To what extent did miliarism contribute to the origins of the First Research Paper

To what extent did miliarism contribute to the origins of the First World War (1914-1918) and the Second world war (1939-1945) - Research Paper Example Introduction of new weapons and the arms race geared the culture of militarism that was gaining popularity in the Europe countries leading to the start of World War 1 in 1914 (Llewellyn, Southey and Thompson para 3-4). The governments officials were after Great power and their influence was dominated by military elites and they pushed for the government increasing its spending in the military. The government officials in most countries in Europe contributed to the mood for World War I by promoting military solutions for political problems a situation that threatened the relationship among countries and in response to this, each country developed is army more. The militaristic culture was mostly experienced in Germany as they build the Prussian army before 1850 that underwent rigorous training regimes and incorporated new weaponry and communication technologies. Other countries copied this and started modernizing their forces and equipping them with new technologies and improvements such as increasing weapon range, accuracy and portability. Machines guns that had been developed in 1881 were made lighter and accurate with a capability of shooting 600 bullets in one minute. New weapons such as the dreadnought battleship were developed and gas weapons began being produced. These activities made the countries fear each other and the competition on who is more powerful resulted into the World War I. Each country believed that going into war was a test of the countries’ military power and a chance to showcase their military superiority prompted the start of the war. Military spending increased highly increased between 1900 and 1914 with the six great European powers doubling their spending and trying to outdo each other (Llewellyn, Southey and Thompson para4). Militarism was strongest in Germany due to political involvement