Essay On Militarism

MILITARISM

Militarism is using military power to solve diplomatic crises, it influenced the arms race, but wasn't directly it, though the two are certainly intertwined. It was a direct cause of WW1 because the Germans based their diplomacy around their military, as did most of the powers of the day, the arms race caused the war, both sides felt provoked after the assassination of the good Archduke Ferdinand, after both sides mobilised their military, because both sides felt threatened, they did not trust each other, and that caused the war. The real cause is so much more complicated, but that is one piece of the puzzle.

The Countries were building up their armies and navies to prove they were the most powerful. Because the countries thought that their armies were the best, they felt they did not have to be as careful when dealing with other countries, because they had something to back them up. This led to a lot of disputes which contributed towards WWI.

Militarism lead to World War 1 because of competition between countries. As one country increased it’s military, then other countries would counter by increasing their military. It became like a race between the countries to see who could gain better technology, weapons and soldiers.

There was a big rivalry between Germany and Britain.

Increased military and naval rivalry led not only to the belief that war was coming (The German ruling group felt that only through a war could Germany become a world power. Military preparations strengthened this belief.) and increase in military control of the civilian government (particularly in Germany and Russia) also increased cooperation among the military staff of the countries of the same camp. For example, all the three Entente power...

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...'s alliance with Austria-Hungary was responsible for bringing it into the war, and for turning the war into a global crisis rather than a local one. Germany pledged to support Austria unconditionally in Austria's punishment of Serbia for the assassination of Franz Ferdinand.

- Russia issued a partial defensive mobilization when it found out that its Slavic ally (Serbia) was under threat. This triggered responsive mobilizations against Russia from Austria and Germany.

- France's alliance with Russia brought it into the war. Germany's war plan (the flawed "Schlieffen Plan", designed in the 19th century) was constructed around the knowledge that a war with France would mean a war with Russia, and vice versa.

- Britain debated entering the war when its ally, France, was threatened, but made the final decision to enter when Belgian neutrality was violated by Germany