Alright, the causes of World War I, baby. What are they and why did they, you know, cause World War I? Well, that's what I'm about to splain up real nice. So, if you're ready to get them brain cows milked, let's get to it. And there are, in fact, about a thousand itty bitty minor causes that I could tell you about, but we're going to stick to the four main causes.
And when I say main, I mean main. First up is militarism, which describes the belief that states ought to build up strong militaries and employ them aggressively to protect their own interests. If you can't make sense out of why that might cause a war, well, then.
I don't think I can help you. You see, thanks to the incredible productivity of industrial manufacturing that began in the last period, states were able to produce military weapons at a far greater pace than ever before. And bonus, they were way deadlier than ever before. And in the decades leading up to the First World War, the big concern with respect to militarism was Germany.
Now, perhaps you'll recall that they got all unified in the last period, and that led to rapid industrialization and a massive... buildup of the military. And so in the early decades of the 20th century, those developments merged and resulted in Germany possessing arguably the most powerful military force in Europe. Oh, and by the way, if you want note guides to help you follow along with this video on all my videos, check the link in the description. Anyway, all of that made Germany's neighbor France real sweaty under the armpits, because due to several internal problems they were dealing with, France's military was pretty cheap.
pitiful in comparison. But not Great Britain's baby. You don't build the biggest empire in the world with a pint-sized military. But the difference here is that Britain's commitment to militarism drained their national resources at a far greater pace than did Germany's.
Anyway, militarism? pew pew, cause of World War I. And moving right along, our second cause of World War I was a system of international alliances. So in the beginning of the 20th century, the balance of power on the European continent was expressed in terms of two major alliances.
You had the Triple Alliance, which included Germany, Italy, and the Austro-Hungarian Empire, among a few others. And then you had the Triple Entente, which included Britain, France, and Russia, among a few others as well. Now, without going too far into the weeds, you just need to understand that these alliances were created in the interest of national security on both sides or to isolate rival states. But how is that a cause of the war?
A fine question, which I shall answer presently. You see, both sides, in addition to participating in the warfare buddy system, also devised an elaborate military mobilization plan in case war did break out. And look, with everybody drinking the Kool-Aid of militarism, War is guns to break out.
So each state involved in these alliances had built thousands of miles of railroads, and these would be the main vehicle to mobilize their troops in the event of war. But in order to enact mobilization on such a massive scale, these states had to devise incredibly precise timetables for railroad operation. And that means that once mobilization had begun, it would be very difficult to stop it without throwing those countries into chaos. Okay, cause number three of World War I was imperialism. So reach into your brain folds and find that spot for Unit 6, and maybe you'll remember that in the last period it was characterized by fantastic imperial expansion.
Now, there were a lot of reasons for that, which I don't need to toss around here, but for our purposes, one of the most potent causes for imperialism was the desire to project power on the world stage. Like, getting bigger and better empires was how states achieved great power status, and that led to plenty of competition and conflict. And again, one of the chief agitators here was Germany, who under the influence of its national unity and powerful military sought to enlarge its own empire at the expense of other European powers. And once imperial holdings were secure and there was very little additional territory to conquer, European powers began to experience conflict.
conflict over existing colonial holdings. And it was this conflict that largely caused the creation of the alliance system. And finally, the fourth cause of World War I was our old friend, nationalism. Now, of course, this was carried over from the 19th century, and under its influence, many nation-states emphasized the glory and commonality of their own people while defining other nation-states as enemies.
And as Europeans across the continent embraced nationalistic messages through schools and military service and mass media, this had the effect of convincing them that their national identities and loyalties were the most important thing about them. And even more to the point, nationalistic fervor out of way of convincing them that their national identities were under threat from rival states. Alright class, which of these correctly portrays the British?
That one! Very good. And what will this monster do to you?
Steal our lunch money and then kill us! A plus! And so because nationalism was such a powerful and unifying force, that meant that any conflict that began with other powers had to be met with force instead of compromise.
Because this guy can't be compromised with or else your lunch money will be gone and you'll be dead. So those are the main causes of World War I. If you take all four of them and put them in a pot, then you've got a stew going that's ready to explode as soon as even a tiny spark f- falls into the pot. As it turns out, a tiny spark did fall into the pot, and it happened to be an assassination in the Balkans. You see, a Serbian nationalist by the name of Gavrilo Princip went ahead and shot Archduke Franz Ferdinand of the Austro-Hungarian Empire over a little regional spat. And here's where all those factors we just talked about come together and cause a catastrophic war out of what should have been a much smaller regional dispute.
You see, nationalism caused the Serbian assassination, and nationalism ensured that the Austrians would view it as an unconscionable act that demanded retaliation. And then that's where the alliance system comes in. into play. Serbia was allied with Russia and Austria-Hungary with Germany. But then Russia was allied with Britain and France while Germany was allied with Italy.
And therefore, when the Serbian-Austro-Hungarian conflict erupted, the entire alliance system lit up, as did the inflexible process of mobilization, and the result was World War I. But we'll have to wait for the next video to see how all that played out. Okay, click here to keep reviewing for Unit 7, and click here to grab my video note guides which are going to help you follow along with these videos and get all the contents of this course firmly crammed into your brain folds. And I'll catch you on the flip-flop. Heimler out.