Underlying Causes free essay sample

What were the underlying causes of World War 1? First of all what does underlying mean underline is the unseen cause or bases of something. The three underlying causes of World War 1 were Imperialism, alliances and militarism; of these alliances were the most important unseen cause. The Imperialization by European powers in the early 20th century was an underlying cause of World War 1. In 1913 England held 12,740,000 square miles of colonies. France held 4,440,000 and Germany held 1,139,000 square miles of colonial land. (Document F) Yet, none of these counties were satisfied with what the already controlled. Germany came to call Great Britain the bloodsuckers of the world because of their massive naval expansion into every corner of the globe. (Document E) This caused tension between European powers because each and every one of them was building up their military to either claim more territory or defend against others. When people get greedy others have to decide whether to be the hammer or the anvil. We will write a custom essay sample on Underlying Causes or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page When everyone chooses to be the hammer, they were pushed one step closer to the brink of war. Alliances were the biggest unseen contributor to the start of World War 1. The Triple Alliance was formed by Germany Austria hungry and Italy; England France and Russia formed the Triple entente. These were the most powerful countries in Europe in 1914. (Document A) These alliances place soon to be enemies directly next to one another increasing tensions among countries. These alliances also caused most of Europe to be involved in a localized and insignificant problem between Austria Hungary and Serbia. When no one took responsibility everyone put the blame on each other for the assassination of Archduke Franz. Austria Hungary declared war on Serbia and Serbia’s is ally Russia declared war on Austria hungry. This brought in the major European powers like Germany and Britain, who had no reason to be in the war except for their alliances. The final underlying cause of World War 1 was militarism. From 1890 to 1914 every country in an alliance is dramatically increased their spending on armaments and personnel. (Document C) In this time Germany more than quadrupled their military spending. Everyone else made the choice that they werent going to sit back and be dominated by the more powerful. (Document D) When the biggest countries on the block expand their military others do the same. They grow until their borders can no longer hold them back. If the European Powers hadn’t expanded their military what we call World War 1 could have been nothing but a little skirmish the ended as quickly as it started. World War 1 is the deadliest war the world has ever seen. The assassination of the archduke was only an insubstantial conflict between two counties of no importance. If it weren’t for Great Britain’s large scale imperialism into every corner of the world, the alliances between Britain, France and Russia and that between Germany, Austria Hungary and Italy. Or Germany and Russia military expansion for twenty years before hand, the spark of the assassination wouldn’t have had the opportunity to light the powder keg of World War 1.