"The major cause of World War I was Imperial Germany's determination to become a "world power" or superpower by crippling Russia and France in what it hoped would be a brief and decisive war . In 1898, the German governments fourth Fleet Act ordered the construction of 17 new vessels. Kaiser Wilhelm II was enthusiastic about the idea and put his weight behind the first (of five) German Fleet Acts, in 1898, which would fund the building of eleven battleships over the next seven years. It has the largest military, with 40% of its population either actively or in the military reservation. How Did Nationalism Contribute to World War I? - Reference.com However, it wasnt until the second half of the nineteenth century that the Germanic state really came to the fore, following the appointment of Otto von Bismarck as Minister President of Prussia, in 1862. The Russian, German, Austria-Hungarian and Ottoman empires all collapsed during or shortly after the war, which ended with a treaty that ceded Germany's overseas colonies to the victors. Europe in 1914 was an armed camp; its politics dominated by two rival alliances. Newspapers held up military leaders as heroes, painted rival nations as dangerous aggressors and regularly speculated about the possibility of war. Strong armies and navies were needed to defend the homeland, to protect imperial and trade interests abroad and to deter threats. On 28 June 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, and his wife were assassinated by a Serbian-backed terrorist. Increase in military control of the civilian Fear of the Russian steamroller was sufficient to expand Germanys service law; a larger German army provoked the outmanned French into an extension of national service to three years. Russia, for instance, emulated the colonialists but did not seek other states overseas; they instead expanded their territory to a large landmass. Thomas Aquinas Biography, Influence & Legacy | Who was Thomas Aquinas? Berlin also led the way in the construction of military submarines; by 1914 the German navy had 29 operational U-boats. Women in WWI | National WWI Museum and Memorial To unlock this lesson you must be a Study.com Member. Germans were depicted as cold, cruel, and calculating, Russians as uncultured barbarians, the French as leisure-seeking layabouts, and the Chinese as a race of murderous, opium-smoking savages. Several notable cases where militarism was evident include the Kingdom of Prussia, Soviet Union, German Empire, Assyrian Empire, and the state of Sparta. Turkey and Russia had started their invasions several days earlier before the declarations of war between NATO, and its allies against ACMF, and its allies. Kaiser Wilhelm announced his intentions to build a vaster, more powerful naval army that would rival the British navy, and this move threatened the security of Great Britain. While militarism alone did not start World War I, it fuelled a potent arms race and undermined the role of diplomacy as a means of resolving disputes. Numerous soldiers enrolled in the military. War was avoided where possible but it could also be used to advance a nations political or economic interests.
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