Assess critically three causes of the First World War The First World War began in Europe in 1914, after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary. This trigger action caused the involvement of Germany, Russia, Serbia and Austria-Hungary. However, the war itself was caused by nationalism, alliances and Germany’s fear of encirclement. Nationalism was the central cause of World War One because, due to the nationalism of the Slavs, the Balkan states became a powder keg. Austria-Hungary made the Serbs fear annexation while the Slavs inside the country wanted a Pan-Slavic State. The assassination of the Archduke occurred due to the Serbs nationalism, to warn Austria-Hungary to stay away from Serbia. However, it had …show more content…
However, the alliances would never have become relevant if the Slavs nationalism in Austria-Hungary hadn’t made a war inevitable that soon made the alliances come into effect. Germany rushed to Austria-Hungary’s aid and Russia came to help Serbia so soon most countries in Europe had to assist their allies. A last cause that is very significant is Germany’s fear of encirclement and the other countries fear of Germany. Kaiser Wilhelm II feared encirclement by Russia and France for a very long time because, not only did France want revenge for the land losses in the Franco-Prussian War but they were also allied with Russia. This meant that Germany faced the serious risk of a two front war. Yet, what Germany didn’t know, was that the other European countries feared it just as much or even more than it feared them. Germany had the biggest army and a lot of economic power during the time just before the war. These fears helped cause the war because they made Germany build up it’s army and other European countries be in a constant state of war preparation. However, these fears were tightly connected to nationalism because if all these countries hadn’t been nationalistic and wanted territory and, in France’s case, revenge, the war would probably not have started out the way it did. Considering these three causes it is clear to see that nationalism was the main cause but the alliances and Germany’s fear played a major role in the outbreak of World War One.
The fourth cause of World War One was nationalism. Germany did not want to take responsibility for the war, since they didn’t start it, they were merely aiding Austria Hungary in their war. Germany confessing to starting the war all by themselves wouldn’t be the complete truth, since it was not all their fault. They were just helping aid Austria Hungary with their pursuits on Serbia. Germany’s rise to power was unsettling to many countries. Tensions rose, fear of military powers being higher than one’s own became prominent. Every country involved wanted to be better than all the rest.
In the end, no one was singing. World War 1 lasted from 1914 to 1918. It was sparked by the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand of Austria. Eventually, armies all across Europe were fighting and resulted in over 10 million deaths. Three underlying causes of World War 1 were alliances, militarism, and imperialism.
Despite being one of the largest and most detrimental wars in Europe’s history, World War I was started by the action of one single person. In June of 1914, the Archduke of Austria- Hungary was assassinated by a Serbian assassin while visiting Serbia. After this, there was tension when Serbia refused to Austria- Hungary apologize for the killing of their Archduke. This continued to escalate until Austria- Hungary declared war on Serbia. Following this, war broke out between countries all around Europe, leading to World War I. Although, the war would not have grown as large as it did if it weren’t for a few factors that allowed the spark of the assassination of the Archduke of Austria- Hungary- Hungary to ignite an entire fire. Many countries
Three Causes of World War I World War I and its consequences have dominated European history since 1914. Because of the bitter controversy over the post-war peace treaties, the origins of the war continued to be an issue of utmost political importance in the years to come. The Great War had its roots in 1870 in the grand expansion and uncontrolled ambitions of Bismarck and the new Germany (Wolfson et al 1997). Imperialism, which began to emerge around the turn of the 20th century also played a decisive role. Fights over the colonies contributed to the establishment of complex set of international alliances, which helped to destabilize the European balance of power and when combined with
The assassination of the Austro-Hungarian Archduke Franz Ferdinand by a Serbian nationalist is probably the most immediate cause of World War 1. When Ferdinand was assassinated, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia, who had an alliance with Russia. When Russia began to mobilize its troops to protect Serbia from Austria-Hungary, Germany, (who was allied with Austria-Hungary) declared war on Russia. In turn, France, allied with Russia, joined the war against Germany. When Germany attacked France through Belgium, it drew Britain, allied with France and Belgium, into the war against Germany. After a while, other countries
World War 1 was caused by long term tensions between European nations. This followed the unsuccessful attempt of France trying to achieve dominance in Europe. However on the 28th June 1914 there was an assassination of the Austrian heir- Archduke Franz Ferdinand’s, in his visit in Sara Jevo, Serbia. (Dugan 2000) Figure 2 shows an artist’s illustration of the Heir, his wife and the assassin during the attack. This resulted in Austria declaring war on Serbia. Russia soon pledged an alliance with Serbia, this was not long after Germany declared war on Russia. (Dugan 2000)
World War One was many years in the making with separate incidences occurring between the empires that ultimately lead up to war beginning. With many powerful empires on edge and wanting to be the most powerful, they did whatever they could to make this happen. The First World War was not sparked by one event or motive, but in turn was started due to many major factors. The war’s blame can be placed on all of the countries involved, rather than solely Germany. These factors from World War One were the product of each empire and their long-term needs such as nationalism, imperialism, militarism and the alliances. The short-term event that was the final push to start the war was the assassination of Franz Ferdinand.
In conclusion, the alliance system, nationalism and militarism was what had caused World War One to be inevitable. The alliance system caused more countries than the starting two that went to war to join, because of their alliances with each other. Nationalism led to countries trying to create and maintain their citizens pride and loyalty through war. Militarism made joining the military seem like an expectation rather than a choice, military was a big part of the people's lives and younger kids were eager to go into the
Out of the four main causes of World War 1, nationalism was the main cause. Nationalism is when you take extreme pride in your homeland. This had became a powerful idea in Europe by the late 1800’s. Nationalists place primary emphasis on promoting their homelands cultures and interests above those of other countries. Nationalism was also one of the reasons behind the tension among European powers. Each nation were competitors, so many people were willing to go to war to expand their nation as the expense for others. About Austria-Hungary’s Ultimatum to Serbia, Austria-Hungary invaded Serbia, and then accused Serbia of terrorism and murdering.(Doc 2). This shows nationalism because Austria invaded and then accused Sebia of terrorizing and murdering, Austria doesnt wanna seem like the bad one, he wants to be seen as better, or the victim.
Nationalism wasn’t the only cause of world war one so were Imperialism, Alliances, Militarism, and Assassination. Alliances were a major part of the war , it was basically their back up plan you can say. If they needed something their alliances were their to provide them with money, weapons, etc. The not so good part about this is that if one country is in a war they can easily get sunked into the war as well. Militarism created arms race it was created do to the modernization of armies. It wasn’t necessarily the cause of world war one it was more of a combination of things. It also had to do with imperialism. The counties involved wanted land that wasn’t in their borders. It is a problem but it didn’t really set it all off as well as nationalism
The true cause of WWI is still, to this day, commonly fought and argued over. Even it having been over 100 years since the war ended, a common ground still cannot be found. While there are many theories and ideas presented as to the true cause of the war, one element stays as a constant involvement with nearly each and every one of these arguments; nationalism. In my opinion, nationalism is without a doubt the prime cause of World War One.
World War One was started by many things that included, Nationalism, Imperialism, and Militarism. These causes were smaller factors that lead up to the immediate cause of the war which was the assassination of Arch-Duke Franz Ferdinand, this event is what sent the world into chaos. Nationalism played a large role in the lead up to world war one. The Slavic people in Bosnia and Herzegovina didn’t want to be part of Austria-Hungary, they wished to become part of Serbia. Nationalism causes citizens to be over confident and give them the sensation that their country is the only fair and righteous.
Before World War 1 began there were many conflicts between many countries, these conflicts are what eventually led to the war. Nationalism lead to World War 1 for reasons people believed they needed to fight for their country, many people who weren’t fighting wanted to support their soldiers, and many soldiers felt as if they couldn’t back out of the war. Militarism was a cause because each country was building up their weapons and ammunition, as well as building up their armies. Finally Kaiser Wilhelm II was a cause because he had a very strong hate towards Britain, he was a very aggressive leader and he wanted Germany to be the number one country. Nationalism, militarism and Kaiser Wilhelm II were the three main causes of World War 1.
There were three very important causes of World War One; Nationalism, Militarism, and Imperialism ( Davidson, Castillo, Stoff, page 570). For years, these three factor has brought tension to European nations. Then, in June of 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir t the throne of
The First World War was triggered due to the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in the hands of Gavrilo Princip, a Yugoslav nationalist. Austro-Hungarians did not take this lightly and evoked all alliances formed decades ago and declared war on Serbia. According