most important as all countries knew war was inevitable so it was extremely important that they all had a strong military to be able to fight and win the war

if they were unable to develop strong military it was important they had allies to give them a better chance at winning

a union of association formed for mutual benefit especially between countries or organisations

belief that a country should maintain a strong military capability and be prepared to use it aggressively to defend or promote national interests

identification with ones own nation and support for its interests, especially to the exclusion and detriment of the interests of other nations

German kaiser surrounded himself with military advisers and loved to be photographed in military uniforms. he involved himself closely with Germany's military planning

growth of Germany's navy from 1900 threatened the Two Power Standard and led to a huge and cripplingly expensive naval arms race between Britain and Germany that seriously damaged relations between them by 1914

following her defeat to Germany in 1870, France began to build up her armies. By 1914 Germany, Russia and Austria-Hungary had all increased the size of their armies massively to avoid being left behind in the arms race

Germany feared 'a war on two fronts' ie encirclement by France and Russia's alliance. As a result, it developed an aggressive military strategy called the Schlieffen Plan which would defeat the French before the Russians got going

in order to protect her empire, Britain had decided in the 1890s to have a navy as big as the next 2 most powerful countries put together - this was known as the Two Power Standard

This system of Alliances was called “The Balance of Power”. It was supposed to prevent a war by making any one power too frightened to declare war for fear of the consequences

Germany’s fear of a war on two fronts led to an aggressive plan being drawn up which would involve her army being used to launch an attack on France through neutral Belgium before the French were fully prepared. Other countries’ alliances were defensive in nature and designed to prevent attacks by others

After the assassination of Franz-Ferdinand in June 1914, the Austrians declared war on Serbia. The Russians had promised to support the Serbs and began to mobilise their massive army.

Fearing a war on two fronts after the Russians mobilised, the Germans declared war on Russia before they could be crushed by a Franco-Russian alliance.

Loyalty for one’s own country was an obsession in Europe. Everyone from politicians to individuals believed that it was a noble thing to die for one’s country and that death was preferable to dishonour

European rulers could not risk war without strong public support. Nationalism provided this. The alliance system made the enemy clearly defined and rivalry made popular prejudice even greater.

Nationalism was especially dangerous because no-one, not even military experts, could imagine the terrible scale of destruction of modern warfare.

National pride meant that the British public demanded their government increase production of battleships faster than the Germans

By 1910, the feeling had grown that war was inevitable and there was not much point in trying to avoid it. By 1913 most countries had had to back down at least once for the sake of peace and they were not prepared to do so again