The First World War was described as an ‘intra-imperial rivalry’. Do you agree with this claim?

intro

• this essay will begin by showing the direct link between imperialism and the first world war

• it will then explore several other key causes for the start and continuation of the war, before explaining how each of these factors ultimately fuels a rivalry between imperial powers

P1 - direct imperial causes

• WW1 can be seen to have a direct link to imperialism in its causes

• the attack on Belgium put other empires under threat - Belgium’s loss of Congo not only left other imperial powers scrambling to claim it, but also showed that an imperial power could be weakened and invaded

• if an invading power was able to gain control of another country’s colonies, it put other empires’s stability at risk

P2 - capitalism

• modern war is almost certainly always characterised by capitalism and WW1 is perhaps the beginning of this

• as the world economy shifted towards capitalism, competition between states increased. war allows them to demonstrate their power and superiority

• war also generates profits for weapons manufacturers and encourages fast development - large corporations were benefited

• while Angell (Ceadel 2011) maintains that war is inadvisable for states as it results in a higher net loss than gain, companies may not think in this way. They will push for the continuation of a war to keep profits high

P3 - link between capitalism and colonialism

• while wars are a form of inter-state rivalry, ww1 was not exclusively fought on home soil, but also took place in colonised states

• attacks such as the German attack on the port of Agadir are used to weaken imperial powers

• Hobson’s (1988) thesis that the FDI capitalism causes encourages the capture of additional land and therefore war shows a convincing link between capitalism and imperialism

• DuBois’ (Getachew and Pitts 2022) continuation of this (the exploitation of Africa to maintain the privileges of Europe’s white working class) only strengthens this link, proving that while capitalism played a role in WW1’s causes, it feeds into the intra-imperial rivalry the war is described as

P4 - effects of the Russian Revolution

• another factor significant to WW1 is the impact of the Russian Revolution

• this exposed the class divide across not just Russia, but Europe as a whole

• Lenin’s (2010) interpretation of Marx’s work weakened soldiers’ morale, demonstrating that while their race may have saved them from colonial subjugation, it did not exclude them from being exploited by the ruling class

• this lead to desertions, drawing out the length of the war

P5 - Russia’s links to imperialism

• the class struggle in Russia can be likened to an internal imperialism of the ruling class. the working class’ success in overthrowing the ruling class is another intra-imperial rivalry

• capitalism has already been shown to incentivise European imperialism

• all of the struggles that characterise WW1 boil down to imperialism, and I therefore strongly agree with the description of WW1 as an ‘intra-imperial rivalry’