Britain at that time was the largest empire in the world. She controlled many areas including parts of Asia, America, Africa and Australasia. Britain also had the largest navy which was needed to protect her empire and maintain the sea routes between her different colonies. The Germans were particularly envious and wanted to compete. In 1905 Britain began to construct a battleship named Dreadnought. In response to this supposed threat, the Germans began constructions of their own to build bigger and better ships. Between 1900 and 1911, the Germans tried to enlarge their naval fleet to a size which would compete with Britain. This was known as the naval race and created apprehension and competition between the two countries. The naval race is just one example of how Germany’s ambition contributed towards the start of the Great War. However, this was just one form of competition and definitely not enough to start the War. Britain felt challenged and probably threatened, but the alliances between the powers were not yet strong enough and people did not feel patriotic enough about their countries for German ambition in this case to be the start of the war.
‘Weltpolitik’could also show Germany’s ambition as it was a policy of intervention into all international affairs, whether they be in Germany’s interest or not. This meant that Germany wanted to be involved in everything, which angered and annoyed the other powers. This affected land disputes in places like Morocco, where the Kaiser intervened in proceedings and supported Morocco’s independence. Germany has always wanted to maintain superiority on the continent (particularly over France) and to be recognised as a world power. Between 1905 and 1914 Morocco in North Africa and the Balkan States, which had emerged after the shattering of the Ottoman Empire were being disputed over. Germany’s ambitions were clear: she wanted power in Morocco and to push France and Britain out. Germany at first looked to be in a strong position, but failed to win general support. Other powers around the world supported French rights in Morocco. Germany had expected the outcome to be different and felt very isolated. The other powers supported her contender, France, which caused a lot of rivalry and unreasonable jealousy. Germany turned her back on the other powers by refusing to be part of international conferences, which were a means of settling international disputes. However, the focus of European tension was soon switched back to Morocco. The French had abused their rights and occupied a major city in Morocco, a move which suggested they were preparing to take over. Ambitious Germany who had always wanted permanent influence in Northern Africa were ready to use force. They acted aggressively and clumsily by sending a battle ship to Morocco to protect German interests there. This made Britain hostile towards Germany and made them support France. There were also land disputes over the Balkans involving Austria Hungary.
These land disputes caused tension and rivalry between the powers. It also drew France and Britain closer together to protect them selves against Germany. It is the alliances after all that bring all the powers into the war. Without these land disputes, Britain and France might not have worried so much about Germany and joined together. All of the countries wanted to better each other and be the most powerful. Germany was jealous of Britain, who had the most powerful empire and wanted to be as great. This was very ambitious of Germany and one of many causes of the war. However, powers wanting to have larger empires wouldn’t have been such a great conflict without nationalism.
During the 19th century, nationalism was linked to imperialism. To a certain extent, imperialism could be considered to be an extension of antagonism between nations.
During nationalism’s popular phase, the acquisition of an overseas empire was seen as a necessity to demonstrate the nation’s supremacy. For many, imperialism was a way of strengthening support for the nation, and was seen as a growing sense of national identity. Imperialism gave an increased sense of nationalism. People felt proud of their countries and wanted them to be greater than the rest. The German Kaiser was ambitious that Germany would be the best, which led to land disputes such as those previously discussed over Morocco. The desire to bring glory to a nation was partially responsible for vast projects of imperial expansion. This imperial expansion led to increased competition and rivalry between the nations. The patriotic feeling amongst inhabitants could possibly have been behind the motivation for forming alliances.
Britain, France and Russia were allied in the Triple Entente. This meant that if any county was to attack one of the three, the rest would join in and protect the attacked country. Russia was also protecting Serbia, where there was a lot of Nationalism. People in Serbia felt proud of their nation and wanted to be independent. Germany was allied with Austria-Hungary, who was trying to take over Serbia and the ambiguous Italy. Germany felt encircled by her enemies and very threatened. When Arch Duke Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary was shot on the 28th of June 1914 by a Serbian Nationalist, everything exploded. Nationalism and a sense of home identity for the individual who shot the Austria-Hungarian had began the war. Russia joined in to protect Serbia, Britain and France joined in to protect Russia, and Germany came to Austria-Hungary’s rescue.
Although Germany’s ambitions contributed greatly to the start of the war, especially with imperialism and land disputes, other factors were far greater in sparking the start of the war. Fifty years of German ambition, competition, rivalry and protecting each other amounted to five days of nationalism and alliances. Nationalism not only created the many divisions that would make the need for war, but was also the catalyst, the shooting of the Austrian Archduke. The passion of people and their leaders resulted in four years of intense battle and millions dead.