The Origins Of The Great War

The Great War was one the first modern wars, as well as one of the deadliest at a world scale. Seventeen million people, civilian and soldier, died as a result of the outbreak of World War I. The war also wounded twenty million people with flying lead, poisonous gases, and roaring explosives. The border of Belgium and France became a series of trenches and a desolate field known as no-man 's land. Soldiers peering over trenches were shot by snipers on the opposite side of no-man’s land. Millions of men died in fruitless charges against the trenches. It seems so many countries were pulled into the war they should have known the outcome would have been catastrophic at best. Alliances drew the countries in: militarism and nationalism were the main fuel that made up why the Great War happened, and the assassination of Archduke Francis Ferdinand lit the spark that …show more content…
Germany and Russia were extremely militarist, often starting arms races by creating new innovation in war, which everyone had to have, lest they be at a disadvantage. Governments were strongly influenced by their generals, who encouraged the younger generations to enlist in their own respective military. For example, Great Britain took enormous pride in their navy as well recruiting every man who wanted to be in their navy. Furthermore, military planners didn’t debate whether if a large war would happen, but when a large war would happen. This was the arms race. Every nation in the world stockpiled weapons, ships, and technology to prepare for war. Germany exponentially expanded its military, both ground troops and naval ships. Russia and France also expanded their ground forces to keep up with Germany and Austria. Militarism fueled the countries, and prepared every one of them for the grievous war