Why Imperialism Caused World War 1

1998 Words8 Pages

Who started World War 1 and who should be blamed? World War 1 was the first industrialized war, and about 14,663,000 people died. There were many new kinds of weapons which could kill enormous amounts of people. However, it all started with the spread of nationalism. When Napoleon was the ruler of France and he conquered many lands, he spread the feeling of nationalism. Everybody suddenly wanted to unify because they shared the same language and culture,even nowadays, long time after his death, nationalism still appears in the modern world. Nationalism caused imperialism, because every country, thinking they are the best, wanted to have more territory. As a result, many of them started conquering the lands of Africa. Because these countries …show more content…

There were cultural and economic motives for imperialism. First economic, Many countries were industrialized in 1900s, and they needed a lot of materials that they did not have. In order not to depend on others, which nobody wanted, many strong countries started conquering territories and had the necessary materials. Also, followed by the industrialization, population grew as quickly as never before. New jobs were needed and people who were unemployed, left to other countries to find jobs.As a result, Europeans left their home countries in record numbers in the 1880s. On the other hand, there were some cultural motives for imperialism. Many industrialized people thought their goal was to spread their religion. That is why Churches in Europe and the United States sent a large number of people to the colonies. In addition to the spread of religion,medical knowledge and teachers were spread to other …show more content…

To start, what is militarism? ‘‘Militarism,defined as the belief in military deterrence, or the reliance on military strength to defend one's nation and its values,or aggressive foreign policy’’ In early 1900s, both the triple alliance and triple entente began to increase its military force, ‘‘Between 1910 and 1913, France increased its army expenditures by 7.6 percent, Russia by 21 percent, and Germany by 105 percent’’ Every country wanted to have a strong army in order to defeat the other, therefore, the arms race began.As a result, many countries were prepared for