What Role Did Militarism Play In World War 1

World War I was the First World War and is considered to be the “War to end all wars”

or the “imperialist war” but as a matter of fact it was the first modern war. Nationalism played

the largest part of the beginning of the war due to nationalist conflicts between Russia and

Austria-Hungary. Militarism played a huge part in the war because everyone was more than

ready to fight and it was obvious. The toll that imperialism had on the war was that Great Britain

had the most spread empire with colonies spread across the globe, Germany was seeking this

kind of power around the globe.

Nationalism is the love and interest one has in their own country. It can be either a good

or bad thin. Prior to the war conflict was at its highest between Russia and Austria-Hungary
due

to nationalism over Serbia. The Europeans and their nationalism always felt threatened by other

nations trying to be better than them. Their over confidence was only because they had not

suffered defeat in a long time, this was only due to their smaller underequipped opponents.
Imperialism is the desire to extend the power of an empire. In the year 1900 the British

had colonies stretching over five continents and the French controlled large areas of Africa.

Germany who was late to acquire colonies only had small parts of Africa. With industry on the

rise countries needed new markets to set up industry.

Militarism is the building of a nation’s military. With common and increasing tensions

many European countries began to build their militaries. At this time the importance of naval

power was being recognized and fleets began to be built bigger and better. The biggest issue of

militarism was the direct effect it had on other countries because countries would have to “keep

up” with others.

Alliances were the largest and most important factor of the war. Due to the Alliances

countries were declaring war on one after the other. The result was two alliances, the Allied

Powers and Central Powers. One side, the Allied Powers consisted of Britain, France, Russia,

and later the United States. The other side, the Central Powers consisted of Germany,
Austria-

Hungary, Ottoman Empire, and Bulgaria. In an alliance system when war is declared on a

country war may as well be declare on its allies as well.

It started with the assassination of Austria-Hungary’s Archduke Ferdinand. Austria-

Hungary declared war on Russia’s allied country Serbia which resulted in Russia declaring war

Austria-Hungary. Due to their relationship with Austria-Hungary, Germany was brought into the

conflict and declared war on Russia. France, who was allied with Russia, declared war on

Germany and Austria-Hungary. Belgium would not allow Germany to use it as a “bridge” to

France so Germany declared war on Belgium which caused its allied nation Great Britain to

declare war. Britain’s ally Japan declared war on Germany as well which of course led to

Austria-Hungary declaring war on Japan. Prior alliances brought Romania into the mix,

declaring war on Austria-Hungary which led to the Ottoman Empire declaring war on Romania.

While this was all going on the United Stated decided to set back and decide which side to join.