How does militarism lead to ww1

Colonies were units of exchange that could be bargained without significantly affecting the metro-pole. They also brought nations who would otherwise not interact into conflict and agreement. It has been suggested that Germany was motivated by imperial ambitions to invade Belgium and France.

Certainly the expansion of the British and French empires, fired by the rise of industrialism and the pursuit of new markets, caused some resentment in Germany, and the pursuit of a short, aborted imperial policy in the late nineteenth century. However the suggestion that Germany wanted to create a European empire in is not supported by the pre-war rhetoric and strategy.

Nationalism was also a new and powerful source of tension in Europe. It was tied to militarism, and clashed with the interests of the imperial powers in Europe. Nationalism created new areas of interest over which nations could compete. For example, The Habsburg empire was tottering agglomeration of 11 different nationalities, with large slavic populations in Galicia and the Balkans whose nationalist aspirations ran counter to imperial cohesion. This was mostly achieved by youth being forced to join the army.

Germany added , full-time soldiers to its army in , which in turn increased the size of its navy - the construction of 17 new vessels was ordered in Berlin was also exemplary in the construction of military submarines U-boats and by the German navy had 29 operational submarines.

The British were highly suspicious of this and responded by adding 29 new ships to the Royal Navy. There were changes in the quality and quantity of military weapons and equipment. After analysis of the Crimean War and other 19th century conflicts, military industrialists developed hundreds of improvements and rushed to patent them. Perhaps the most notable improvements were the calibre, range, and accuracy and portability of heavy artillery and weapons. During the American Civil War — , a type of heavy artillery was invented that could fire up to 2, metres and by early , it had been further improved.

The invention of explosive shells was also significant. They had greater killing power as they would explode wherever they landed. These inventions caused artillery attacks to become standard practise along the Western Front during World War I. Barbed wire, an invention of the s, was also embraced by military strategists as it prevented enemies from getting past a defensive line.

First developed in , overtime machine guns became smaller, lighter, more accurate, more reliable, and faster with some capable of firing up to rounds per minute. Small firearms also improved during this period. The effective range of a rifle in the s was only about metres. These included Lee-Enfield. In time, machine guns replaced rifles. In , war history recorded the use of flamethrowers by the Germans at Malancourt, Verdun. Christian K. The History of an International Debate, , Cambridge , p.

Allen H. Powles, London , p. Civilian and Military, London , p. III, p. O: Baden-Powell and the Scout Movement before Citizen Training or Soldiers of the Future? Here Hintze was, of course, in fundamental disagreement with Marxist thinkers like Vladimir Lenin , who saw the state as a result of precisely class antagonisms: e.

See pp. New Haven et al. Britain and Germany in the Age of Empire, Cambridge Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism, London The Advocacy of War and Rearmament, , London Paris, Michael: Warrior Nation. Newton, Douglas: The Darkest Days. Militarism, Myth and Mobilization in Germany, Cambridge Public Response to the Outbreak of War, in: online.

DOI: Translated by: Jones, Heather. A History of Italy since , London , p. Russia in the Epoch of Violence, , in: Kritika, 4 , pp. Britain , Cambridge Becker, Jean-Jacques: Berghahn, Volker R. The history of an international debate, , Cambridge Cambridge University Press. Chickering, Roger: War enthusiasm? Hintze, Otto: Military organization and the organization of the state , in: Gilbert, Felix ed.

Hobson, J. Huntington, Samuel P. The theory and politics of civil-military relations , Cambridge Harvard University Press. Lasswell, Harold D. The garrison state versus the civilian state , in: The China Quartely 2, , pp. Paris, Michael: Warrior nation. Images of war in British popular culture, , London Reaktion Books. Pennell, Catriona: A kingdom united. Perlmutter, Amos: The military and politics in modern times. Vagts, Alfred: A history of militarism. Civilian and military , Westport Greenwood Press.

Verhey, Jeffrey: The spirit of Citation Melby, Christian K. Metadata Subjects. Author Keywords. GND Subject Headings. LC Subject Headings. In the power void left by the Ottomans, tensions grew between Serbia and Austria-Hungary. The archduke, who was heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, went to Sarajevo to inspect the imperial troops stationed in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

He and his wife Sophie were shot to death in their car by a year-old Serbian revolutionary, Gavrilo Princip. Instead, the tension between European powers increased, as they took different sides in the crisis. As the U. Neither one of them wanted to back down and appear weak. Fearing a fight that would draw in Russia, Austria-Hungary turned for help to Germany, which promised backing if the Austro-Hungarians used force against the Serbians. German support emboldened Austria-Hungary to declare war on Serbia on July Germany declared war on Russia on August 1, and two days later declared war against France.

German forces gathered on the border of neutral Belgium, which they planned to cross in order to invade France. Belgium called for help, and on August 4, Great Britain declared war on Germany.