Causes Of The Wwi

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of a national group, or nation. Nationalism led to the creation of two new powers--Italy and Germany--through the uniting of many small states. War had a major role in achieving national unification in Italy and Germany.
Nationalist policies gained enthusiastic support as many countries in Western Europe granted the vote to more people. The right to vote gave citizens greater interest and greater pride in national goals. As a result, parliamentary governments grew increasingly powerful.
On the other hand, nationalism weakened the eastern European empires of Austria-Hungary, Russia, and Ottoman Turkey. Those empires ruled many national groups that clamored for independence. Conflicts among national groups were especially explosive in the Balkans--the states on the Balkan Peninsula in southeastern Europe. The peninsula was known as the Powder Keg of Europe because tensions there threatened to ignite a major war. Most of the Balkans had been part of the Ottoman Empire. ...

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armies.

At first, Britain remained unconcerned about Germany's military build-up. Britain, an island country, relied on its navy for defense--and it had the world's strongest navy. But in 1898, Germany began to develop a naval force big enough to challenge the British navy. Germany's decision to become a major seapower made it a bitter enemy of Great Britain. In 1906, the British navy launched the Dreadnought, the first modern battleship. The heavily armed Dreadnought had greater firepower than any other ship of its time. Germany rushed to construct ships like it.

Advances in technology--the tools, materials, and techniques of industrialization--increased the ...

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