France and Germany’s armies had doubled between the years 1870 and 1914. There was also big competition for the title “mastery of the seas”, which is when Britain and France started creating effective battleships. Soon after, there was an increase in military influence on policy making. Increased military and naval rivalry led to the belief that war was coming. Also, all the three powers held secret military talks. The British and the French naval authorities had agreements as well as Germany and Austria. When the First World War came to be, it was to be fought by all powers because they had made the military plan cooperatively. “Freedom from militarism will give the German people the opportunity, if they will but seize it, to apply their great energies and abilities to the works of peace.” …show more content…
These were important because they meant that some countries had no option but to declare war if one of their allies declared war first. The alliance between Germany and Austria was natural. Both spoke the same language and had a similar culture. Italy had joined these countries as she feared their power on her northern border. The members of the Triple Alliance (which is what Germany, Austria and Italy’s alliance was called) promised to help the others if they were attacked by another country. The other alliance (Triple Entente) was less structured than the Triple Alliance. Britain, France and Russia did not have to promise to help the other two if they got attacked by other countries but the understanding was that each member would support the others. As Phaedrus once said “An alliance with a powerful person is never safe”.
“So long as there is imperialism in the world, a permanent peace is impossible.” (Nasrallah) And that is one of the reasons WW1 began, Imperialism and it had grown. The British Empire had built up its empire by taking over Canada, India, Ceylon, Burma, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong and many others. France, the other imperial power, had taken over most of Africa and some Indochina such as Vietnam. This increased the tension as Germany started taking over small parts of Africa and China, and small colonies and Italy decided they wanted a colonial empire as