Explain how militarism, the naval and military arms race and rigid war plans increased tension before 1914

What this dot point is asking

SEAB wants you to explain how militarism, meaning the build-up of armed forces and the belief that military strength and war were good things, raised tension between the great powers before 1914. You should be able to describe the naval and land arms race, explain the influence of generals and pre-prepared war plans, and show how all of this made a major war more likely and harder to stop once a crisis began. The task is explanation: link the build-up of arms to the rising danger of war.

The answer

What militarism means

Militarism is more than just having an army. It is a state of mind in which a country builds up large armed forces, gives the army and its generals great influence over the government, and treats military strength and even war as signs of national greatness. Before 1914 all the great powers were militaristic to some degree. This created two dangers: a competitive race to build weapons, and a tendency to look for military solutions to political problems.

The arms race on land

In the decades before 1914 the great powers steadily expanded their armies. Most used conscription, calling up young men for military service, so they could field huge forces. Spending on weapons rose sharply across Europe. Each increase by one power frightened its rivals, who then increased their own forces in reply. This is what is meant by an arms race: a competition in which no one feels safe and everyone keeps building. By 1914 the continent held millions of trained soldiers ready to be called up.

The Anglo-German naval race

The most famous part of the arms race was at sea. Britain was the world's leading naval power, and its navy protected its huge empire and trade. From 1898 Germany passed a series of Navy Laws to build a large modern fleet, which Britain saw as a direct challenge. The race intensified in 1906 when Britain launched HMS Dreadnought, a fast, heavily armoured battleship so advanced that it made all earlier warships out of date. Now both sides raced to build these "dreadnoughts", counting each other's ships. This naval race poisoned relations between Britain and Germany and helped push Britain toward France and Russia.

Generals, prestige and war plans

Because the military was so respected, generals had a strong voice in government, and detailed war plans were prepared in peacetime. Germany's Schlieffen Plan, for example, aimed to defeat France quickly in the west before turning to fight Russia in the east, to avoid a war on two fronts. The danger of such plans was that they were rigid and depended on striking first and moving fast. In a crisis, generals warned that any delay would let the enemy get ahead, so leaders felt pressure to mobilise and attack rather than to negotiate.

Why this made war more likely

Militarism made war more likely in three ways. It created fear, because each power saw its rivals arming and assumed the worst. It created pressure for speed, because war plans demanded that a country mobilise quickly or lose its advantage. And it created confidence, because many leaders and ordinary people believed a war would be short and glorious, so they did not fear it enough to avoid it. Combined with the alliance system, this meant that in 1914 the great powers were armed, anxious and ready to fight.

Examples in context

Example 1. HMS Dreadnought and the race to count ships. When Britain launched HMS Dreadnought in 1906 it was so superior that older battleships no longer mattered, which in a sense reset the naval race to zero and let Germany try to catch up. British politicians and public opinion responded with the slogan "we want eight and we won't wait", demanding more dreadnoughts. This shows how the race fed public fear and made compromise with Germany politically difficult.

Example 2. The Schlieffen Plan and the pressure to mobilise. Germany's war plan assumed it must beat France in a few weeks before Russia could fully mobilise. In July 1914 this plan meant that once Russia began mobilising, German generals argued there was no time to lose, and Germany moved quickly to attack France through Belgium. The plan turned a diplomatic crisis into a military timetable, showing how militarism narrowed the choices of political leaders.

Try this

Q1. What is meant by the term "militarism"? [3 marks]

• Cue. The build-up of large armed forces, the strong influence of generals over government, and the belief that military strength and war are signs of national greatness.

Q2. Explain why the launch of HMS Dreadnought in 1906 increased tension between Britain and Germany. [5 marks]

• Cue. It made all older warships out of date, so the naval race restarted with both powers racing to build dreadnoughts; Britain saw the German fleet as a threat to its empire and pushed closer to France and Russia.

Q3. "Militarism was more important than the alliance system in causing the First World War." How far do you agree? [8 marks]

• Cue. Argue militarism armed Europe and created pressure to strike first, but the alliances were what spread a local war; weigh the two before judging.