In exploring the causes of the First World War, many diverse theories have been argued. Many people indicted imperialism as the principle cause of the war. Many others say that the arms race (militarism) was the culprit. I believe that several of these things combined caused the First World War. The Alliance system caused many fears throughout Germany. Germany felt like they had their backs against the wall with no allies. This caused Germany to fight back, leading to the First World War.
             There are many factors that led to hostility between military powers in Europe. Militarism was one cause for many of these hostilities. Militarism in the early 1900's was very similar to the arms race of today. Because Great Britain had a good navy, Germany felt as though they needed a strong navy as well (McDonough 8). Germany and France also competed for larger armies. The more one nation built up its army or navy the more the other nations felt they had to do the same. Each country was constantly trying to be better than the other. This led to great military expansion for Britain, Germany, and France. Another cause for many hostilities was imperialism. Some European nations ruled smaller countries, called colonies, and competed with each other to amass more colonies. Gathering these colonies became known as imperialism. Both France and Britain had colonies all throughout Africa and Asia (McDonough 6-7). Germany and Italy soon realized how France and Britain's countries were expanding and they too wanted a colonial empire. In addition to many political conflicts, the hostilities were pushed by such forces as nationalism or patriotism. Nationalism led many European nations to compete for the largest army and navy, or the greatest industrial development, or the biggest empire. The main hostilities in Europe all derived from competing with each other.
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