“Evaluate the relative importance of imperialism, the arms’ race and the failure of diplomacy in causing the First World War”

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History Internal Assessment

The Origins of World War One

“Evaluate the relative importance of imperialism, the arms’ race and the failure of diplomacy in causing the First World War”

Jens Vallø

November 19, 2001

I.B. History HL I

Enthusiastic German soldiers march through the streets of Berlin on their way to the front at the beginning of World War I

Table of Contents

Introduction………………………………………………...3

Body

1. Imperialism………………………………………….…….4

2. The arms’ race…………………………………………….5

3. The failure of diplomacy…………………………….……6

Conclusion…………………………………………….…….7

Bibliography………………………………………….….….8

The Origins of World War One

“Evaluate the relative importance of imperialism, the arms’ race and the failure of diplomacy in causing the First World War”

Introduction

        

        Historians are still today debating on what actually caused World War One. This is because the actual origin was a combination of many different factors. Short-term as well as long-term causes influenced the outfall of events, however some are more important than others. What is mainly agreed on is that Germany was the nation most to blame, however most of the more influential nations of Europe were somehow involved in the conflict. England, France, Russia, and Austria-Hungary didn’t “stumble” into the war like Germany, but they all played an important role. Many historians have used the phrase “stumbled into war” to describe how Germany inevitably ended up in a total war against her neighboring countries. Unlike previous conflicts in history, more than two or three nations were involved, which is mainly due to the many alliances made in the years before.

        

        What makes it even more difficult to determine the origin of the war is that several non-human factors, like nationalism and imperialism, had key roles in developing the events that took place. The politicians and military leaders of the European nations were influenced by these ideas and therefore directed their nations almost inevitably into a major crisis, as it came out. This leads to the human factors of the war, like the arms’ race and the failure of diplomacy taking place during the beginning of the 20th century. Therefore I must stress that it was the combination of all these factors that eventually made this cataclysmic total war spread throughout Europe. The July Crisis as it later came known was the drop that made the glass flow over, but any other similar event could have had the same outcome. The European powers were so tense and aggressive, and some even thought about revenge from previous wars, or simply to expand their territory.

        In this essay I will evaluate the relative importance of imperialism, the arms’ race, and the failure of diplomacy as origins for World War One. Appropriate events and theories have been taken as examples for each of these three categories, to compare the significance of each.

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Body

Imperialism

        During the industrialization of the 19th century, all great European powers consumed vast amounts of natural resources to supply the many factories emerging in the industries. However since these natural resources are limited in abundance within Europe, these overseas empires, as for example Britain, France, Spain, and later Germany, sought beyond towards other continents in search for colonies. The colonies then provided their mother country with the natural resources needed in the rapidly spreading industrialization. In Germany this development was known as Weltpolitik and later became the term used to describe the overseas expansionism that ...

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