Some historians have argued that the First World War was the logical, Essay

Some historians have argued that the First World War was the logical, perhaps inevitable, outcome of the revolutionary changes of the nineteenth century - Essay Example Some of the causes of the WWI include; imperialism, militarism, nationalism and the alliance system but the paper will discuss the first two factors. Industrial revolution which began in Britain meant local market was not enough for industrial products. Britain thus began looking for markets and labor by colonizing other nations and other countries like France followed suit such that in the nineteenth century, Britain had over five continents while France occupied large areas of Africa (Sammis, 2002). This led to rivalry among nations and scramble for remaining lands especially by Germany leading to formation of alliances in preparation for an inevitable war. For example, Germany allied with Austria so as to get a route to conquer Asia. Militarism was another long term cause of the war. Countries were engaged in aggressive military preparedness making war inevitable. Great Britain had a very large navy and Germany wanted to outdo it hence engaged in creation of arms and in retaliation, Britain improved its naval base by use of modern technology hence an arms race began that made impending war seem inevitable. For example, Britain built dreadnoughts in 1905-06 to counter Germans arms (Best et al. 2008). The arms race increased the fear of war leading to the alliance system in order to defeat enemies and continued arms race between the allies. For example, arms race between Franco-Prussian and German-Austria hence more innovative weapons like machine guns created that aided the war. WWI was the most destructive in history due to the scale of the war and use of ferocious weapons and styles. The use of machine guns, modern artillery and rifles, submarines, airplanes, gas, and tanks left many soldiers dead. The use of trench warfare did not help much as it meant total destruction for the soldiers; either kill or be killed (Stone, 2009). As a result, the war left over 15

Protection Individual's Freedom From the Excessive Power of Government Essay

Protection Individual's Freedom From the Excessive Power of Government - Essay Example This research will begin with the statement that the concept of democracy is fundamentally described as a strong mechanism, which can be directly exercised by the people through electing their preferred agents. It is indeed a strong set of principles and ideas, which tends to protect the freedom of individuals belonging to any particular society. With regards to the brief understanding of academic history, terms democracy and freedom were often interchangeably used. However, these two terms have distinctive approaches in the context of their respective practices and procedures associated with a particular society, state or a nation as well. Although democracy demonstrates a clear and wide concept concerning individual freedom and liberty, it also entails a set of distinctive processes and practices that have been shaped by a long and convoluted political history. Emphasising diverse concepts and ideas of democracy as represented in different kinds of literature, the essay critically demonstrates the extent of democracy in protecting individual freedom from the excessive power of government. According to various observations, democracy is further defined as a set of specific government institutions possessing a well-structured group of values, practices, and attitudes that may include dissimilar sorts of expressions amidst the societies and the cultures prevailing across the world. With regards to demonstrating the purposes and functions of democracy, the term democracy may entail a number of strong values along with principles and practices.