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Was the outbreak of the War in 1914 inevitable? It was called ‘the war to end all wars!’ It was anything but four years of trench warfare left millions dead and nothing resolved. How an assassin’s bullet in Bosnia triggered one of the world’s bloodiest wars the world has ever known and how alliances, imperialism and militarism take a huge part of how the war started. These big factors lead to the question was the outbreak of the war in 1914 inevitable.
One of the fuses to the war was imperialism. The rush for the biggest empire was dramatic. Once all the European countries had seen the British Empire which stretched across the world. It was very important for countries to have a large empire because of the trade and prestige also. In the 1870’s Germany and Italy became united countries for the first time. They each wanted overseas empires too and a fierce empire competition for colonies developed between the countries of Europe. Colonies could not bring great wealth in terms of raw materials for industries, cheap food, gold and diamonds. The tension rose when the different empires all wanted the same country Africa, the only way to settle who was going to rule Africa was WAR!
Another fuse that instigated the war was an arms race. In the 1900’s Britain had the largest navy in the world. Countries across Europe were all getting suspicious on why Britain was growing the size of their army and that alarmed them into think why. In 1906 Britain launched a stronger and faster type of battleship called the dread nought, Germany heard of the battleship and then decided to copy. Alliances were another one of the fuses that were a big factor of the war because if an alliance broke up with a country then that particular country would go and get its empire and will be ready to have war with that empire that they had an alliance with or they would make a different alliance with a different country to keep an alliance.
Another cause of the War was on 28th June 1914
One of the fuses to the war was imperialism. The rush for the biggest empire was dramatic. Once all the European countries had seen the British Empire which stretched across the world. It was very important for countries to have a large empire because of the trade and prestige also. In the 1870’s Germany and Italy became united countries for the first time. They each wanted overseas empires too and a fierce empire competition for colonies developed between the countries of Europe. Colonies could not bring great wealth in terms of raw materials for industries, cheap food, gold and diamonds. The tension rose when the different empires all wanted the same country Africa, the only way to settle who was going to rule Africa was WAR!
Another fuse that instigated the war was an arms race. In the 1900’s Britain had the largest navy in the world. Countries across Europe were all getting suspicious on why Britain was growing the size of their army and that alarmed them into think why. In 1906 Britain launched a stronger and faster type of battleship called the dread nought, Germany heard of the battleship and then decided to copy. Alliances were another one of the fuses that were a big factor of the war because if an alliance broke up with a country then that particular country would go and get its empire and will be ready to have war with that empire that they had an alliance with or they would make a different alliance with a different country to keep an alliance.
Another cause of the War was on 28th June 1914