History - WW1 and WW2

Name the key Concepts:

1. Imperialism

2. Nationalism

3. Militarism

4. Fascism

What is Imperialism?

• belief that a nation can control & exploit another country’s people and resources.

• consists of policies allowing for expansion beyond own territories to acquire an overseas empire, increasing influence : colonisation

• In both WW1 and WW2, aggressive countries were imperialists

• e.g the French colonising Africa.

What is Nationalism?

• Describes the pride in belonging to one’s own country, is patriotic, leading to the championing of own country over others.

• At extreme level: an individual/group sees themselves as more important and deserving of rights compared to other countries.

• As a political movement: a country asserting authority over other nations, often by force.

• Nationalist: individual who is devoted to country’s interests, putting them above other countries, even possibly compromising their own values in the process. E.g. Hitler.

What is Militarism?

• When military commanders exert excessive influence on gov. and policies, civilians have limited control.

• Militant: a person/the use of systemic violence to achieve political change.

• Main principles: keeping large armies, navies ready for battle and regarding military efficiency as the most instrumental segment of a government.

• E.g. Japan had a militaristic gov. in the 1930s

What is Fascism?

• ‘Fascism’ - refers to the Italian political movement established by Mussolini in 1919.

• ‘fascism’- general term referring to political movements that share a radical political philosophy, has extreme nationalism, anti-communism, and anti-liberalism, often taking on racism.

• Characterised by:

• Militarised aesthetic - politics becomes a military campaign through united rallies, symbols of violence, and uniforms to erase individuality and sense of power, discipline and order.

• Revolutionary outlook - wants to completely erase the old political system to build a new society, by claiming the nation is dying, weak, corrupt and often promises a golden ‘New Age’ from extreme actions.

• Hyper-masculinity - dependant on strict and exaggerated ideas of manhood to drive its aggressive goals, rejecting ‘weak’ traits like empathy, promotes patriarchal control and strict gendered hierarchies.

What are short term and long term causes:

Short term: they are immediate and specific events and factors, that occur relatively close in time to the event they influence.

Long term: they are underlying conditions or trends that develops over years, decades, or centuries as a foundation for a major event.

What are WW1’s short term causes:

• The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand by Gavrilo Princip (Bosnian Serb and member of the Black Hand Nationalist group) in 1914, motivated by Princip’s desire to ‘free’ Bosnia from Austro-Hungarian rule. As, Austria-Hungary annexed Bosnia (1908), angering Bosnian Nationalists who wanted to unify all Southern Slavic nations under one government.

• The July Crisis was a month-long period of political and military escalations, where Austria-Hungary issued an intentionally humiliating and harsh ultimatum to Serbia to justify a military invasion, with the support of Germany (July 23rd). Russia mobilised on the 25th to support Serbia before they responded. Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia on the 28th, 1914. Germany then declares war on Russia and France after the French mobilise their forces. Great Britain wages war on Germany, A-H starts conflict with Russia and France and Great Britain wages a war with Austria-Hungary.

What are WW1’s long term causes: M

Militarism: Militarism acted as a primary catalyst for World War I by transforming European competition into a volatile arms race. European powers equated prestige and power with military strength, leading to several nations becoming a part of an industrialised arms race, as seen through the vicious naval race between Germany and Britain. Competition led to tension, lack of diplomacy and large scale mobilisation plans to be made. Therefore when the 1914 crisis began, governments pushed for war instead of diplomacy due to fear of other nations striking first and the fact that they were all prepped for conflict.

What are WW1’s long term causes: A

Alliances: The European alliance system drove World War I by transforming a localised Balkan crisis into a continental war through a system of mutual fear and rigid obligations. By dividing Europe into the Triple Alliance (Germany, Austria-Hungary, Italy) and the Triple Entente (Britain, France, Russia), nations surrendered their diplomatic independence to unconditionally back up their allies, out of fear of geopolitical isolation and to survive. This collective insecurity empowered Austria-Hungary to recklessly declare war on Serbia, knowing Germany had to support them, triggering the domino effect. Russia mobilised to protect its Slavic ally, forcing Germany to launch a preemptive attack on Russia and France, which subsequently dragged Britain into the war. Ultimately, alliances drove the conflict because they stripped European leaders of diplomatic flexibility, ensuring that a single regional spark was structurally guaranteed to drag every major power into an existential survival test.

What are WW1’s long term causes: I

Imperialism drove the outbreak of World War I by transforming global territorial expansion into a struggle for national power, destabilising European diplomacy. As industrial economies grew dependent on foreign markets and raw materials, European powers equated imperial expansion with geopolitical security. This economic imperative turned Africa and Asia into arenas of fierce competition, epitomised by the Moroccan Crises, where Germany’s aggressive attempts to disrupt French and British colonial dominance backfired. Instead of expanding German influence, these moves triggered anxiety and hostility, forcing Britain and France to secure their overseas territories more fiercely. Ultimately, imperialism drove the war because the race is to colonise swiftly left no more "free" land to claim and diplomacy was broken from the fight to gain more influence. This saturation point increased European rivalries and what started as independent processes to accumulate influence became an explosive, existential struggle for global dominance.

What are WW1’s long term causes: N

Nationalism drove the outbreak of World War I by acting as an explosive force that crushed regional stability in the Balkans and manufactured public consensus for war across Europe. For Slavic minorities trapped within the Austro-Hungarian Empire, nationalism fuelled the existential struggle for independence. This fierce desire for a pan-Slavic state led the Serbian nationalist group, the Black Hand, to assassinate Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Bosnia, aiming to break Austrian rule. However, nationalism also drove the response of the great powers. In Vienna, it manifested as imperial pride, forcing Austria-Hungary to issue a humiliating ultimatum to Serbia to crush Serbian nationalism and shatter resistance of their empire. Simultaneously, state-driven nationalism in Russia, Germany, and France had conditioned the European public to view war not as a catastrophe, but as a glorious test of national supremacy. Ultimately, nationalism drove the war because it created a dual crisis: it provided the radical violent spark in Sarajevo that disrupted the balance of power, and it generated the fierce patriotic enthusiasm that prevented European leaders from backing down or appealing to diplomacy.

What are WW2’s short term causes:

• Anschluss: Nazi Germany’s annexation of Austria in March 1938. This went against the Treaty of Versailles and without much military or political resistance from other European powers, Hitler became encouraged to further expand Germany’s territory.

• Germany’s invasion of Poland on 1st of September 1939 also emboldened Nazi aggression due to little resistance again.

• Both of these conquests provided Nazi Germany with manpower, military equipment, raw materials all were valuable resources that helped build up its military.

What are WW2’s long term causes?

• The Treaty of Versailles (1919) forced Germany to accept full responsibilities of WW1, pay massive reparations and lost land. This resulted in economic devastation and public resentment towards the Weimar Republic, facilitating Hitler and the Nazi Party’s rising.

• The weakness of the Weimar Republic and The Great Depression led to desperate voters supporting extremist factions and government blame on economic downfall.

• Appeasement: inability of major European powers and the failure of the League of Nations to combat aggression and expansion of Nazi Germany, fascist Italy, Imperial Japan etc.