Question Was Germany really to blame for causing World War One? Response World War one was the first full scale global war mainly involving Europe and her European powers. It officially began in 1914 and concluded in 1918 after four years of the whole world being at war with each other. Germany, many historians debate, hold the majority of the responsibility for the outbreak of war, but only after you examine all the long and short term causes which in the end rendered the outbreak of war as inevitable you will be able to assign blame where it is due. This essay will investigate the long and short term cause of World War one and determine to what extent Germany was to blame for causing the world's first full scale global war. Nationalism is the love, devotion or loyalty to your country and is quite similar to patriotism. It often unites people and creates an aspiration for a country to be independent of any foreign rule (if that is the case). During the time before the outbreak of World War one there was an increased amount of nationalism present within all of Europe's big power players. Each power had a spread of a firm but unrestrained belief in each of their own cultural, economic and military superiority. This mind-set, at the time, resulted in the public having the view or opinion that if a war was to break out in Europe; their own country would be triumphant in a short space of time (this was further propagated by the media in each country). This sense of nationalism led to conflict and ultimately played a part in the start of World War one because each power tried to prove their superiority and control. As these attitudes became cemented and popular in the public so the probability that some sort of conflict or war would break out increased. The politicians and diplomats in each country encouraged or did very little to dissuade the public's hunger and excitement for war. The public in the European powers didn't seem to be aware of how dangerous a European war would be and this was because no influential European power had lost a war or any sort of conflict for more than half a century (with the exception of France). This further increased nationalism and increased each country's sense of invincibility. Militarism was then introduced to the mix and the two together created a toxic environment where going to war seemed like a good idea. This makes militarism another factor that played a role in the outbreak of World war one. Militarism is the agenda of upholding a great military establishment and having a resilient military life-force within a country. In the time before the beginning of World war one in 1914, there was a huge development of new and more dangerous military weapons. Each country was competing to have the most advanced weapons and have the greatest naval and armed forces. This increased the feelings of hostility between European powers and eventually resulted in each power increasing their naval and army (Germany and France managed to double their forces). Great Britain and Germany were especially competitive when it came to naval expansion (Germany was trying to match or beat Great Britain's naval force) and this caused feelings of hostility towards each other. During the armed race there was also the complication of the system of alliances because they became tangled which created mistrust between countries. Militarism was not only the production of newer, stronger weapons it was also about having a strong military essence