The Underlying Causes of World War I
World War was one of history’s greatest tragedies. The war was fought in Europe and lasted as long as four year’s, 1914-1918. The war costed an estimate of ten million lives and also twenty million wounded. Also, the war was triggered by the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand. It is very to understand the causes of this tragedy. The war had three significant causes. They were Alliances, Militarism, and Imperialism. The first cause of World War I was Imperialism. By the late 19th century, Europe has took up so much of Earth, especially in Africa and southern Asia. The war in 1913, Britain controlled more than twelve million square miles of overseas possessions. France had over four million (Doc.F). This didn't look good for Germany and Austria-Hungary who lost one million square miles of possessions between them. They trailed England and France sixteen to one. Germans saw England as a giant octopus with it’s tentacles around the world sucking out the Earth’s resources (Doc.E). Arms and a alliance were necessary to fight this colonial monster. But the arms and alliances were the means for dealing with the real problem. The underlying problem was the unequal distribution of the colonial pie.
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Europe was divided into two nations while on the other side was the Triple Alliance ( Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy.) Also, the Triple Entente (France, England, and Russia) (Doc.A). When Archduke Ferdinand was killed by a Serbian nationalist, therefore Austria logically pointed the finger at the Serbian government thinking it was them who killed them.(Doc.B). By all these ethnic ties...Russia quickly sided with Serbia while Germany sided with Austria-Hungary. Also, England and France sided with Russia. An all out war was caused. Alliances help explain the death of peace in
World War I was a tragic episode in European history. As with most wars, there were some causes that led to this event. A few of these causes were militarism, alliances, and imperialism. The first spark of the war was on June 28, 1914 when the Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife were assassinated by a Serbian nationalist group called the Black Hand. The Austrian leaders demanded an apology from Serbia, they got upset and Russia said they would help Serbia. With no apology and the threat of Russia, on June 28 Austria-Hungary declared war on them; Russia in return declared war on Austria-Hungary. Germany declared war on Russia, France on both Germany and Austria-Hungary. Finally Britain had joined France and Russia, then all of Europe was at war.
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.
World War I, a war that started out locally in Europe between Austria-Hungary and Serbia that later ended up including thirty two different nations. This war has been around for almost a century and yet the causes of it are still being debated. There are many different scenarios that have been considered. Some of the key reasons that were believed to have instigated WWI were nationalism, imperialism, militarism, and an arrangement of treaties. Also the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand was believed to be one of the immediate causes.
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
During the start of the 20th century, Europe was in a good place. It controlled many empires and colonies, and technology was advancing at a rapid pace after the Industrial Revolution (1840-1870). However this peace did not last; 1914 started a brutal four year war known as WWI. The immediate cause of this war is known to be the assassination of the Archduke of Austria, Franz Ferdinand, in June of 1914. However, there are many more elementary causes of this complicated war. Some of the main underlying causes of WWI was the strong militarism and imperialism felt in the European countries, and the alliances put in place to uphold these powerful militaries and colonies.
There were many underlying causes that could have been used to lead up to World War I. World War I had many turning points throughout the war. The war took over a huge piece of land and water for each country involved in the war. There were four main causes that have been believed to be the cause of World War I.
World War I was known as the “war to end all wars,” and led to mass devastation throughout Europe. The four years of war all started with tension forming between Austria-Hungary and Serbia. After taking over Bosnia and Herzegovina, two regions Serbia wanted, Serbia vowed to take them away while Austria-Hungary vowed to destroy any effort made. Soon after, the nationalistic Black Hand who wanted to rid Bosnia of the Austrian control, shot Austria’s heir, Archduke Franz Ferdinand. Afterwards, Austria wanted to punish Serbia and declared war on them. The assassination seemed to be what sparked the war, but rather there were much greater causes hidden beneath the surface. Instead, the underlying causes of World War I was
Though most historians consider the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary the most immediate cause of WWI, or the rise of Germany to be the main cause since they signed the Versailles Treaty (Doc 4), many agree that the war was not caused by just one thing. Instead, it was caused by a concept instead of specific people or countries. It seemed that everyone, during this time period, had started to increase their military power and defense systems. Therefore, World War I was caused by two things: the fear these countries had of losing their power, and the big toll that European Imperialism took international relations.
World War I, also known as the “Great War” was a global affair that started in Europe. This tragedy began August 1st, 1914 with Germany declaring war on Russia for multiple reasons. The acronym M.A.I.N is used to analyze the war and the four causes for why it happened. M-militarism, which was building a stronger military that was always prepared for war. A-alliances, were agreements between countries to keep peace among the Great Powers. I-imperialism, when nations seek to take over other countries politically, economically, and socially. Last N-nationalism, which is believing people should be loyal to their own country or nation. The top two underlying causes of World War I are alliances and nationalism because of how they effectively impacted
World War I started in 1914 and ended in 1918. There were a variety of underlying causes of World War I. The reaction to the assassination of Archduke was the initial cause of this war. Countries developing an alliance system led to the expansion of the war and finally rising attitude toward Nationalism.
Britain, France, Germany and other nations competed for colonial gains in Africa. Britain and Germany competed industrially. Then, Germany industrialized quickly and the British were threatened by this. This caused them to hate Germany, then France and Britain eventually forms an alliance and goes at it with Germany. Document 4 states, “The allied and associated governments affirm and Germany accepts the responsibility of Germany and her allies for causing all the loss and damage”. The final cause of WW1 was the assassination of Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary which started the war immediately. After the assassination the Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia. once Russia heard that Serbia was at war, they also had to go to war which leads Germany declaring war on Serbia. Therefore, the era of the began expansion of the war included all those countries who were defending they alliances. Document 7 states, “The two armed camps alarmed each other, and each grew heavy with multiplied incidents, which spread East with the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand, where Russia and Austria were advancing contradictory claims…” This quote shows how the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand started WW1 immediately and kept
World War I is estimated to have killed to an extent of 10 million people (background essay) and costing up to 186 billion dollars. WWI began in 1914 and lasted until 1918 and regarded the European Empires. The annihilation which took place in the European empires can be contributed to the unification and exclusion of countries, the desire for world dominance, and the tensions surrounding militarism.
World War One, also known as “The Great War” and “The First Modern War” was a very large scale war lasting over four years, involving nations from around the world and ultimately killing more than twenty million people. The cause of this war cannot be accredited to one single event but rather an assassination of a nation’s leader and many political philosophies including militarism, nationalism, imperialism and the formation of alliances.
Alliances is one of the few causes that led to World War I. When Franz Ferdinand was assassinated Austria-Hungary blamed the
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.