Like a barrel of gunpowder, the smallest spark could make everything explode. And they had joined together to form opposing military alliances, pledging to support their partner nations in case of war. European nations were eager for war to prove their superiority over other nations. Some historians refer to Europe in the early 1910s as a powderkeg (a barrel of gunpowder). In other words, belief in a nation was similar to what many believed about race. Many believed, therefore, that a nation was a biological community and that membership in it was passed on from one generation to the next. To them, the members of a nation not only shared a common history, culture, and language but also common ancestors, character traits, and physical characteristics. When a people will not or cannot continue to spend enough on armaments to be able to make its way in the world, then it falls back into the second rank.” 2įor Pearson, Hollweg, and other Europeans, a nation was more than a country. Count Theobald von Bethmann Hollweg, the chancellor of Germany at the turn of the twentieth century, claimed that “the old saying still holds good that the weak will be the prey of the strong. He maintained that nations could establish their rightful position in the world “by contest, chiefly by way of war with inferior races, and with equal races by the struggle for trade routes and for the sources of raw materials and food supply.” 1 Karl Pearson, a British writer at the time, claimed that wars are necessary. War was increasingly seen as an adventure, an opportunity to fight and even die for one’s country.
And many greatly admired such military values as self-sacrifice, discipline, and obedience. Militarists increasingly viewed their nations’ armed forces as above criticism. Russia and France reached a similar agreement. Germany, fearful of being hemmed in by enemies on its east and west, signed an agreement with Austria-Hungary to support each other in a European war. No country wanted to be without allies if war broke out, so two major military alliances took hold. Naval budgets increased every year, especially in Great Britain and Germany. Conscript armies grew in most countries, in which young men were required to undergo a year or two of military training and were then sent home as reserves to be mobilized or called to action when needed for fighting. The leaders of many countries believed that a nation could only achieve its political and economic goals if it had a strong military, a belief known as militarism. The strength of a nation was measured by the scope of its wealth and resources, the amount of land it held, and the size of its army and navy. Frantic competition among European powers marked the late 1800s and early 1900s.
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