Nationalism and imperialism both had good intentions individually, but when you combine the two, that's when the results become disastrous and uncontrollable. Nationalism is the belief that a country should support everything it does, even bad decisions. Imperialism is the belief that if someone truly supports their country, they will be willing to spread those ideals to other countries through democracy or, in this case, war. The terrible effects of these two combined phenomena were evident throughout the First World War. Many countries began to feel a sense of excessive pride in their country, and when imperialism began to spread, they decided to spread their "highest" ideals to the rest of the world. The balance of power established at the Congress of Vienna scared all other countries of this sudden uprising and therefore war was inevitable. The war also began on the basis of alliances and pacts uniting most countries. Once Serbia and Austria-Hungary went to war, all countries followed, but not all followed because they were forced to. Most countries at war were heavily influenced by nationalism, imperialism, and a little militarism. Overall, the war started because of these beliefs and continued because of them as well. Without the beliefs propagated by nationalism and imperialism, World War I might never have broken out. Nationalism showed everyone that it was good for them to have excessive pride in their country, combined with imperialism which taught them that they had to spread their supreme ideas, the results could have been worse. With just these two, some countries would attempt democracy and spread that way. Militarism was also present in this era, which taught... middle of paper... war” (Shen, 1). Nationalism and imperialism are dangerous together, but when combined the results become sporadic and uncontrollable. They teach a country that it is better to fight and lose with a chance of success than to form alliances and have overall success. In conclusion, nationalism, the belief that one's country is supreme, imperialism, the belief that one's countries should spread supremacy. of the country through democracy combined with a touch of militarism, the belief that a country should go to war for democracy sparked World War I. The war ended with an armistice, a formal agreement to end all fighting, as the results were tragic and a loss from which the world never fully recovered. Until the last minutes of the war, blood was still being shed and families, countries and lives were being torn apart..