Why Did World War 1 Occur Essay

Did World War I occur because everybody wanted to rule the world? If we look back at WWI, we can see that even though there are other causes such as militarism, industrialization, alliances and nationalism, imperialism is the leading cause of the war. Imperialism is when a country takes another country and makes it a subject to their rule, this is because they all want large empires. This is evidently the leading cause of the war because it spurred cutthroat competition for land and resources, ignited jealousy, and intricately intertwined nations and their colonies. Firstly, imperialism proved to be a significant factor due to the intense competition among European powers for land and resources. For example, France and Germany, two main rivals during World War I, competed with each other
Secondly, the imperialistic ambitions of major powers stirred up jealousy and tension. European imperialism in Africa created tensions in that Germany felt left out of territory in the region. For example, in “1884, German leader Otto von Bismarck called the Berlin Conference, which had the European powers meet to discuss the division of Africa” (Beck, 2017). The scramble for Africa kindled a sense of rivalry and resentment among nations. All the powers wanted to own more territories than the others. Britain and France owned a lot of Africa, which made Germany very jealous. Germany, a relatively latecomer to the imperial game, felt left out and sought to catch up. The economic propensity associated with these colonies fueled Germany’s envy, while the jealousy factor added an emotional dimension to the already fierce competition for imperial dominance. This can also be seen in our simulation as every country was fueled to get more colonies than the others because of