UNIT

9.1: CAUSES OF WAR,

COMPARE AND CONTRAST
Student Name, Class
Teacher
Individuals and Society

Author

Causes of War Compare and Contrast Essay

The true soldier fights not because he hates what is in front of him, but because he loves what
is behind him. G.K. Chesterton. G.K. Chesterton is stating his opinion about war and why we
keep repeating the mistake of having war. Historians often differ in opinion about the real
motivations of war between enemies. Most wars have multiple motivations but exactly how to
categorize them will always differ on the person. A great leading in statement, with excellent use
of a quote, well done J
The two wars in this essay that I will be comparing and contrasting are the English Civil War and
World War One. World War One was from 1914-1918, the opponents were France, Britain and
Russia against Germany, Italy and Austria-Hungary. The English Civil War was from 1642-1651,
the two opponents were the Roundheads (parliament) and the Cavalier (kings supporters).
Before World War One started, we saw quite a few elements of Imperialism, mainly from
Germany but involved all major nations from World War One. Imperialism is to grow a countrys
empire by taking control of other countries. An example of Imperialism during the First World War
would be when Germany wanted a big empire like France and Britain had. In 1904, Morocco
were given as a gift from Britain to France, although Morocco wanted their independence.
Germany decided to support Morocco and in 1911, Germans protested against France from
obtaining Morocco. The only reason war was avoided was because Britain supported France and
Germany preferred to be cautious. Tension was created between France, Germany and Britain.
Another example would be in 1908, when Austria-Hungary took power over Bosnia even though
the Serbians wanted Bosnia. Serbia then threatened Austria-Hungary to war and because Serbia
and Russia were allied, Russia got its forces ready. Germany who was allied with Austria
Hungary got its forces ready to attack, but Russia backed down out of fear of Germany. Excellent
example, good demonstration of depth of knowledge
Before the start of the English Civil War, traits of Imperialism existed but not as much as in the
First World War. The English Civil War had the parliament wanting power over England instead
of the King which can be seen as Imperialism, though it isnt exactly this because there was no
blood spill just mainly disagreements. An example would be in 1625, when the parliament gave
King Charles I income for a year instead of income for a lifetime which was the amount normally
given. Once King Charles I was out of money, he had to request the Parliament for more to
finance his military campaigns, but the Parliament refused. This shows that the Parliament didnt
the King to be seen as good leader. King Charles I showed the Parliament that he should run the
country by himself when he started raising money by forced tax without the Parliaments
permission, though he should have. Furthermore, he suspended the Parliament in 1629 for
eleven years (Eleven Years of Tyranny). These two examples are ways that King Charles I
wanted the power of England all to himself and not have to share it.
In summary, Imperialism was slightly seen in the English Civil War and a lot in World War One.
Both wars relate because they both include enemies arguing about who should control a country.
Though for the English Civil War, it was less Imperialism because it was more about who should
run their country. The events before the First World War were really Imperialism so where
countries fought about ruling another country. A contrast though between these two wars and
Imperialism is that during the English Civil War, one opposition had more supporters and money
but the other more power. For World War I, most had equal power but in different categories
(army, weapons, sea forces). In addition, an obvious contrast is that for World War One, there
were multiple oppositions but because of this alliances were formed and they at least avoided the
war for a few more years.
Economy is a crucial factor for the list of motivations of the English Civil War, as for World War
One. Previous to the start of World War One, there was an arms race that sunk lots of money
from the nations that were included in the arms race. France and Germany had more than

doubled their forces (weapons, army) since 1870-1914, Germany and Britain were competing
with the most powerful Naval Warfare; Britain introduced a new battleship named the
Dreadnought and Germany introduced new battleships as well. These increases in the nations
forces cost every country quite a bit of money. The countries also had economic rivalries which
were the countries having tension created between themselves. France had gotten 2 coal
producing provinces taken by Germany (Alsace and Lorraine) and France now had to import
coal, this caused tension between the two nations. Germanys industry was vastly increasing and
the ships industry was threatening Britains.
King Charles I who was King of England, key player in the English Civil War, was always at the
loss of money. He, like his father, liked to spend money quickly. King Charles I needed to request
money from the Parliament in 1626 for military campaigns against France and Germany, the
Parliament refused so he used methods that werent appreciated by the English to collect the
money. King Charles I got the money by forced taxes (as I stated with imperialism), and in 1629,
he imposed knighthood fees to landowners for forty pounds or more a year, monopolies were
sold to rich merchants and ship money was demanded from the whole country instead of just
from the coastal towns and villages. At the end of the First Bishops War, he needed ask the
Parliament for money again, which was refused. At the end of the Second Bishops War, he
ended up owing Scotland 850 pounds per day as long as the Scottish occupied Northern
England. These all caused King Charles to be in debt, these debts of course made nor the
Parliament, nor the English nation proud of their king. This made the Parliament seem like a
better leader for England than King Charles I.
Economy was a big cause and motivation for both World War I and the English Civil War. The
economy before World War I was caused by the arms race which added more tension in
between countries so a motivation for the war to happen. Before the English Civil War, there also
was a motivation for this war to happen and for the leader of England to change. A contrast
though between both wars is that during the arms race, if they went bankrupt, they had no one to
help. For England, even though King Charles was getting bankrupt, England had the Parliament
who had sufficient money but could also procure money easily.
Nationalism is also one of the main causes of World War I. Nationalism is people having pride in
their country and being ready to defend it no matter what. During the Franco-Prussian War,
France lost Alsace and Lorraine to Germany. As well as these being coal sources, most of all,
the French believed that the regions still belonged to them. This means that France wasnt happy
about Germany having Alsace and Lorraine in their possession, this made France even more
hoping for a war against Germany so that they could procure theyre regions back. AustriaHungary and Serbia are home to lots of different nations, this complicated thoughts at the time
because each wanted freedom from the state they lived in and to be able to defend their country.
Because every person wanted to defend their country, they easily were unhappy about others.
One of the causes from the English Civil War, was also a type of Nationalism, but instead of
being proud and defending your country, the English were proud of their religion and didnt want
it to change. The English Nation all were Protestants and didnt want anything to do with
Catholicism because Catholics had had multiple attempts to wipe out Protestantism (Queen
Mary, invasion of Phillip II of Spain, plot to blow up James I). King Charles I was protestant like
the rest of his country, however he preferred rituals, ceremonies, decorations in churches etc.
and these were all factors of the Catholicism. This already didnt please England but in addition,
in 1633, the king appointed William Laud archbishop. William Laud, like King Charles I, liked a
few factors of Catholicism and extreme Protestants criticised William Laud. These extreme
Protestants were charged in court and punished, this made the people of England dislike King
Charles I because they thought that the Protestants were just being faithful and loyal to their
religion and shouldnt have been punished.

In World War I, it really was Nationalism and the people being proud of their country. For the
English Civil War, the people being proud of their country is irrelevant to this war but they were
proud of their religion and were ready to defend it For both wars, all sides thought that theyre
belief (WWI = country, ECW = religion) was the best one. In addition, during both wars, the
people were ready to defend their beliefs no matter the consequences.
Militarism is also one of the biggest causes. Militarism is when a country is building up their
armies and forces. I already explained the arms race that occurred in Europe against all the
countries. Militarism was first meant to help defend the countries in case of an attack but it ended
in a competition between each other, which lead to more tension between them.
There was no sign of militarism in the causes of the English Civil War. Militarism was only a
cause for World War I, which is a big difference between both wars. There was no militarism in
the English Civil War because the fights were much smaller than at World War I and the English
Civil War was 3 centuries earlier, meaning that weapons werent as developed but none the less
there may have been a build-up of arms in order to defeat the opposing armies, even if on a
different scale.
Alliances are contracts between countries stating that if one needs help, then the other needs to
help and protect them. Alliances are meant to prevent wars because other countries then are too
afraid to provoke a country when there is other countries they will then have to deal with. In
World War I, there were 2 alliances: the Triple Entente (France, Britain and Russia) and the
Triple Alliance (Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy). If a country needed help, then the other
countries will help to attack, or will just side with them and make the enemy back down. A
timeline with the alliances causing World War I is this: 23 July Austria blamed Serbia for
murder of Franz Ferdinand and sent ultimatum to Serbia. 28 July although Serbia agreed to the
ultimatum, Austria declared war on Serbia. 29 July - Russia army was ready to help Serbia, but
Germany told Russia not to aid. 1 Aug Germany declared war on Russia. 3 Aug Germany
declared war on France and went through Belgium to attack, Britain told Germany to withdraw
from Belgium. 4 Aug Germany stayed in Belgium and Britain declared war on Germany. 6 Aug
Austria declared war on Russia.
There were no alliances in the English Civil, so alliances didnt afflict this war because there were
only two opponents and this was only in one country. On the other hand, alliances was a big
factor for World War I. Instead of preventing war, it caused more tension and conflict between
countries.
The English Civil Wars main causes were economy, imperialism and nationalism. World War Is
main causes were militarism, alliances, imperialism, economy and nationalism. The English Civil
War was in general on a much smaller scale than World War I, including the number of
causalities, casualties and people involved. The English Civil War and World War Ones
Imperialism is not the same because for the English Civil War, two sides were arguing about who
should control their own country. For World War One, multiple sides were arguing about who
should control other countries. The same case is for nationalism; that they arent the same type
of nationalism. For one war, it is more about religion and the other its really about their own
countries. The English Civil War was not afflicted by militarism nor nationalism, although they are
for World War I. During both wars, every single opponent thought that what they were fighting for
was right and were better than the opponents. In conclusion, these two wars are completely
different, they only link a small bit through imperialism and nationalism but otherwise, they have
nothing else in common.

Deleted: y

An impressive essay, great detail with excellent use of examples, very well structured and
professionally formatted, very well done! J

Works Cited

Walsch, Ben. GCSE Modern World History. London: Hodder Education, 1996. Print.
N.a. Causes of the Civil War. Causes of the English Civil War. N.d. Web. 23 Sept.
2015. <http://www.britpolitics.co.uk/causes-of-the-civil-war>.
Poon. Economic Rivalries. The Corner. 1979. Web. 7 Oct. 2015.
<http://www.funfront.net/hist/wwi/economic.htm>
Poon. Militarism. The Corner. 1979. Web. 7 Oct. 2015.
<http://www.funfront.net/hist/wwi/military.htm>
Stanier, John. Causes of Civil War. N.a. 3 Oct. 2012. Youtube.
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-J3ZOOsWIVg>
Trueman, Chris. The Causes of the English Civil War. The History Learning Site. n.d.
Web. 23 Sept. 2015. <http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/stuart-england/thecauses-of-the-english-civil-war/>.

Could this list have been more extensive? I am sure you used additional reference source, e.g.
the G K Chesterton quote?



Research Action Plan

The main What are the similarities and differences between the causes of the First World
research War and the English Civil war?
question
-What are the main causes of the English Civil War?
Sub
questions -What are the main causes of the First World War?
-How long did both wars last?

Methods

Relevant
Sources
What
steps will
you
follow to
address
the
research
question?

-Who were the key players?

-How many opposing sides did each war include?
-Where did these wars occur?
-Categorising the causes (e.g. MAIN)
For the research, we started researching World War One in class, we have worksheets and
got information from the textbook. We had about 6 weeks on World War One and finding
the key events that lead to the war.
We had one week on the English Civil War; I was with Sam, Angelina and Jack. I worked on
the causes and creating the website, Jack and Angelina worked on the actual fight and
Sam did the works cited.
I will use a Word Document, I will directly read off the information from the source and
write it in bullet point form. Once I have all the information I need, I will write them in my
own words in essay format on a Word Document.
I will use my textbook, websites and videos as sources to get the relevant information for
my essay.
TASK
Where did they occur?

COMPLETION DATE

6th Oct.

Who were the key players?

6th Oct.

When and how long did they last?

6th Oct.

Who were the opposing sides?

6th Oct.

What were the main causes of WWI?

What were the main causes of ECW?

7th Oct.

7th Oct.

Categorise the causes.

7th Oct.

Compare the causes

8th Oct

Write Essay
Cover Page
Works Cited
Hand In Essay

9th Oct.

Bullet Points (capture sheet):

11th Oct
11th Oct.
12th Oct.

COMPLETE?