Imperialism and Militarism: Triggers of World War I

An Evaluation of International Imperialism, the European Arms Race, and Militarism in the Origins of First World War

The origins of World War I are defined through the early foundation of German imperialism as the foundation of an international conflict between nations. The rise of German nationalism and militarism was actual forming in the late 19th century, which laid the foundation for an aggressive form of militarism around the world. In China, the expansion of German imperialism into foreign nations resulted in the Kaiser sending troops to quell the Chinese uprising against their presence in the country. The Boxer Rebellion of 1899-1901, which involved Germany as a supreme commander of international military forces in China: “One example

However, the U.S. did participate in the Eight Nation Alliance in the Boxer Rebellion, as well as invade other sovereign nations, such as the Philippines and Cuba, at the turn of the 19th century. However, in the United States, there was a large ethnic group of German-Americans that was beginning to be perceived as a threat to American culture due to the rise of German nationalism. For instance, the problem of German nationalism had become a problem due to the conflicting ethnic identity of German-Americans: “ A Philadelphia woman later recalled how, before the war, the beer wagons of German-American brewers in her city had an American flag on one side and German one on the other” (Boemke et al, 1999, p.117). In this ethnic and nationalist conflict, many Americans became suspicious of German loyalties to the Kaiser, which was part of the expanded nationalist and militaristic growth of the United States as a competing imperial power. In this climate of nationalism, many Americans became suspicious of Germans, which led to increased political support for overturning Woodrow Wilson’s promises of neutrality when the war broke out in Europe in July of 1914. The sinking of the Lusitania in 1914 was a major event that defined a rationale for Americas entering the war, since the Germans were creating major disruptions in American trade routes by sinking civilian and merchant ships in the Atlantic. In this hostile act, the Kaiser had broken international rules of law, which forced President Wilson and the United States to enter the war to stop the threat of German military power from taking complete control of Europe. Certainly, the Kaiser had awoken the “sleeping giant” of American industrial and military power, which allowed the Allied Powers to eventual defat Germany in 1918.