Among all the disasters, caused by humanity, World War I was the first global disaster. It is known as “The Great War” because of its terrible consequences and all the pain and sorrow it brought to people. World War I started in 1914 and lasted four years. Four years of destruction and killing. The U.S. was a witness that saw total devastation. More than 9 million people were killed and even more people returned to their homes maimed physically and mentally. Humanity has not seen a catastrophe on such a scale before. Humanity didn’t know how much pain the twentieth century would bring.

Causes and consequences of World War I are an issue, which is still discussed actively. Its consequences are still perceptible in the modern world. I will try to analyze them in this world war 1 essay.

Actually, World War I was consequence of many conflicts in Europe. They were gradually developing during years. New tendencies, such as militarism, alliances, nationalism and imperialism were gaining popularity and sharpening the tension between European countries.

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Militarism is about developing military resources for two purposes: protection of colonial interests and defense of the country. European governments spent more and more money on military and naval forces. Militarism made the society thinking that force is the best way to solve problems. Such a point of view must be one of the main reasons why World War I started.

Countries started to unite into alliances, in which they were to cooperate and protect each other. These alliances were considered as something secret and brought a lot of suspicion and mistrust into international relations in Europe.

Therefore, diplomats did not work on solving problems of international tension and situation deteriorated.

Imperialism was the third tendency, which took part in worsening international relations. Existing countries used their colonies to prosper but there were no new lands to colonize. Therefore, countries started to compete for existing colonies and resources.

Nationalism is the last tendency in society, which is among the cause of World war I. Nationalism is about identifying a group of people with a certain political entity and believing that this group has specific rights. Nationalism turned love to own country into hatred of the other countries.

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