a

dominant military force, the neighboring country is going to feel the need to compete. The same sense

of almost childish competition is true in the nature of the alliance system: there is always the need to

keep up. Imperialistic characteristics can be found at the roots of almost every decision made from the

beginning to the end of the war. This war was just a competition for dominance, played on the largest

scale imaginable.