Free Custom «World War I» Essay Paper

Nationality and ethnicity were some of the causes attributed to have fueled World War 1. The term nationality refers to a person or a group of people belonging to a particular country or nation. This can be either by birth or by registration or naturalization. This term is closely associated with ethnicity, which is the development of a certain group in mutual contact. This shows that the groups have similar understanding of different concepts. Nationality connects with ethnicity when the nation is seen in terms of ethnic variations. The concept behind ethnic nationality comes from perceived facts that there are some unique elements passed over generations that make the nation unique. The First World War came about because countries tried so hard to prove their superiority and dominance that led to conflicts. Some of the conflicts that led to world war one in relation to nationality was the hurt ego of the French because the German had taken the Alsace Lorraine. The French were practically begging for war to help redeem their ego. The other conflict was how the Austrian Hungary was now on the hold of the Roman Empire. The Russians on the other hand were not ready to lose more land like the one they had in the last wars. This does not explain why the war lasted so long. There are other outstanding causes of the World War 1 and the immediate cause was the sudden assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. The countries in Europe began forming alliances that would make them go into war if one of the countries allied to them was attacked.

Darwin

There were different believes about the evolution of species and people had little or no idea at all about the variations in races except for the physical aspects that were seen in every individual. The concept of genes passing from one generation to the other was common, but no one knew the exact process that led to the passage of these genes. Darwin did a lot to change the way people viewed races by studying different animals and noting how they reacted to the changes in the environment. This led to his contribution to the topic of evolution where he came up with four processes that aid in the passage of characteristics from one species to the other. He came up with the concept of modification, the process of natural selection, adaptation to the changes in the environment and survival for the fittest. During his research, he observed that some animals had characteristics that gave them an advantage over others and this increased their chances for survival. This is what he calls survival for the fittest for those who have the best characteristics to enable them survive the changes in the environment. There were different reactions to his theory and some people used it to benefit themselves and promote racism. 

Social Contract Theory

Hobbes was the first philosopher to provide a detailed concept of the contract theory where he states that a person’s nature is in solitary, deprived, spiteful, violent and short. This presence of rights and rules are the guides to social life and helps prevent the selfish nature of man. A person dwells in solidarity until the aspect of sovereignty comes into existence. The other stage of nature is social contact that comes into existence when the person starts interacting with other individuals and people would give up their rights as long as the other person does the same. This led to the creation of a state to take charge and regulate social interactions. Locke believed in the absolute authority of God and stated that no man had the authority to change the rights accorded to an individual by nature. The similarity between Locke and Hobbes arguments were in the willingness of a person to participate in social events. Locke held that an individual would act morally because he or she was bond to the laws of nature and not the government laws. He believed that governments acted as a neutral person to uphold the rights of the individuals.

Rousseau, on the other hand believed in democracy as the best form of protecting individual rights. He believed that a person can exercise hi rights fully with the presence of a leader who takes charge and lets the person follow the rules provided for all the citizens. People require a leader who will change the customs and rules to fit the demands of the people. He advocated for a collective citizenship where the people acted as a group under the leadership of a string leader. The law exists to guide people on the correct moral standards and protect their rights. State of nature as defined by Hobbes is the state of solitarily where there is lack of contact between individuals and there are no rights to guide individuals. Contact is the next step of social nature and it occurs when people voluntarily give up their rights to those in authority. Preserving and protecting power occurs through social contact as people give up some of their rights to others.

The Women’s Movement

Women became interested in politics and united to fight against slavery. The sudden interest in politics acted as a uniting factor that brought the women together. Mary Wollstonecraft a writer was one of the women who fought for women’s rights. She states firmly that men are not superior to women, but it appears to be the case because women lack sufficient education. Her husband destroyed her virtue after publishing her Memoir. Her contributions bore fruits when women began fighting for their rights a century later. Elizabeth Cady Stanton was another social activist who has credit for being the first woman to organize rights movements. She addressed different issues concerning women’s rights like property rights, custody, divorce, employment opportunities and good health. She fought for equal treatment of men and women whether black or white. Seneca Falls Declaration made declaration on equity of men and women in regards to property ownership. The Connection of American abolition to the women’s right came into existence because women did not have their rights enacted immediately after the movements and rallies to advocate for equal treatment with men. The women joined political rallies and demanded for the right to vote and end slavery. The National Women’s Suffrage Association did their best to give the women their rights to vote. Feminism entered a second phase when it demanded for more diverse rights for women including rights on sexuality, family issues and employment issues. Azar Nafisi is one of the non-western women believes that women had the right to make their own choices.

The Industrial Revolution

The features of industrial revolution were personal ownership of property, market created incomes; there was constant growth in the economy, the excess income or profit was put back in development of infrastructure, competitive system and prices depend on the equilibrium. These features led to large-scale production that led to advancement in capital making work easier. This created space for cheap labor and eventually technology came into existence leaving out human labor. Goods were diversified and production focused on manufacturing of goods and not agrarian production. England was at the forefront because it had ready access to resources, technology and had cheap raw materials. Women and children got job opportunities in factories and the payment was low. The manufacturing system was nothing like what Ure describes because the people working there were mistreated.

Socialism and Marxism

Marx and Engel believe that conflicts occur because of the difference in economic conditions. An example is the capitalists who get all the benefits from the sweats of the workers. This is a thesis that changes when the workers start fighting for their rights creating a communist society.

Race

Kant writes in his book that only four races exist that is the blacks, the whites, the yellow and the red. Blumenbach believes differences of men originating from catastrophic events. De Gobineau, on the other hand, believes in nationality defining race and the aspect of superiority. Ashley Montagu does not agree with them. He writes essays about his feelings towards racism. Imperialism is the action of a state where it develops unequal economy and territorial surrounding with other states in order to dominate others. Hobbsen believes that imperialisms is just but an extension of capitalism. The activities in Belgian created uproar in the world because people saw their actions as inhuman. Zionism began with the publication of the book on the issue of Palestine and Israel where it provides three options for the Jews on where they could possibly stay.