Why Was World War 1 Inevitable
History is often a quilt of information that is not always stitched together properly, but in the time period from 1914-1918 it is clear that world war one was caused by a single country, Germany. Evidence of this comes from the fact that Germany believed that war was inevitable, they were in the process of designing military strategies for a war prior to Austria-Hungary having any hostility towards Serbia, and tried to pressure countries into unwanted treaties.
There is information to suggest that Germany anticipated a war ever since they themselves became a country. In 1871 “following the defeat of France in the Franco-Prussian War, Germany was unified as an Imperial federation of states” (thehistoryplace.html, 2009). Since Germany was only a newly developed country they had not colonized any part of the world which lead the German government to suggest attacking other countries in order to gain more land. Nationalinterest.org confirms this by saying that “the major cause of World War I was Imperial Germany’s determination to become a superpower”. Therefore Germany’s lack of land is what convinced their government that war was a good idea. …show more content…
In order for Germany to start, or even defend itself in a war it would need to be heavily armed.
Lucky this was not a problem as Germany started an arms race with Britain in February of 1906. Historyplace.com blames the beginning of this arms race on Britain launching the “H.M.S. Dreadnought” but it really began when Germany started building many more of these similar looking battleships. In “1906 Germany had an annual building rate of three large ships. They then transitioned to an annual rate of four capital ships over the next four years in the Navy Bill of 1908.”(Dirk Bonker, January 11. 2015) By 1910 Germany had surpassed Britain as the leading manufacturer in Europe, as told by historyplace.com. This so called victory in the arms race gave Germany the courage to start making plans to conquer parts of
Europe.
One of Germany’s plans was amassing a large army before any conflict broke out. Encyclopedia.net states that by 1903 Germany already had the second largest army - behind only Russia, a country three times its size - in Europe. Then from 1903-1914 the German army grew exponentially with 4.5 million men in its midst as seen on spartacus-educational.com. By 1914 the German population was convinced that war was inevitable and that they had the necessary preparations to start and win a war with France and Russia which only increased the chance that there would infact be a war. Through the years Germany had created different military strategies t help themselves in what they believed was inevitable war.
There is information to suggest that Germany anticipated a war ever since they themselves became a country. In 1871 “following the defeat of France in the Franco-Prussian War, Germany was unified as an Imperial federation of states” (thehistoryplace.html, 2009). Since Germany was only a newly developed country they had not colonized any part of the world which lead the German government to suggest attacking other countries in order to gain more land. Nationalinterest.org confirms this by saying that “the major cause of World War I was Imperial Germany’s determination to become a superpower”. Therefore Germany’s lack of land is what convinced their government that war was a good idea. …show more content…
In order for Germany to start, or even defend itself in a war it would need to be heavily armed.
Lucky this was not a problem as Germany started an arms race with Britain in February of 1906. Historyplace.com blames the beginning of this arms race on Britain launching the “H.M.S. Dreadnought” but it really began when Germany started building many more of these similar looking battleships. In “1906 Germany had an annual building rate of three large ships. They then transitioned to an annual rate of four capital ships over the next four years in the Navy Bill of 1908.”(Dirk Bonker, January 11. 2015) By 1910 Germany had surpassed Britain as the leading manufacturer in Europe, as told by historyplace.com. This so called victory in the arms race gave Germany the courage to start making plans to conquer parts of
Europe.
One of Germany’s plans was amassing a large army before any conflict broke out. Encyclopedia.net states that by 1903 Germany already had the second largest army - behind only Russia, a country three times its size - in Europe. Then from 1903-1914 the German army grew exponentially with 4.5 million men in its midst as seen on spartacus-educational.com. By 1914 the German population was convinced that war was inevitable and that they had the necessary preparations to start and win a war with France and Russia which only increased the chance that there would infact be a war. Through the years Germany had created different military strategies t help themselves in what they believed was inevitable war.