Why Did Nationalism Cause Ww1

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Nationalism can also be seen as a very main power that caused WWI because it created economic and territorial tension/ competition in Europe and fueled the Balkan crisis. In Europe economic competition between nations was very strong and created a lot of tension. In the late 18th century Britain was ahead of all the European nations in output of manufactured goods, and Germany wasn’t even close. But, in the next 33 years Germany not only caught up with Britain, they gained the number one spot by 1%. This angered the British and caused them to feel challenged and in search of revenge. The pressure Germany felt to catch up also created tension in their nation. When the Treaty of Versailles was released, the “war-guilt” clause was introduced which …show more content…
Nationalism was also a main cause of the Balkan crisis. The Serbs in the Balkan Peninsula were very nationalistic people, that were proud of their culture and didn’t want to be colonized by anyone. They rebelled a lot and created tension between them and the Austro-Hungarians. Therefore nationalism was the cause of a lot of tension in that region that caused it to be called the “powder-keg” of Europe. Also when Austria-hungary declared war on the Serbs, Russia, possessing a large Serbian peninsula felt a nationalistic tie to them and therefore joined the war in order to protect them. This set off the chain of events leading to the joining of Germany, then France, and Britain into the war. Nationalism can also be named one of the main causes of WWI because it fueled a lot of the other causes. Nationalism is the thirst of a nation to be great and better than others, and militarism and imperialism both embody this motive within themselves. In the end nationalism was definitely a leading cause in causing of WWI because it fueled competition and tension within European nations and helped the Balkan