Power And Dissension: The Great War

Power and Dissension: The Great War
Ning Han
A52763467

Power, that is what people are looking for in such a long era. A kind power could make a country flourish, but also, it could cause pain and sorrow to the whole world. European powers had been fighting each other for a long time. Those who fought in called it ‘the Great War’. Its consequences were so catastrophic that almost influenced the whole world. From 1914 to 1918, the Allies versus the Central Powers of Germany and Austria-Hungary opposed each other in various ways. The last straw – the archduke’s assassination by a Serbian nationalist made European countries ready to start wriggling. Then the war of hunting power began. Besides military technology and the culture

On the European continent before the First War, there were full of colonies occupied by the Great Power. Besides, the most drastic loot was happened between Britain and German. Before twentieth century, after the unification of Germany, she found that its colonies are not as much as others. If the war began, this would become her weak point. Therefore, the expansion began. It was useful to contend colonies since it would benefit a lot. Through occupying colonies, the product made in local could be sold out there and enlarge the market; the mineral and raw materials could be explored there, and this could provide power for the economic development to the occupiers; the exploit to the colonies could emancipate the occupiers’ citizens and improve their life level. The most important point is, the troops could be reaped from colonies, and this could be a strong supply for the military force. For the Great Power like Britain, she could use India and Canadian which were the colonies full of plentiful resources and labors. Germany could grip sources through Australia and Africa. Colonialism was such a critical factor to the success of the war, it could even determine the twist of a country’s fate. With the colonialism, the country was more powerful, and other countries would like to draw their force together and thus increase the power to win the war.

Nationalism provided the national identity to make every country know clearly their stance between Alliances and Ententes. Industrialism made countries enlarge their military power and technology to ensure they had strong power to fight those great powers and revolutionized the economic base. Colonialism created unbreakable supply from the raw material to troops. Those three factors settled that the war is inevitable and the attrition would grow fleetly. Also, these could be jetton for this ‘gamble’. Power and dissension was amplified ceaselessly. Finally, in 1914, the war began, destroying everything and pushing the time to the past. It was not benefit at all because every country loss their economy and military