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Causes Of The First World War Essay

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In the beginning of the 20th century, the major European powers were Germany, Britain, France, Russia, Belgium, Austria-Hungary and Italy. They all had a big army and were the leading countries in many aspects such as science and culture. They had a powerful economy and dominated most of the world with their colonies. However, there were many rivalries between these nations, and their relationships were often tense. When World War One was declared, it was hard to tell what had been its main cause, and mostly if it could have been prevented by more diplomacy. After the First World War, the Treaty of Versailles was signed. It denied that the responsibility was equal between countries and blamed Germany alone. In my point of view, no country was …show more content…

While they were driving through the town, a man named Gavrilo Princip shot the Archeduke and his wife dead. The aggressor was a member of a seperatist group which was plotting to overthrow the Austro-Hungarian Empire. A month later, the 23rd of July, the Austro-Hungarian government blamed Serbia for the Archeduke’s murder and decided to send an ultimatum to Serbia. This ultimatum would give Austria-Hungary complete powerover Serbia if Serbia accepted it. It forced Serbia to get rid of any anti-Austro-Hungarian teaching, writing, organisations and officials. It was a more subtle way of adding Serbia to its Empire. This is the spark that lit the major european countries’ desire to extend their empire, the Archduke’s murder gave these countries a reason to declare war on one another. From then on, maters quickly escalated to a world war. On 28th July, following Serbia’s rejection of the ultimatum, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia. The British called for each country to remain peaceful, and the German warned the Russians not to take part in the war. But the Russians moved troops to their border with Germany, so Germany declared war on Russia, and then on France. By the 4th August, the British Empire declared war on Germany and most of the European forces were involved in what will be

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