Long and short-term causes of World War One This essay is written to analyse and evaluate the long and short-term causes for the First World War. The essay will also describe the balance of power in Europe prior to 1914, and the political situation in Germany, Britain prior to 1914. The balance of power at the end of the 19th century was split between five super powers, which were: Germany, which was the most powerful after the merging of small Germanic principalities that was under the leadership of the Prussian Kingdom as result of Germany’s victories over the Austrian Empire in 1866 and France in 1870. After their defeat by Germany, France was regarded as a second-rate power and the resentment from the defeat irritated the leadership of …show more content…
Moreover, by 1906 a liberal-radical coalition government came to power under the Prime Minister Herbert Asquith as he began laying the foundations of the welfare state. At the time Britain was regarded as the wealthiest nation in the world and also commanded the largest empire in world history, but in an ironic twist, Britain was more vulnerable than ever before. At the centre of the empire was Britain itself, which is a densely populated island nation that relied upon the world trade for its wealth and the imported foodstuff that feed its people. Without the Royal Navy’s rule of the seas, the empire would collapse and the people of Britain would also starve. It was this fear that kept Britain involved in the continent’s affairs and the fear was worsened by the German’s imperial ambitions and the creation of the German’s large navy. Britain was determined to keep its naval supremacy, started a major shipbuilding programme by the end of the 19th century, with the German naval threat increased suspicions, and made the relations between the two countries worse, which forced Britain to make better relations with