Causes of World War I /part II

Causes of World War I 

(Part II)

Economic and Economic Success

Adam Smith's famous book "Wealth of Nations" gave rise to a new economic thought in Europe. After the publication of this book, the nations of Europe began regular research for their economic development and became active in a new way to obtain economic resources and resources. The barter system was replaced by international trade and modern economics.

Now, instead of fulfilling all their needs themselves, the nations of Europe began to specialize in one or a few productive capacities and turned to the world market for other needs. This economic point of view was also the main reason for the spread of British colonialism. Initially, European nations left Europe for general trade purposes and reached Asia, Africa and Australia, where they conquered the simple people.

All the nations of Europe had emerged from their narrow lands to achieve trade, economic development and prosperity.  As a result, global exploration, research and exploitation of resources began. It was not easy for each country to establish its own navy, so many countries sent their trade convoys using the ships of other nations.

The trend of international trade was growing, under which countries bought food and other necessities from distant parts of the world according to their needs and in return sold their manufactured products or paid for the purchased goods.

The internecine wars of Europe had made experts and intellectuals aware of the fact that a strong economy and stable diplomatic relations were indispensable to winning a war. In view of the threats surrounding them, each country was eager to take an economic and economic lead over its neighboring countries, because it was clear that an economically stable country had an advantage over a country with a weak economy.

At the beginning of the twentieth century, the nations of Europe were filled with a spirit of hostility towards each other in their intense desire for economic success.  The Suez Canal had become extremely important because it was the shortest route for Europe to trade with Asian countries. Every European country wanted to establish supremacy over it and collect taxes from the ships passing through.

The British Royal Navy controlled the most important routes of world trade due to its size and glory, while other countries were very unhappy with this supremacy because they had to pay a part of their trade income to Britain, which was beneficial for the British economy but detrimental to other nations.

Each country was busy with its own efforts for steelmaking, industrialization, chemical products, obtaining energy from electrical and mineral sources, and agricultural development. To achieve these goals, European countries were forced to expand their trade and depend on those countries from which their needs could be met. In this way, powerful countries were using this mutual dependence as a political weapon.

Germany was busy building the most modern fleet to achieve superiority in world trade.  On the contrary, the strength of the German fleet had become a serious threat to the British maritime monopoly. This concern led Britain to ally itself with France and Russia against Germany, although these countries were not well-wishers of each other, but rather the fear of a rising economic power had temporarily united them.

France was strengthening its economy through foreign investment and interest-bearing loans. Russia was engaged in industrial development and steelmaking, Germany was making plans to increase heavy machinery, the chemical industry and electrical production, while Britain was recognized as a world merchant. The main goal of all these measures was to achieve economic supremacy.

European wars were now being fought not only for territorial or numerical superiority but for world markets, productive areas and expanded interests, and the ultimate goal of all of them was economic supremacy.

Rivalries arising from long-standing wars

From the beginning of the nineteenth century, Europe had been in the grip of mutual wars.  The Crimean War (1854–56) exposed Russia's weakness, while France and Britain also had their own problems. France had been defeated by Prussia in 1870 and the loss of Alsace-Lorraine was unbearable.

In 1898–99, France and Britain faced each other on the upper reaches of the Nile River, in which France suffered a defeat. The Balkan Wars deepened the atmosphere of hatred and rivalry in southern Europe. All these conflicts brought Europe to a point where even a minor spark could ignite a major war.

National Prejudices

In 1914, Europe consisted of more than twenty-five nations, including Germans, French, British, Serbians, Hungarians, Poles, and others. Each nation was proud of its national identity, language, and culture and was unwilling to tolerate the supremacy of others.

 The dual empire of Austria-Hungary consisted of fifteen different-language-speaking nations, which led to daily linguistic and ethnic conflicts. These ethnic prejudices ultimately led to the outbreak of World War I.

The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the crown prince of Austria-Hungary, and his wife in Sarajevo on June 28, 1914, ruptured this volcano, and thus not only Europe but the entire world was engulfed in a great war

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