WW1: The Three Main Causes Of World War I

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

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 three underlying causes of WW1 were militarism, alliances, and imperialism. WW1 was a war fought in Europe between Germany, Russia, France, Great Britain, the U.S. and other countries. But the main cause of WW1 is unknown. The question remains, what is the real reason for WW1. A few reasons that could be responsible for one of the greatest wars the world has ever seen are militarism, alliances, and imperialism.

Great War, also known as The First World War, lasted for four year (1914 to 1918). It brought a huge development of war technics and weapons. More number of countries had been involved in the Great War than any previous war. It involved the mobilization of the whole nations, not just an enormous army that turned the war into a “total war”. (Clare 6) However, historians are still arguing about the major cause of the World War I. The major cause will be one of the four long-term causes of WWI, which are Militarism, Alliance, Imperialism, and Nationalism. In my opinion, the two major causes would be Alliance and Nationalism. Alliance is an association between two or more countries for mutual benefits that formed with different treaties, while

The first of the primary reasons that World War One started was because of the acts of militarism. “Force is all conquering, but it's victories are short

Once Franz Ferdinand of Austria was assassinated, it gave the countries a reason to declare war on each other. Document A shows the alliances between European countries at the start of WWI in 1914. France, Britain, and Russia were an alliance. France and Britain were the most powerful out of imperialist Europe, so they made an alliance to combine that strength. Russia owned no colonies, so it would make sense they would want an alliance with what seemed like the strongest colony owners. Germany owned the third most colonies, but they were scared of Britain and France taking over (look at the analysis of Document D). Austria-Hungary was in a place similar to Russia in that they needed an alliance with a stronger country, Germany fit the type of alliance Austria-Hungary was looking for because Germany had a strong military and was already united to Austria-Hungary by common fear of Russia and Russia’s alliances. Germany allied with Austria-Hungary because they believed Russia wouldn’t wage war against two empires. This led Russia to ally with France and

The three most important underlying cause of World War 1 are militarism, imperialism, and alliance. One of the most important underlying cause of WW1 is militarism. Countries would invest in their army and navy to defend themselves and to be prepared to attack during war. European countries spent millions on their armaments.

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.

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

Militarism was a long-term cause of World War One due to the length of time it took

The immediate cause of ww1 was the assassination of the archduke of Austria-Hungary, Franz Ferdinand. After the assassination the six major powers went into alliances ; britain, russia, france joined a triple alliances and germany, austria-hungary and italy were a triple alliance. Although this was the immediate cause it was not the only cause of

World War 1 has created a complex debate which has lead us to a maze of interpretations on what caused the war to occur. The advancement of Imperialism and Nationalism are long term causes which allowed the war to come together yet the short term causes such as the alliance system Europe built themselves upon set off the war to take place in 1914. Countries wanted to expand because they thought they were the best and powerful while getting the help from their alliances if needed. “It brought down four European empires and weakened the colonial powers that ended on the winning side, Britain and France; It spawned communism and fascism, and changed relations between europeans and non- europeans, town and country, government and peoples, men

The second cause of World War 1 is the acronym M.A.I.N., it stands for Militarism, Alliances, Imperialism, and Nationalism. That acronym is very important in trying to understand what happened during World War 1. First is Militarism, the first is militarism because every country wanted to prove how big and powerful they are and by increasing their military size and power it helped show that. Second is Alliances, it is alliances because in this scenario the more friends the better. Reason is when you have a rival country the more bigger and more powerful friends you have the better leading to someone less likely to attack you. But the system of alliances also led to the beginning of World War One. Because most of Europe got divided into either The Central Powers or the Allied powers. The Central Powers consisted of the countries Austria-Hungary, Germany, Bulgaria, and the Ottoman Empire. The Allied powers consisted Great Britain, France, Russia, and the United States(pg.10 of WW1). Some experts say that if Germany hadn’t made an alliance with Austria-Hungary World War 1 could have been prevented. Thirdly, Imperialism formed when Europeans began colonizing smaller countries. When that happened different

Militarism was a cause of World War I because European nations raced to see who has a better army or navy. The last factor that contributed to world war one was imperialism. Imperialism led World War One because

The first reason for the eruption of World War I was militarism. Militarism is the act of building up armies for threats against other countries – taking over new territory – and protection from other countries who decide to invade. In the 1900’s, the two