西史一問~~~~

3 and 4. One of the reasons that leads to the First World War was the armaments race in Europe in the late 19th century. After 1871, the European powers raced in building armaments. For example, they increased their military expenditure, enlarged their army and navy and invented new weapons. After the Industrial Revolution, Britain was the strongest country in the world. It had the best army. Germany tried to challenge the navy supremacy of Britain. They competed in building dreadnoughts because they wanted to control the sea when a war broke out. The naval race between them was particularly fierce. At first, European powers armed themselves because they wanted to feel safe. However, it increased the tensions among the powers because they had developed the military and they did not want to be surrounded. Each of the powers wouldn’t give away easily to other powers in the case of a conflict. Thus, the armaments race increased the fear and suspicion among the powers and Europe was drawn closer to a general war.