Causes of First World War Essay

This paper has hopefully explained some of the underlying causes in world war I. These were nationalism, militarism, imperialism, and allies. These causes built up over a long period to finally lash out and cause total war. The war was inevitable but the question was really when it would lash

Another debated cause is imperialism, which is the policy of extending a nation's authority by territorial acquisition or by the establishment of economic and political hegemony over other nations. This contributed to WWI because of the rivalry it caused in Europe between Great Britain, Germany, and France. They needed foreign markets after the increase in manufacturing caused by the Industrial Revolution. Great Britain, Germany, and France competed for economic expansion in Africa. Even though Great Britain and France came to an agreement several problems before the war had to do with the dislike of Germany against Great Britain and France in North Africa. Also the crumbling of the Ottoman-Empire in the Middle East was a big factor for Austria-Hungary, the Balkans and Russia. So the competition for colonies brought great powers into conflict and fueled the ideas of war and added to the present tension that already existed, and that tension keeps on building up.

Imperialist is considered a primary cause of war. With Europe’s growing economy and wealth, rivalries and competition for colonies among European nations were more

The first cause of war was alliances; though not the strongest motive, it provoked a large amount of tension leading up to the war. There were two “sides” to warfare- the Triple Entente, and the Triple Alliance- commonly known as the Allied and Central powers. As seen in Document 3, Germany, Austria-Hungary, and temporarily Italy, made up the Central powers while the Allied powers were

When a nation gained more powerful arms, they were seen as a larger threat to the rest of the world, which was proven by post-war speeches from leaders of involved countries and statistics from the war. When Germany was blamed entirely for starting the war, German Versailles Treaty delegation leader Count Brockdorff-Rantzau argued that imperialism and the massive power put in the militaries across Europe had a larger impact on the war than Germany (Document 5). The mobilization of European armies and missed preventative steps to avoid war in almost every European country were both also cited by many historians for causing the Great War to occur (Document 6). The effects of military advancement and involvement in political discrepancies is clearly shown in statistics of money paid by each country involved in the war throughout time. When the war broke out, substantial increases in the investments made for weaponry are shown, especially by the main countries involved in the war, such as Great Britain, France, and Germany (Document 1). Military advancement overall had a large part in World War I’s breakout, due to its effects on the mindset of countries to create more weaponry for defense, and the power it gave to a nation’s

Militarism caused WWI because certain countries spent a great deal of money on their military, and they were very eager to utilize it. Lastly, alliances helped spark the war because alliances are formed due to rivalries and mistrust. When one country starts a conflict, its allies

World War I, or the Great War, was one of the largest widespread wars in all of world history. However, it set the path for World War II when other countries came to blame Germany and thus crushing their government and economy, and amassed large destruction over multiple countries in Europe, such as Britain, France, and Germany, especially. It is important to understand how these wars came to be. During a dispute between Austria-Hungary and Serbia,which led to the assassination of the Austria-Hungarian leader Archduke Franz Ferdinand, years of separate alliances, bad international relations, and growth of arms all brought up the then inevitable outbreak of World War I.

One underlying cause of World War I was Militarism. In 1890 Germany and Austria- Hungary spent together about 40 million pounds, and in 1914 increased their spending to 150 million pounds (Doc C). As well as that Great Britain, Russia and France spent 100 million pounds and increased spending to 225 million pounds (Doc C). This shows that a buildup of arms was an important underlying reason for the war. In a speech before the German Congress Bernhard von Bulow spoke about how worried he is about England, France and Russia based on their acquiring of colonies around the world and how he does not want to “Step on the toes of any foreign power” (Doc

After Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia their allies began declaring war on others. Russia declared war on Austria-Hungary, Germany declared war on Russia, France declared war on Germany and Austria-Hungary, and Britain joined Russia and France (DBQ Project Background Essay). Which all this caused an outbreak of war in Europe. Everyone was trying to support their allies, so if the opportunity arose and their country ever needed them they would have their support in

At the turn of the twentieth century Europe seemed to enjoy a period of peace and progress. Yet below the surface, several forces were at work that would lead Europe into the “Great War”. Some of the causes of WW1 were Nationalism, Militarism, Imperial Rivalries, Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, and Alliance.

At the end of World War I, the sole responsibility of initiating the conflict fell on Germany. With the signing of the Treaty of Versailles, Germany took the blame and agreed to pay for reparations. However, the origin of the war was not the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. Rather, the origins were nationalism, the creation of entangling alliances, the conflict in the Balkans, and the economic and imperialistic rivalries in Europe. These factors created the right conditions for war to occur. However, the responsibility of initiating conflict can be placed on Austria-Hungary.

World War 1 was the first total war that the world had ever gone through. World war 1 began on July 28, 1914, and lasted till November 11, of 1918, lasting over 4 years producing over 10 million casualties. The main question is “What was the underlying cause of World war 1?” this is asking what were the causes that led to the war. There were a few causes to world war 1, the most underlying cause was militarism. Militarism was the most impactful reason for the war, and what ultimately pulled the last straw.

There were a couple of main forces that lead to the outbreak of the war. The first force was called nationalism, which is having a devotion to your nation. Nationalism can be a positive force or a negative force. It can unify nations or cause them to compete against each other. During the 20th century nationalism was a negative force. It caused a rivalry between the Great Powers of Europe. The powers were France, Austria-Hungary, Germany, Italy, Russia, and Great Britain. The rivalry was caused by many things. Competition for materials, competition for markets, and fights over the territories were the problems. Some examples of them arguing over territories is when France never got over losing Alsace-Lorraine and Russia and Austria-Hungary both wanted control over the Balkans. These disputes lead to demands for independence among the different ethnic groups. The last force that lead to the war was imperialism, which is where a strong nation tries to dominate other nations. The Great Powers of Europe were searching for colonies to take and this caused them to get closer and closer to war. It made them distrust each other and made their rivalry even worse. The nations of Europe thought that in order to be great they had to have a good military. Every nation except Great Britain had a large and powerful army. Militarism is the policy of keeping an army ready for war. They brought this policy into play because they needed a way to keep track of the army. The policy had just the

One cause of the war, as suggested by historians, was the previous relationships and tensions amongst countries, especially Serbia and Austro-Hungary. The tension between these nations dates back to 1815 when the Serbs successfully rebelled against the Ottoman Empire (to which at this point, the Serbs were ruled

World War 1 (better known as The Great War), was caused by a great many elements, some long-term, some short-term and the spark. Together these reasons created a brutal war involving many countries across the globe and also killing a vast number of the world’s population. In this essay, I will thoroughly explain what started this war and which reasons made it start sooner.