Main Causes Of World War I

The nations had spent millions of dollars on building their army and navy. Germany in 1890 had spent around 30 million in British pounds, then by 1910 they had spent around 60 million in British pounds. (Document C) All of these countries had spent so much money into their armaments, there was a lot of tension building up between the Triple Alliance and the Triple Entente that either one was ready. The countries also had lots of colonies with territory by the other nations. No one wanted to get in each other’s way, but it became too close for comfort. (Document D) This proves how Militarism was a cause of

World War I, also known as the first World War, or the Great War, was a global war originating in Europe the began on the 28th of July 1914 and lasted until the 11th of November 1918. World War I was a war that was fought between two sides with a few of the World’s greatest Nations of that time. The two sides were Triple Entente which included Britain, France, and Russia, and the Triple Alliance which was consisted of the countries Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy. World War I left a mark on history as we know it, what could have possibly led to that war?, What were the underlying causes of World War I?. The major causes of “The Great War” or WWI consist of four long-term causes and one short-term cause. The common acronym that’s used for the four long-term causes to help students remember the causes of WWI is M.A.I.N; the acronym stands for Militarism, Alliances, Imperialism, and Nationalism,and the short-term cause The Assassination of the ArchDuke Franz Ferdinand at Sarajevo on the 28th of June 1914. To put all of this in a simpler way the five major causes of WWI was Militarism, Alliances, Imperialism, Nationalism, and the assassination of the ArchDuke Franz Ferdinand. Each of topics played a significant role in the reasons why WWI would begin.

The Treaty of Versailles unfairly forced Germany to decimate their own army and the treaty took away some of Germany’s land. Document B states, “Germany must not exceed one hundred thousand men, including officers…” Because of this Germany was left outnumbered and suffered a maddening loss of power. Germany also lost their treasured Baltic sea port, which they relied on for different resources (Doc A). More importantly, the German citizens in that area were forced to either relocate or adjust to their new culture. Due to these forced injustices Germany started WWII.

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.

In addition to the damaging consequences of the First World War with the requirements of the Treaty of Versailles, certain features of Germany caused the state to be susceptible to the influence of this dangerous ideology. Along with the damage to the national ego as a result of the First World War, Germany had co-existing and conflicting highly modern strands of development forced to integrate with powerful remnants of archaic values and social structures, and had a deeply fractured parliamentary political system, and the weaknesses of this system reflected the social and political differences within the population. This shame and failure after World War I was superimposed onto a modern country which once had an advanced economy, a sophisticated state

At the end of world war I, the European countries got together to decide what Germany's punishments should be after losing the war. The terms that they came up with were nearly impossible for Germany to meet, these terms included Germany to pay in gold, in land, in resources, and to reduce military strength. Also they had to take full responsibility for causing world war I.

In addition to territorial losses, Germany also suffered military restrictions from the Treaty of Versailles. According to Article 160 of the Versailles Treaty, the total number of German military troops allowed was one hundred thousand. Germany was surrounded by countries with large military troops. France had the largest army and were in control since Article 160 excluded Germany to attack any other nations. Germans felt scared and unsafe with such a small army. This worried many Germans and was another reason they were against the Treaty of

All of these factors where established in many of Europe’s “Great Powers” which consisted of Great Britain, France, Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Russia. The main cause focused on what I stated above, in the previous sentences. The causes of World War 1 include a growing sense of militarism, which was accompanied by arms race, and imperialism. Imperialism as economic rivalries and competition for colonies among European nations were prevalent.

Many contributions lead to the spark of World War I. The three main causes included the assassination of Francis Ferdinand, alliance systems, and militarism. Although imperialism and nationalism are said to be contributing factors to the cause of World War I, the assassination of Francis Ferdinand, alliance systems, and militarism were three of the most important causes of The Great War. An immediate cause of World War I was the assassination of Austria-Hungary’s archduke, Francis Ferdinand.

The main cause of WWI was the Alliance System because Russia had an ethnic tie with Serbia that had committed Russia to helping it’s ally then that caused other countries to support their allies such as The Triple Alliance and The Triple Entente. The underlying cause of WWI was the alliance system. A reason the Alliance system was the main cause is because in Document A question #5 it says, “Russia had

Although there were many causes for World War 1, the three most long term, underlying causes were imperialism, militarism, and the most important cause alliances. Imperialism was a big contribution to World War 1 because of the greed and determination from all of the supe six to overthrow different

There were a couple main yet indirect reasons why the war had occurred. The three underlying causes of World War I were the alliance system, militarism, and imperialism.

The main reasons for the causing WWI was imperialism, Alliances and militarism. When coming to the war militarism is the main reason but alliances and imperialism still have an impactful role in the starting of the war. With imperialism starting to imperializing people that did not want to be changed from the lifestyle that they had, With militarism which if we didn't have to keep up with the technology of war we wouldn't even be fighting in war, And with alliances with a certain amount of people going up against other people's sets of beliefs. The main reasons for WWI was militarism alliances and imperialism. One of the main reasons of WWI starting up was Alliances between countries.

The treaty of Versailles was a major cause of ww2 starting because Germany had to give up land, pay money back to other countries, and had to give up their army. Germany had to give up more than 27,000 square miles of land overall to places like France which got the alsace-lorraine district and Czechoslovakia got the hultschin district. Germany after the treaty of Versailles was forced to pay nearly 60 million euros (64 million US dollars) back to mostly France and Belgium to help rebuild their land and towns that were destroyed by the war. In section one chapter one article 159 it says that all German military forces will be stopped completely. This left many German people jobless because most of them worked in factories building weapons

There are many different causes that led up to WWI, but there were a handful of root causes that accelerated the development of hostility between nations. One of the main reasons was the shifting of the balance of power. The balance of power between nations is a delicate equilibrium that can be easily thrown off if one nation shows a bit of hostility, or if there is an emergence that threatens the sanctity of this balance. For a power to emerge or change, it directly affects all other nations involved through a butterfly effect of events. In WWI specifically, the unification of Germany threw off all alliances and the control of powers, as it was overwhelming for such a strong power to step up. Structurally and emotionally, this was a dramatic change to the stability of the balance of powers, and such a quick change disrupted the peace between the nations so greatly that WWI occurred. Apart from the breakdown of the balance of powers and emergence of hegemonic threats, other institutional and structural theories can explain the events that caused WWI. Some of these events include social conflicts within the countries, shifting alliances, power rankings, and the struggles to negotiate different resources between countries.