Imperialism as a leading cause of WWI

Historians have provided several arguments regarding the causes of WW1. The consensus of these arguments is that four Key factors caused WW1. These factors are: Militarism; Alliances, Nationalism and Imperialism. I personally believe that Imperialism was the most important cause of WW1 and in the following paragraphs I try to demonstrate through examples such as the rise of Industrialism, the Moroccan Crisis and the Austro-Hungarian ultimatum to Serbia which all added up and eventually led to WW1.

Industrialism was on the rise before WW1 as major European countries wanted to have a lot of raw materials in order to boost their industrial output. However, most countries didn’t have the amount of raw material needed and therefore they had to expand and conquer other territories. The problem was that most of the known territories were already controlled by some European countries had which colonized them before. Especially in the 18th century, England and France were very successfully in controlling a lot of foreign territories. Germany at the same time wanted to expand in Africa, gain and control some territory in that continent so that it could to acquire more resources in order to sustain its thriving industry. Africa, however, was already controlled mainly by England and France. Germany thought that this was unfair, since the other two major countries had started colonizing earlier on and now the Germans also wanted to control some foreign territories too. In addition Germany wanted to have access to the oil-fields in Iraq so that its industry would have constant supply of oil. The Germans planned to use the existing Ottoman railway from Istanbul to Bagdad which was planned by German engineers. This was a big threat not only to the British but to the Russians as well. Therefore, as a result of the growth of industry during the years preceding WW1 all the major powers (including the Germans) were very keen to ensure that they could get their hands on as much supply of critical resources as possible in order to be able to sustain their growth. This factor added to the rest of the problems in Europe.

The Moroccan Crisis in 1912 can be described as a result of Imperialism. The 1912 crisis was an expansion of the previous crisis in Morocco (i.e. the First Morocco Crisis in 1905 and the Second Morocco Crisis in 1911). The French wanted to expand their influence into Morocco but at the same time the Germans also wished to have an influence in the area. The Germans moved a gunboat to the area in order to show their military strength. This created a lot of tension and as a result other countries like England, Russia, Spain, Italy and Austro-Hungary had to get involved to solve the problem .In the end, Germany had to pull back their gunboat and it was given less land than it was promised in Congo. The French remained in Morocco and the country became a protectorate to France officially in 1912. This created even more tension between the Triple Entente and the Triple Alliance. At the same time it resulted in strengthening the relationship of France and Britain which was exactly the opposite what the Germans wanted.

Furthermore, the Austro-Hungarian ultimatum to Serbia in 1914 was the last drop which eventually overflowed the glass in the troubled area of the Balkans. Many consider the assassination of the Austro-Hungarian heir, Franz Ferdinand, by a Serbia nationalist (Gavrilo Princip) as the start of WW1. The Austro-Hungarian Empire y had long-standing disputes with Serbia especially as the Serbians started to take over territory in the Balkans from the collapsing Ottoman Empire. Austro-Hungarians served their ultimatum to Serbia shortly after the assassination of Franz Ferdinand, and demanded parts of Serbia. The ultimatum was too severe and if the Serbs didn’t agree to the Austro-Hungarians threatened to attack. Eventually the Serbs didn’t accept the ultimatum and Austro-Hungary declared war. This can be considered as the beginning of WW1 because Serbia was an ally with Russia and the Russians were in the Triple Entente together with France and England. At the same time the Austro-Hungarian Empire was in the Triple Alliance with Italy and Germany. It was only a matter of time for the two major Alliances to fight each other.

The rise of Industrialization, the Morocco crisis and the Austro-Hungarian ultimatum to Serbia are all elements of Imperialism which was a key factor causing friction between the European powers in early 20th century. I believe the Imperialistic inspirations the great powers were the leading cause of WW1.