World War 1 Dbq Analysis

The outcome of World War I did not only affect Europe, but the entire world. Countries at peace with each other stood on opposite ends and fought against each other. One person lashes out, and everything comes tumbling down. Many people believe that the underlying cause of World War I is militarism and alliances. Although that is arguable, the most impactful cause was imperialism.
Militarism had a good amount of impact on the war. Before the war started, each country had a good-sized army, along with a smaller navy. As time got closer to the war, each country had grown their army and some countries even had a large navy as well. Document C states that “By 1914 the Entente Powers could field 2.23 million men, Germany and Austria-Hungary 1.2 million” (Document C). Along with the great amount of troops, the chart shows that each country had gained a mass amount of armaments as the years went by. Because of all the people fighting in the war and all of the advanced weapons and technology used, it led to a lot more destruction and overall a longer war. Just like weapon production prior to WWI, WWII was very similar. The weapons used in WWII were more advanced, but production drastically rose before the war just like in WWI.

A website showing production figures in World War II states that the number of German fighter planes in 1943 is 15,526 compared to 755 in 1939. This shows that before the war and as the war went on, production of armaments increased.
Prior to the war, there were two groups of alliances.

The Triple Entente consisted of Great Britain, France, and Russia while the Triple Alliance consisted of Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy. Italy was first part of the Triple Entente, but then they dropped out and joined the other side. This could’ve resulted in anger from some of the countries and led to the war. Also, in Document A, the map shows that the Central and Allied Powers are right up against each other which means there was no buffer in between the countries. Russia was right up against Germany and Austria-Hungary while France was also right up against Germany. That means that if one side got just a little mad with the other side, it wouldn’t be too hard to start a full blown

war.
Last but not least, Imperialism is the third possible reason, being the most influential to the cause of World War I. At the time, the ways of imperializing/colonizing were fairly new to the European countries with their new technology. In Document D, German Chancellor Bernhard von Bülow says that “In our nineteenth century, England has increased its colonial empire -- the largest the world has seen since the days of the Romans…” (Bülow). With England’s colonial empire being something no one has seen before, nobody really knew what the outcome would be. It could’ve turned out great, or led to something like a war. Document E and Document F both show that certain countries have more colonial land than others. The picture in Document E illustrates England as a “bloodsucker,” taking control and colonizing across the whole world, while Document F’s chart shows that countries Britain, France, and Germany have a greater amount of colonial empires than most of the other European countries. The author is trying to show that this could cause some countries to become jealous of other countries’ powers and lead to a war.
Going through the documents, militarism and alliances have good amount of evidence to back up their reasons for starting the war. While they could only be related to one document, imperialism could be related to three. In the end, Imperialism has far more proof to show that it is the underlying cause of WWI.