what term refers to the us policy of preparing for war prior to ww1

April 08, 2022 Post a Comment

29.2.2: Militarism and Jingoism

During the 1870s and 1880s, all major powers were preparing for a large-scale war by increasing the sizes of their armies and navies. This led to increased political tensions that many historians consider a major factor in the outbreak of Earth War I.

Learning Objective

Assess the rising of militarism in the years preceding WWI

Key Points

During the second half of the 19th century, all major world powers began increasing the sizes and scopes of their military forces, although a conflict on the scale of WWI was not expected by anyone.
Deutschland, France, Austria, Italian republic, Russia, and some smaller countries set up conscription systems whereby young men served from ane to three years in the army, then spent the next 20 years in the reserves with annual summer grooming.
Germany struggled to achieve parity with the British navy in a tense artillery race, but in the end fell brusk with Britain remaining the dominant naval power.
Many historians indicate to this increased military machine preparedness equally the major factor that led to the outbreak of WWI, contending that had the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand happened a decade earlier, war would probably accept been avoided.
Jingoism is nationalism in the grade of aggressive foreign policy, whereby a nation advocates for the utilise of threats or bodily forcefulness every bit opposed to peaceful relations to safeguard what it perceives as its national interests.

Key Terms

militarism: The belief or the desire of a government or people that a state should maintain a potent armed services adequacy and be prepared to use it aggressively to defend or promote national interests. It may also imply the glorification of the military, the ideals of a professional military class, and the "predominance of the armed forces in the assistants or policy of the state."
conscription: The compulsory enlistment of people in a national service, almost often armed services service. The practice dates dorsum to antiquity and continues in some countries to the present 24-hour interval under various names. The modern system dates to the French Revolution in the 1790s, where it became the ground of a very large and powerful armed services. Most European nations afterward copied the arrangement in peacetime then that men at a certain age would serve one to eight years on active duty and and so transfer to the reserve force.
jingoism: A form of nationalism characterized by aggressive strange policy. It refers to a state's advocacy for the use of threats or bodily force as opposed to peaceful relations to safeguard what it perceives as its national interests.

Rise of Militarism Prior to World War I

The main causes of World State of war I, which bankrupt out unexpectedly in fundamental Europe in summer 1914, comprised all the conflicts and hostility of the four decades leading upwardly to the war. Militarism, alliances, imperialism, and ethnic nationalism played major roles.

During the 1870s and 1880s, all major world powers were preparing for a large-scale state of war, although none expected one. U.k. focused on building up its Majestic Navy, already stronger than the next 2 navies combined. Frg, France, Austria, Italy, Russia, and some smaller countries set up conscription systems whereby immature men would serve from i to three years in the regular army, and so spend the next 20 years or so in the reserves with annual summer grooming. Men from higher social classes became officers. Each country devised a mobilization organization and so the reserves could be called upward quickly and sent to key points by runway. Every yr the plans were updated and expanded in terms of complexity. Each country stockpiled artillery and supplies for an army that ran into the millions.

Germany in 1874 had a regular professional army of 420,000 with an boosted 1.three million reserves. By 1897 the regular army was 545,000 strong and the reserves three.4 million. The French in 1897 had three.4 million reservists, Austria 2.6 million, and Russia 4.0 million. The various national war plans had been perfected by 1914, albeit with Russia and Republic of austria trailing in effectiveness. Recent wars (since 1865) had typically been short—a thing of months. All the war plans called for a decisive opening and causeless victory would come up later on a curt war; no one planned for or was set for the food and munitions needs of a long stalemate as really happened in 1914–18.

As David Stevenson has put it, "A self-reinforcing bicycle of heightened military machine preparedness … was an essential element in the conjuncture that led to disaster … The armaments race … was a necessary precondition for the outbreak of hostilities." If Archduke Franz Ferdinand had been assassinated in 1904 or fifty-fifty in 1911, Herrmann speculates, there might have been no war. It was "… the armaments race … and the speculation about imminent or preventive wars" that made his decease in 1914 the trigger for war.

This increase in militarism coincided with the rise of jingoism, a term for nationalism in the course of ambitious foreign policy. Jingoism also refers to a land's advancement for the use of threats or actual force, every bit opposed to peaceful relations, to safeguard what it perceives as its national interests. Colloquially, information technology refers to excessive bias in judging one's own country as superior to others—an extreme type of nationalism. The term originated in reference to the United Kingdom's pugnacious mental attitude toward Russian federation in the 1870s, and appeared in the American press past 1893.

Probably the starting time uses of the term in the U.S. press occurred in connexion with the proposed looting of Hawaii in 1893. A coup led past foreign residents, more often than not Americans, and assisted past the U.S. Minister in Hawaii, overthrew the Hawaiian constitutional monarchy and declared a Republic. Republican president Benjamin Harrison and Republicans in the Senate were oftentimes accused of jingoism in the Democratic printing for supporting annexation.

The term was also used in connection with the foreign policy of Theodore Roosevelt. In an October 1895 New York Times article, Roosevelt stated, "There is much talk most 'jingoism'. If by 'jingoism' they mean a policy in pursuance of which Americans will with resolution and common sense insist upon our rights being respected by foreign powers, then we are 'jingoes'."

One of the aims of the Commencement Hague Briefing of 1899, held at the suggestion of Emperor Nicholas Two, was to discuss disarmament. The 2nd Hague Conference was held in 1907. All signatories except for Deutschland supported disarmament. Germany besides did non want to concur to binding arbitration and mediation. The Kaiser was concerned that the U.s. would propose disarmament measures, which he opposed. All parties tried to revise international law to their own advantage.

Anglo-German Naval Race

Historians have debated the role of the High german naval build-up as the principal cause of deteriorating Anglo-German relations. In whatsoever instance, Germany never came close to catching up with Britain.

Supported by Wilhelm Ii'due south enthusiasm for an expanded German navy, Grand Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz championed four Armada Acts from 1898 to 1912, and from 1902 to 1910, the Majestic Navy embarked on its own massive expansion to keep alee of the Germans. This competition came to focus on the revolutionary new ships based on the Dreadnought, launched in 1906, awhich gave Britain a battleship that far outclassed whatsoever other in Europe.

The overwhelming British response proved to Germany that its efforts were unlikely to equal those of the Royal Navy. In 1900, the British had a 3.seven:1 tonnage advantage over Federal republic of germany; in 1910 the ratio was ii.3:1 and in 1914, 2.1:ane. Ferguson argues that, "So decisive was the British victory in the naval arms race that information technology is hard to regard information technology as in whatever meaningful sense a cause of the First World War." This ignores the fact that the Kaiserliche Marine had narrowed the gap by nigh half, and that the Royal Navy had long intended to be stronger than any two potential opponents; the Us Navy was in a period of growth, making the German language gains very ominous.

In Uk in 1913, there was intense internal contend virtually new ships due to the growing influence of John Fisher'due south ideas and increasing financial constraints. In early to mid-1914 Federal republic of germany adopted a policy of edifice submarines instead of new dreadnoughts and destroyers, effectively abandoning the race, just kept this new policy secret to delay other powers post-obit suit.

The Germans abased the naval race before the war broke out. The extent to which the naval race was one of the chief factors in Britain's determination to join the Triple Entente remains a fundamental controversy. Historians such as Christopher Clark believe information technology was not meaning, with Margaret Moran taking the contrary view

A political cartoon show US, Germany, Britain, France and Japan engaged in naval race in a "no limit" game, depicted as each nation, in caricature, seated around a card table using battle ships as chips in a poker game.