Question: Evaluate the relative importance of imperialism, the arms race and

the failure of diplomacy in causing the First World War.

I. The Causes of the First World War:

a. Imperialism:
1. Important because of competition of nations over colonial
holdings.
a. Arms race:
1. Important because of competition over national security.
a. Failure of Diplomacy:
1. Important because it could have prevented the war.

Thesis Statement:

Such a catastrophic event like the First World War cannot be said to have clear
cut causes. However, Imperialism, the arms race, and the failure of diplomacy
all were critical to the start of the First World War. Imperialism led to economic
competition between the European states, the arms race led to competition
over national security, and the failure of diplomacy exacerbated the

I. Imperialism:
a. Most European nations have some sort of foreign land.
1. Most land owned by Britain and France.
a. Bismarck started a new colonial policy that was based on getting
foreign territory holdings so that:
1. National prestige would be increased.
a. Germany and Br/Fr. Clash over territorial holdings, and competition
occurs.
b. This was important to the cause of the war because each nation
believed that the collapse of other nations would mean more
territorial holdings.
I. Arms race:
a. Many new inventions were invented at this period of time.
1. These included many new military inventions, such as:
a. The machine gun.
b. Poison gas.
c. Tanks.
d. Airplanes for warfare.
a. These increase the competition for state security.
b. Important to the cause of the First World War because generations
were already eager to fight, and this pours fuel on the fire.
I. Failure of Diplomacy:
a. Most of the nations were at fault in the First World War because
they failed to communicate and to settle matters in the best
manner.
1. Serbia fails to notify Austria of the plot to assassinate Archduke
Franz Ferdinand even when they knew of the plot three weeks
beforehand.
2. Britain does not make its position clear on the war.
a. Britain could have scared off Germany from joining Austria if
Britain had made clearer the fact that Britain would join the
side of France and Russia.
1. Russia made secret military preparations and exacerbated the
situation by triggering response military mobilizations.
2. All of this exacerbates the cause of the war, because if
diplomacy had been performed in another manner, the war
might have been prevented.