1. World War I was due to the culmination of a number of
causes, including the rising nationalism among the leaders of European nations, their antagonism towards each other and other countries, and economic and imperial competition, all of which led to a fear of impending war and the making of military alliances and an arms race1. After the Congress of Vienna in 1915 left Germany and Italy divided, the became strong, nationalistic unified states, and the Franco-Prussian war of 1870-1871 led to a rise in French nationalism as they seethed at losing Alsace and Lorraine to Germany. Britain, Germany and France, seeking foreign markets for manufactured goods, all had imperialistic sights set on African nations. Bismarck's Three Emperor's League, formed after the Franco-Prussian war, collapsed after he was fired by Kaiser William II in 1890. France became a Russian ally, and Britain and France made a pact, uniting the three against German aggression. Crises in Bosnia and Morocco, and the arms race all added into the mix, and the assassination of Archduke Francis Ferdinand in Bosnia by a Serbian nationalist in 1914 led to an alliance between the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Germany, and Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia. Germany declared war on Russia, then on France. When Germany invaded Belgium, Britain declared war on Germany and WWI began.
2. Production methods changed in the 1920s with the
introduction of the assembly line2. Scientific management and technological advances increased worker productivity, raising wages and contributing to the rise in consumerism. New industries developed - the motion picture industry and the automobile industry - and more and more electrical appliances became available to the masses. These trends continue today as the US has become dependent on the automobile for transportation, and consumerism continues to grow despite economic uncertainty. Although technology has made great advanc...