The First World War - Essay Example

The First World War was the logical, perhaps inevitable, outcome of the revolutionary changes of the nineteenth century. This was a period when Europe was undergoing industrialization hence many changes were being experienced such as civilization and technological advancements.

Some of the causes of WWI include; imperialism, militarism, nationalism, and the alliance system but the paper will discuss the first two factors. The industrial revolution which began in Britain meant the local market was not enough for industrial products. Britain thus began looking for markets and labor by colonizing other nations and other countries like France followed suit such that in the nineteenth century, Britain had over five continents while France occupied large areas of Africa (Sammis, 2002). This led to rivalry among nations and a scramble for remaining lands, especially by Germany leading to the formation of alliances in preparation for an inevitable war. For example, Germany allied with Austria to get a route to conquer Asia.
Militarism was another long-term cause of the war. Countries were engaged in aggressive military preparedness making war inevitable. Great Britain had a very large navy and Germany wanted to outdo it hence engaged in the creation of arms retaliation, Britain improved its naval base by use of modern technology hence an arms race began that made impending war seem inevitable. For example, Britain built dreadnoughts from 1905-06 to counter Germans arms (Best et al. 2008). The arms race increased the fear of war leading to the alliance system to defeat enemies and continue the arms race between the allies. For example, the arms race between Franco-Prussian and German-Austria hence more innovative weapons like machine guns were created that aided the war.
WWI was the most destructive in history due to the scale of the war and the use of ferocious weapons and styles. The use of machine guns, modern artillery and rifles, submarines, airplanes, gas, and tanks left many soldiers dead. The use of trench warfare did not help much as it meant destruction for the soldiers; either kill or be killed (Stone, 2009). As a result, the war left over 15 million soldiers dead and 21 million wounded. This was a result of industrialization that gave rise to weapon innovations and deadly war.
The peaceful agreements reached after WWI such as the Treaty of Versailles left countries dissatisfied. Coupled with other factors such as the failure of the League of Nations, and the policy of Appeasement by some countries like Britain, WWII erupted. German was weakened by the Treaty of Versailles which led to its disarmament and territorial clause leading to the loss of land. However, its leader Adolf Hitler took it upon himself to restore the glory of Germany to a world power through militarism and imperialism and disregarding the Treaty (Sammis, 2002). The actions of Nazi Germany that followed contributed to the war. First, Hitler strengthened his army and sent troops to capture Rhineland and no action was taken against it. He also formed allies with other powers such as Italy (Rome-Berlin Axis), and Japan (Anti-Comintern Pact), and annexed Austria to recover lost lands (Waddington, 2007). It also invaded Czechoslovakia and was allowed cession of Sudetenland by the Munich conference where it promised to end its imperialism. However, due to the weakness of western nations and the League of Nations, and with the help of the Soviet Union, it captured Poland thus prompting the Second World War.

Japan was also in need of resources for its industries hence resulting in China which was mineral rich. It thus attacked China and captured Manchuria against the will of its people leading to worldwide protests and withdrawal from the league (Best et al. 2008)). The pact with Nazi Germany made Japan powerful and gave it the strength to conquer most parts of China but the conflict with the Chinese army in 1937 led to war. To evade war with European powers and the United States, it waged a war against them leading to another war. Read More