The Role of America and the Great War Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

The Role of America and the Great War - Essay Example The additional territories would provide the nations with additional raw materials thereby contribute to their wealth. However, the scramble for colonization led to conflicts among the nations as was evident between the Germans and the Britons in East Africa and the French and the Britons in West Africa among others. The growing conflicts enhanced the growing suspicion that the European nations had about each other thereby leading to the war. Militarism was yet another significant factor that led to the outbreak of the war. Militarism referred to the desire for the various European countries to arm themselves with lethal weapons of mass destruction. The European countries led by Germany entered an arms’ race at the beginning of the 20th century. Germany increased its funding for arms, and the country experienced the greatest increase in the soldierly build up. The same was the case in Britain, France and Russia. In both Russia and Germany, the military began to enjoy the great influence of the prevailing public opinion thanks to the rise of authoritarian leaders who were eager for war. With the rapid growth of the military in numerous countries, the countries began agitating for war with the view to testing their military might a feature that led to war since the countries were aggressive and domineered towards each other. The rise of nationalism further enhanced the agitation and aggressive interaction among countries at the beginning of the 20th century thereby contributing to the breakout of the First World War. Nationalism just as the name suggests refers to a political ideology that enhances people to develop a strong attachment to their nations. As the countries militarized and developed their economies, so did patriotism and a sense of belonging developed in citizens of various European countries. The rise of nationalism led to the rise of a number of young people who were willing to join their domestic armies to fight for their countries. The culmination of nationalism that led to the war was the push by the Slavic people living in Herzegovina and Bosnia to quit Austria-Hungary and join Serbia.  Ã‚