European War Dbq

The rapid engagement of the European global expansion during the late nineteenth century had inevitably led to an unpremeditated desire for a large scaled European war. In result of the Industrial Revolution, the surplus wealth for the middle class was defined by materialism that came from the globe. Therefore, the need to support the welfare of the European nations started a race to expand their empires in efforts to secure resources and profits. This colonial tension was in proportion to militarism as European nations saw the needs to take precautions by increasing the strength of their military. By striking threats into European nations, major powers saw the need to create protective alliances to eliminate the fear for war. However, the false interpretation of the alliances seen by the Europeans meant war with two countries means war with all nations.

Many European powers took part in the “Scramble for Africa” for raw resources such as tin and oil to fuel their Industrial process however, this came at the cost of colonial tension. From the British perspective, they believe “Great

Britain has played a great part in the history of the world” and because of this, they deserved “the creation of an Empire such as the world has never been seen (Chamberlain, 1914)”. In contrary Germany, a rising power, “wants to be a World Power… with England or without England (Germany writer, 1967)”. The brash imperial attitudes of both these nations were clearly showing that these nations were bound to be in conflict. In consequence, Germany’s attempt to seize Morocco in 1905 was quickly rejected by Britain and instead, given to France. The perception of Germany being a non-colonial power soon caused an antagonised relation between the British. The allies between the British and the French made the Germans feel that “against England means-in war” (German writer, 1899). This rivalry against the Germans and the British weakened their trust which led to a more militaristic approach.
In order to increase support of the colonised, European powers chose to strengthen and enlarge their armed forces. In effect, the whole European continent is indulged in an unreasonable arms race to defend and strategize against one another as seen in source D. Germany’s threat, through the naval arms race, to Britain had forced the British to “build new cruisers and heavily armoured destroyers along with six dreadnoughts” (The Times, 1909). This was causing “serious financial difficulties for all the governments involved in this race” (James Joll, 1992) which provides evidence that according to the politicians, it was justified to accept the path of the military to create an unbalanced government. From this, it can be deduced that this arms race was no more than a petty competition to empower themselves to be stronger instead of an intentional war plan. However, the naval arms race still created tension which was enhanced by the alliances.
European nations entered a protective alliances which connected Germany, Italy and Austria-Hungary against the Triple Entente (France, Russia and Britain).

In the words of source I, “each one [country] had reasons for distrusting other countries in Europe” (source I) and for that reason, European nations thought by mutually protecting one another, war would be avoided. However, because “each country was heavily armed” (source I), the mix of tension and a growing arsenal of weapons defined an inevitable war in the future. Germany, in response of being in between the Triple Entente, was forced to create The Schlieffen Plan for “the fear of a two-front war” (source N). This plan did not desire a war but was rather a draft for defence since this plan was heavily flawed and obviously naïve. Thereby, it is proved that politicians used the alliances for a mutuality as opposed to a great

war.

These chains of reaction did not intentionally lead to a premeditated war but the mixture of arms, country rivalry and the thought of preventing war by alliance inevitably caused World War One. The global expansion of the European empires slowly created an anti-trust relationship between each nations and soon, politicians perceived that embracing protection through the growth of weapons was preventing any sort of conflict. Ironically, precautions taken by European countries would start a race for the biggest arms and because of this, they sought for alliance. By using this as a defence mechanism, the Triple Entente was more aggressive to the Triple Alliance and in result, the Germans felt they were more in peril than peace and in contrast, created more tension between each nations. In conclusion, World War One finds an excusable place in History as an unpremeditated mistake in cause of multiple events that were