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20th Century International Relations

Increasing Tension 1900–14This is a 7-slide excerpt from Boardworks KS4 History

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Learning objectives

What we will learn in this presentation:

How did imperialism lead to increasing tension before World War I?

What is an arms race?

Why did Britain and Germany compete in the naval arms race?

How did increased nationalism fuel greater military spending?

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The naval arms race

The Dreadnought worried the Germans

and fuelled the developing arms race

between Germany and Britain.

For a long time, Britain had ruled the waves. It had spent a great deal of time and money building a strong navy to protect its trade routes and overseas empire. Britain did not want other nations rivalling its dominance at sea.

In 1906, the Royal Navy launched HMS Dreadnought. It was a new style of battleship that was faster and more heavily armoured than any previous warship.

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The naval arms race

Germany decided that it too needed to build Dreadnought-style battleships. It aimed to build them at the same rate as Britain or, if possible, faster.

This created a naval arms race – a race to build the most warships.

As Germany built Dreadnought-style ships to compete with Britain, Britain felt obliged to build as many, or more, ships in order to stay ahead.

From 1889 Britain had followed a policy of ensuring that its navy was at least as big as its two nearest rivals combined. This policy was known as the ‘two power standard’.

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European naval strength in 1914

Type France Britain RussiaAustria-Hungary

Germany Italy

Dreadnoughts 14 24 4 3 13 1

Battleships 9 38 7 12 30 17

Battle Cruisers

0 10 1 0 6 0

Cruisers 25 108 13 7 49 11

Destroyers 81 228 106 18 152 33

Submarines 67 76 36 14 30 20

Who won the naval arms race?

Which of the two great alliances had the best chance of winning a war at sea?

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The arms race

As one country built up its armed forces, what do you think its rivals did?

Such militarism could only lead to increased tensions

in Europe, making war more likely.

It was not just at sea that increasing militarism was evident. The major European powers had vast land armies (with the exception of Britain and Italy).

Between 1890 and 1913, military spending in Britain and France increased by 100% and in Germany by 150%.

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Britain vs. Germany

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