The transition of Human Civilization: World War I

6 min readJan 26, 2021

What were the causes of the First World War?

The Great War, one of the largest wars in human history, started with a chain of the declaration of wars in the summer of 1914. Although its main battlefield was in Europe, the involvement of all major world powers during the time period expanded its scale into a global conflict, thus, formed the First World War.

Many may argue the cause of the war was the assassination of Franz Ferdinand, yet, without the previous events and different socio/political backgrounds between European powers, a war with the scale of its destruction could have never occurred.

Instead, the war was mainly caused by a series of long and short term events that triggered the inevitable fight between countries, obvious ones being the Imperial competition on naval strength and oversea colonies between Britain and Germany, and the rise of nationalism provoked by the belief of social Darwinism across Europe.

There are also other causes that are not as significant, but played a major role in shaping nations into the state of war, such as the domestic issue of struggles between social classes, and the lack of communication during the July Crisis.

One major factor that intensified the atmosphere in Europe was the imperial competition for colonies between Britain and Germany, which set off the navy race.

When Weltpolitik was introduced by German Kaiser Wilhelm II, the new German objective to gain overseas colonies and develop a strong, modernized navy challenged the dominant power of the sea — Britain.

With Britain concerned about a potential rival that may interfere with its dominance in the sea, and Germany worried about Britain hindering its expanding economy based on increasing global trade, both nations wanted to secure their aims by strengthening their naval power.

From 1900 to 1914, the British Royal Navy has expanded from 47 first and second class battleships to 18 modern dreadnoughts, 10 battlecruisers, and 200 destroyers; the German Imperial Navy increased their strength from only 14 first-class battleships to 22 dreadnoughts, 14 dreadnought battleships, 4 crucifers, and 48 newly developed U-boats.

Fear and hatred towards Germany grew in the British public because of the rising tension caused by the excessive naval race. This made Britain change her primary enemy to Germany instead of France and Russia, which were traditional targets for the British press to antagonize.

The development of navies by these two imperial powers not only intensified Germany and Britain’s relationship, but also brought them the confidence to further proceed with their ambitious imperial control over colonies.

The First Moroccan Crisis serves as a great example. In March of 1905, the German Kaiser himself arrived in Tangiers with a battleship to openly support Morocco’s independence under its Sultan to interfere with the French colonial aim of North Africa, and establish its own influence in the region.

Not knowing that the British public has already gained hostile emotions toward itself, Germany thought Britain would maintain silent considering its historical conflict with France. However, Germany has not only failed its attempt to achieve Weltpolitik, but also strengthened the British, French, and Russian Entente against itself, and have proven to be the main threat to the British empire.

Therefore, the tension between Britain and Germany reached a state where peace talks were impossible, and the war was seen to be very likely by both the governments and the populations.

If colonialism was the first spark of fire, the rise of nationalism will be the firewood that was set up to supply the flame of war for years. Caused by the belief of social Darwinism, nationalism became a primary motivation for Western and Central European nations to join the war.

After the humiliating defeat of the Franco-Prussian War in 1871, the French went on a huge militarization to defend future German aggression against itself. Seeing Germany becoming a modernized empire and taking the industrialized Alsace-Lorraine, the rise of right-wing revanchist led to the spread of nationalism across the country.

Between 1872–1912, French spending on armaments increased 130%, concentrating most of its force near Alsace-Lorraine and across the Western German border, and the loss of territories during the Franco-Prussian War was even written in textbooks in school as a national shame, which further boosted nationalism and resentment toward Germany.

The ideology of “Survival of the Fittest” was widespread in the German society to justify its imperialist goal of Weltpolitik and annexation of weaker states. It also triggered the belief in German racial superiority. This can mostly be seen through Kaiser Wilhelm II, who said in 1912:

“[There will be a] racial war, a war of Slavdom against Germandom… with the Anglo-Saxons with whom we are related by common ancestry, religion and civilization-building… The racial struggle cannot be avoided.”

By comparing Germany’s economic growth and industrialization with its neighbors, the German public was easily convinced that the Germanic race was stronger than the others, which allowed the continuation of this belief even after the war. Thus, the rise of nationalism throughout the late 1800s and the early 20th century gave the perfect reasoning for nations to fight against each other, and a violent continental conflict in Europe that would last for years was unavoidable.

Lack of communication between government officials, which further developed misunderstandings during the July Crisis is the cause that finalized the inevitability of the war.

Poor communication methods between states caused the war to start before the realization of the leaders of these nations. After the assassination of Duke Franz Ferdinand, Austria-Hungary started to draft the ultimatum to the Serbian government.

By July 23rd, 1914, the ultimatum reached Serbia, Austria-Hungary’s ally, Germany knew nothing until the Kaiser heard from his radio officer during his vacation where he read it from a local Norwegian Newspaper a day later. The response from German Undersecretary Arthur Zimmerman claiming “the note was too sharp” a day before the ultimatum was sent actually showed Germany’s effort in keeping the peace between Serbia and Austria-Hungary.

If the Kaiser was informed earlier, Germany would have had time to renegotiate with its ally, and redraw the ultimatum on time to avoid war with Russia. Consequently, this lack of communication forced the conflict between Austria-Hungary and Serbia, which brought their allied Germany and Russia into global warfare.

Many historians believe World War I was spread from the Bulkan conflicts. Yet, it is important to understand that without the Anglo-German imperial competition and the rise of nationalism triggered by social Darwinism, the scale of the war would possibly stay as a regional war.

The tension rising between the two biggest powers in Europe, Germany, and Britain, caused by their own imperialist aims created a favorable atmosphere for war. The rising nationalism in Germany and France urged by the belief of racial supremacy and fear from social Darwinism emphasized the intense relationship between nations through populations and public support, which led to a long and violent war for more than four years.

After all, there is no one particular responsible for the war, rather the deadly conflicts were caused by the sociopolitical structure and ideologies during the time period. With the lack of technology to establish reliable and efficient communication channels, the irresistible World War I was doomed to occur.