World War I Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 2

World War I - Essay Example According to (Clark 21), the four main causes of the World War I were nationalism, militarism, imperialism and alliances. Imperialism which is domination of one country as a result of its prowess in economics, politics or culture was caused by the fact that after the industrial revolution, some nations in Europe became rich and hence started controlling other nations. As a result of the imperialistic foreign policies imposed by the great empires like the Ottoman Empire, Russian Empire and Germany Empire, tensions began to accumulate. Following the scramble and partition of Africa in search of natural resources to trade, the European nations started recruiting the Africans to use crude weapons. Nations also started acquiring military weapons in preparation for a war as a result of the increasing tension. This militarism paved a smooth way for the way. Most of the Europeans were nationalists who were prepared to defend their nations against any enemies or attack by foreign policies. When the heir of Austria-Hungary was assassinated, it is nationalism that led to the people of Austria declare war against the Yugoslav nationalists. With the tensions already high in Europe, the war was sparked. Alliances were quickly formed as European nations began choosing the nations they would support in the wars and this led to the spread of the war to most parts of Europe. With each country in the alliance bringing in Africans on top of their military to fight the enemies and with the previously acquired arms and other crude weaponry, the war continued until 1918. The United States of America would not have joined the war had the Germans not triggered it with their constant nuisance. Germany’s submarines were constantly violating the international law and entering illegally into American waters. They even sunk a British ship killing several Americans.