Prior to World War I, militarism was a movement whereby military ideals and virtues were enforced upon the people of a nation in preparation for war. Although the argument that varying degrees of military growth between the European powers can be used to contend that militarism could not have been a significant cause of World War I— since strong policies of militarism did not exist among all nations— it is this very discrepancy in military growth that contributed to the nationalistic feelings of opposing powers. Britain's navy lived by the “two-power standard” in which they doubled the naval units of the rest of the world and also held ownership to the most powerful battleship at the time — the Dreadnought, which could take on three German
