Nationalism Was The Cause Of World War I

The time before 1914 was a time of unrest and small fighting between countries. As a cause of industrialization, countries had had to find new markets which were often in other countries. To gain the markets, the country had to take over the land. This policy of conquering and ruling other lands is called imperialism. By 1900, Britain had control in over five continents and France had control of large portions of Africa as a result of imperialism and felt that their military could not be beat. Once the country controlled a market, they could raise or lower the price of goods and control who traded there. These new rules helped increase tension and the countries controlling the market felt that they had the most power. In addition, while some
Nationalism is the loyalty and pride people feel for their country. In the years before 1914, nationalism would appear in the form of press or culture. In many European countries, the newspaper pages were packed full of rumors and rousing stories about other countries. The countries reading these papers then had the right to believe that their country was fair and without blame. The newspapers also carried rumors about the schemes and aggressiveness of the surrounding countries. It convinced many of the citizens of the plotting of other countries to invade their own. Nevertheless, newspapers were not the only form of nationalism occurring in European countries. There was also propaganda appearing in the culture, such as music and literature. In Britain, there was a popular patriotic song called “Rule, Britannia!”. It's lyrics included that “Britons never never will be slaves.” This helped to convince the citizens that their home country was the best and could never be conquered. In London, nationalism was being spread through literature. Cheap novels, short stories, and essays were published talking of future wars and invasions that were inevitably coming from German, Russian, and French forces. Lastly, in Germany, nationalism was used to build up the new nation and gain support from the public. All of German culture was bolstered and revered. With this culture stuffed into their faces, the German people were filled with a
There were many different alliances formed, but the main two were Great Britain, Russia, France, and independent states- known as the Triple Entente- and Germany, Ottoman Empire, Austria-Hungary, and Italy -known as the Triple Alliance. Although alliances help in war time, in times before war they were not as beneficial. They even helped cause World War I because it allowed smaller nations in alliances to behave carelessly. One example of this is the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and the effects it had. Franz Ferdinand was archduke of Austria-Hungary and was killed by a Serbian scholar. His assassination called Austria-Hungary to take up arms against Serbia. Considering Serbia had just been threatened by war it pulled into play alliances. Since Serbia was in the Triple Entente, all those countries were there to back them up. On the other hand, with Austria-Hungary being in the Triple Alliance, it pulled all of those countries into play. Seeing that there were alliances, what would've been a small, short lived war was suddenly blown into a world