Free Media: March 2018

War is caused by poverty, internal instability of a state, world politics, imperialism, arms race, excessive nationalism, conflicting ideologies, economic conditions, propaganda and political / economical ambitions beyond state boundaries.

War is an instrument of foreign policy and an ultimate way to resolve a conflict. A war is likely between those who want to change the status quo and those who want to defend it.

War can be used to dominate other countries and regions. It can be used to increase the sphere of influence. Wars have also been fought by people to preserve their independence.

War is also a costly affair both for human lives and economy. It will lead to economic instability and promote differences between states. There are international norms which were formally agreed by countries after catastrophic world wars but they are violated by states involved in recent wars. War is an environmental hazard.

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Introduction

Historians have debated the causes of World War 1 for decades yet no country can be singled out for responsibility. Modern technology was considered as an advantage in war and powerful states were involved in an arms race.

1. Nationalism or Extreme Nationalism

One of the main causes of World War 1 was Nationalism or extreme patriotism.

As Charles de Gaulle says, "Patriotism is when love of your own people comes first; nationalism, when hate for people other than your own comes first."

It was intense Nationalism or offensive nationalism in Serbia and Austria – Hungary. Serbian nationalists supported a centralized Yugoslav state that guaranteed the unity of the Serbs while resisting efforts to decentralize the state (Motyl 2001, pp. 470). In 1914 Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated by Bosnian Serb revolutionary Gavrilo Princip resulting in Austria-Hungary accusing Serbia of involvement and subsequently declaring war on Serbia, resulting in a clash of alliances and the eruption of World War 1 (Motyl 2001, pp. 470).

2. Economic Imperialism / Trade wars

The international rivalries originated due to economic imperialism which was also responsible for war. Every powerful country tried to capture market in far regions of the world.

Germany tried to capture markets which were already in the hands of the England. The relations between Great Britain and Germany rose to dangerous levels. Great Britain did not want to lose her colonies, protectorates, spheres of influence and market to humor Germany. Germany wanted to access to the rich resources of colonies at any cost.

There were also trade wars between the various counties that also resulted in worsening of the relations. Tariffs were used as a weapon of trade war.

3. Arms race

Another cause of war was militarism. The military and naval armaments of all the Great powers began to grow year after year. German industrial and economic power had grown greatly after unification and the foundation of the Empire in 1871 following the Franco-Prussian War. From the mid-1890s on, the government of Wilhelm II used this base to devote significant economic resources for building up the Kaiserliche Marine (Imperial German Navy), established by Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz, in rivalry with the British Royal Navy for world naval supremacy. As a result, each nation strove to out-build the other in capital ships. With the launch of HMS Dreadnought in 1906, the British Empire expanded on its significant advantage over its German rival (Willmott 2003, p. 21). The arms race between Britain and Germany eventually extended to the rest of Europe, with all the major powers devoting their industrial base to producing the equipment and weapons necessary for a pan-European conflict (Prior 1999, p. 18).

The actual results were that there was universal fear, suspicion and hatred among the various nations. Such an arms race could end only in a war.

4. Secret Alliances

Many historians find that the way the European great powers were aligned against one another on the eve of WW-I the struggle to resolve rivalry through military means got persistent. There was a system of secret alliances and counter alliances before 1914. Europe was divided into two armed campus i.e. the triple alliance and Triple Entente. There was enmity and mutual hatred against each other.

When Germany was united in 1871, Prussia became part of the new German nation. Soon after, in October 1873, German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck negotiated the League of the Three Emperors (German: Dreikaiserbund) between the monarchs of Austria-Hungary, Russia and Germany. This agreement failed because Austria-Hungary and Russia could not agree over Balkan policy, leaving Germany and Austria-Hungary in an alliance formed in 1879, called the Dual Alliance. This was seen as a method of countering Russian influence in the Balkans as the Ottoman Empire continued to weaken (Willmott 2003, p. 15). This alliance expanded in 1882 to include Italy, in what became the Triple Alliance (Keegan 1998, p. 52).

5. Lack of International Organizations

There was no International organization/Machinery to regulate international relations. There was anarchy in the international relations of the various counties.