The Causes and Consequences of World War I

Soldiers in World War I experienced horrible living conditions, vicious forms of punishments, and endured weaponry the world had not seen. Trench warfare dominated World War I, the form of combat in which groups of soldiers would build underground structures stretching long distances to defend against enemy troops and at night or early morning would attack ("go over the top") crossing a territory in where either side did not control (no man's land") and charge with rifles, bayonets, poisonous gas, and other weapons. New military technology made trench warfare the more brutal as machine guns, and tanks were used to fire over no man's land killing those not protected in their respective trench. These methods killed many soldiers decreasing morale, and increasing instability in their mental health (a concept foreign to them at the time).

Looking back at The Great War, historians can explain the causes by investigating M. A. I. N; militarism, alliances, imperialism, and nationalism. Firstly, militarism was practiced by all parties in The Great War, especially those in the Triple Alliance and Triple Entente. To put into numbers, from years 1910 to 1914, defence expenditure by Germany increased by 53% and escalated tensions in a now militaristic Europe. Total military spending of the powers was 398 million euros in 1914, indicating the militaristic attitudes that surfaced. In addition, the Anglo-German Naval Arms Race, ending in 1912, denoted the intensity of pre-war international relations. Alliances became very clear as the Triple Entente; British Empire, Russia, and France; and the Triple Alliance; Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy had made public or secret agreements. Imperialism was the school of thought in which an empire or mother country would choose to radically colonize geographic areas where groups of people were settled. This way of thinking increases tensions similar to how an arms race does, countries try to outdo themselves and inevitably ending in some sort of conflict, in this case, World War I.

Nationalism can be seen as the largest cause of World War I, the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand was motivated by Yugoslavian nationalistic attitudes against Austria-Hungary. The cost of this incident resulting in Austria-Hungary declaring war on Serbia. The war had far-reaching consequences on society, and Canada's home front while not physically damaged, the culture in Canada was never the same postwar. Most notably, to help the war effort, the Canadian Government pushed for conscription (compulsory military service) as enlistment rates dropped drastically. Since one aspect of Canadian life was changed tremendously, others soon followed such as alcohol prohibition, corporate and personal taxation, censorship, propaganda, and the worst of all – personal income tax (a supposed, temporary wartime measure).