World War 1

World War 1 was different than any other wars that came before it by that it was the first war fought in on many continents, as well it was the first war where chemical weapons were used, and it was the first total war. The total number of casualties in World War 1 was 37 million. There were 9 million killed, 20 million wounded and others that weren’t were most likely dead. The expectations before the war started was a reason why the war began because people thought it was going to be a short, bloodless war and that there was going to be easy victory. According to Nial Ferguson, millions of Europeans saw war as the way to save their honor, as well as to solve internal and international problems that needed to be resolved. What were the major causes of World War 1 and could it have been avoided? The major causes of World War 1 were economic, intellectual, political, and geographic causes. If they could’ve avoided the war they would’ve avoided it because if they would’ve thought about the consequences that the war was going to bring to them, they would’ve never been involved in it.

Document # 1 is a chart of comparison of France’s, England’s, and Germany’s naval forces from 1890-1910. Document # 1 shows a political, economic, and geographic cause for World War 1. All three countries believed in militarism. Militarism is the belief that a country should maintain capability and be prepared to use it to defend their country. Governments were in conflict and militarism was a way to become superior to other countries. Tension was building up between some European countries. When one country saw that another’s country’s military was becoming stronger, the country would become “scared” and work on getting their military stronger. The chain went on and on like that with several countries. From 1890-1910, France went from 2 million tons to 10 million tons, England went from 10 million tons to 50 millions tons, and Germany went from 1 millions tons to 43 million tons. In