The Causes Of World War I :: essays research papers

The first world war had many causes, the historians probably have not yet discovered and discussed all of them so there might be more causes than what we know now. In this essay I would discuss the main causes of the war—the ones that were discussed in the textbook. In the time before the war’s outbreak (before 1914—in the beginning of the century) the world was separated into big empires that had colonies around the world (European countries ruled most of Africa). There were fights and disagreements between the major empires. Usually, when there are many arguments between countries, people start fear of war and prepare for it (for example, today in Israel, after Benjamin Netanyahu winning the elections, Israel’s policy towards the Arabs and the Palestinians have changed. There is fear from war with Syria, because of threats from both sides, so both countries arm themselves and ready for war, just in case it would break). In the beginning of the century Britain was the largest empire in the world, it also had the largest navy. The navy was so big and strong because the Britons needed to protect their empire and maintain the sea routes between the different colonies. The Kaiser William II of Germany hated and envied Britain for having a stronger navy than his. He increased the German navy and built many warships. Britain responded with building more ships and increasing its navy too. This started a race for building more and better warships and it created tension and competition between those two countries. Germany and France were rivals for centuries and at the beginning of the century and at the end of the 19th century the rivalry increased. This happened because of the war between those two countries in 1870-71 when Germany defeated France. Germany took over the areas of Alsace and Lorraine and the French people wanted to revenge Germany and retrieve those lands. France could not start a war against Germany since Germany had more resources and a stronger army than France. France needed allies to help it fight (the subject of alliances would be discussed later). There was another quarrel between France and Germany—about controlling Morocco. In 1905 France thought that it should have more influence in the western Mediterranean Sea area as it already controlled Tunisia and Algeria, it wanted Morocco too. The Kaiser of Germany visited Tangier (a big city in Morocco) and said that Germany would protect Morocco in case of a French attack. In 1911 France increased its control over Morocco and Germany sent a warship. The Germans withdrew at last but the French gave them a part of Western Africa in exchange.