One of the greatest conflicts in history, was WWI, and had over 16 million deaths and 20 million wounded. This makes it the fourth most deadly war in terms of death. There were many causes, which make up acronym MAINS, which stands for Militarism, Alliances, Imperialism, Nationalism and Spark. In this essay, the long and short term causes of the first world war will be discussed and will make a judgement on which was the most important. Militarism is ‘The belief that a country should maintain a strong military capability and be prepared to use it aggressively to defend or promote national interests (Oxford Dictionary 2014). In the years leading up to WW1 saw new weapons being developed on a mass scale. Major improvements to machine guns such as being able to fire up to 600rpm and being much lighter and smaller. When one country increased its arms, all other country’s felt the need to increase their own to keep balance in case a war was to begin. Britain became very envious of Germanys navy which was far superior and resulted in the building of the costly Dreadnaught ships. This arms race lasted until June 1914, when both Germany and England had reached their most hostile point, and World War broke out. If not for the arms race, …show more content…
It caused European nations to fight for the largest army and navy, or the greatest industrial development. It could also be defined as the feeling that one’s nation is superior to all other nations. (http://www.enotes.com/homework-help/what-role-did-nationalism-imperialism-play-road-467855) Nationalism bred arrogance because it made people feel superior, and therefore lead them to wanting to prove their superiority through fighting. The Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated due to nationalism. Ferdinand was a German that ruled an empire consisting of ethnic Slavs. These Slav nationalists felt strongly against being ruled by Germans and planned to kill the archduke to rid themselves of German