World War One: Causes Of The Great War

Optimistically the Great War, later termed World War I, was predicted to be the war to end all wars. Given the number of wars that have ensued since, unfortunately, this prediction was unreliable. Nearly 10,000,000 military personnel and 7,000,000 civilians lost their lives in World War I and an additional 20,000,000 people were wounded. War land damage was catastrophic. Of the nine French villages completely destroyed on the Western Front during World War I, six remain uninhabited to this day. Undisputedly, World War I had a tremendous impact on the people of many countries. Map changes in Europe and the Middle East, the Treaty of Versailles with its political and economic impact on Germany, and fear over the installation of Russian communism were among the negative legacies of World War I. Combined they would contribute to an unstable geopolitical climate inevitably leading to future world conflict.

World War 1 also known as the Great War was a bloody war happening across Europe which was between The Triple Alliance(Central Powers) and Triple Entente(Allies) which were the 2 alliances during the war. There was a great number of causes which was debated by historians relating to the beginning of the Great War ranging from the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne and his wife all the way to the alliances which were created between the nations. My thesis for the three main causes of WW1 are the alliances formed between the nations, the assassination of Franz Ferdinand and his wife, and militarism. So in the following paragraphs I will be presenting evidence showing how these causes could have likely been the causes for war.

World War One was the first large war of the 20th century and took place primarily on two European fronts, involving more countries than any prior war. The war lasted through the years 1914 to 1918 and resulted in 37.4 million casualties total, 22 million Allied Powers soldiers alone (Funk & Wagnalls 2015). The impact of this significant conflict has been felt across the world since that time. The Great War was caused mainly by many years of militarism, alliance systems, and nationalism, along with other important historical events, but was sparked by the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. These feelings and events tied together to make the war inevitable.

World War I injured or killed around 40 million soldiers and civilians (Mougel). It is crucial to assess who was the most responsible for starting this war in order to keep something similar from happening again. A common mistake is for individuals to view the assassination of Austria-Hungary’s archduke as the cause of World War I. Although this encouraged Austria-Hungary to wage war on Serbia, this was not a war between two countries. The start of World War I involved a complex series of steps to bring Germany, Great Britain, France, Russia, Serbia, Austria-Hungary, and many other countries into the conflict. It is impossible to blame one country for this awful event in history, but Germany had the largest impact on the start of World War I. By committing strategic diplomatic errors, pledging its support to Austria-Hungary, and launching the Schlieffen Plan, Germany was the most responsible for starting the First World War.

World War I, also known as the Grate War or The War to end all Wars, was one of the most devastating and destructive war in history. Some significant causes of the war were the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, allies and imperialism. The war lasted over four years and killed around 20 million deaths, and half of the dead were innocent civilians. Also, some large effects of the war were the punishing Germany, which, undeniably led to World War II and the creation of the League of Nations.

World War I was a horrific time for humanity. The propaganda of this time appealed war, it was glorious and patriotic to fight for one’s country, the truth is far from this. The hardship of living in the trenches, the scarring effects from killing men and the use of inhumane poison gas are just a few horrors from the Great War.

Soldiers weren’t marching in triumph and the horrible smell of death was lurking in the air after the great war. World War I started in 1914 with assassination of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand, and ended in November 1918. There were three key factors that played a role and led to the bloody first world war. Alliances, imperialism, and the arms build up are the three major causes however, alliances are the most important underlying cause.

Since the onset of combat in what was referred to at the time as the Great War, historians have been engaged in debate in attempt to uncover the cause of the loss of peace in Europe. The victors of the war were eager to place the burden of blame on Germany, middle schoolers are taught that war was caused by Archduke Ferdinand’s assassination, while other academics have accredited the war to building tensions between Britain and Russia. However, while any one spark that lights an inferno is important, a hefty portion of fault must be attributed to the pile of fuel that composes the pyre. While the onset of the First World War was caused by a toxic mess of interplaying issues and tensions between nations, the rise of nationalism began the establishment

World War one was one of the most devestating wars in the world. Over 8.5 million people died as a result of the war. There were four major and underlying causes of the war. Those causes were militarism, alliences, imperialism, and nationalism. Germany, Russia, Austria-Hungary, the U.S, Ottoman Empire, Britain, and France all fought in WWI. Militarism and alliences, were the two main causes of the war.

World War 1 happened between July 1914 and November 11, 1918. Before the end of the war, more than 17 million individuals would be murdered including more than 100,000 American troops. The motivation behind why war ejected is entirely more convoluted than a straightforward rundown of causes. While there was a chain of occasions that specifically prompted to the battling, the real main drivers are much more profound and a portion of proceeded with open deliberation and examination. This rundown is an outline of the most famous reasons that are refered to as the main drivers of World War 1.

(Nationalism) Within the Austria-Hungary Empire lied pockets if separate nationalities that had no say in the running of said empire. Serbia in particular was very rebellious towards the leadership of the Austro-Hungarians. Extremists from Serbia ended up assassinating Archduke Franz Ferdinand which in turn sounded off the gun for WW1 to start.

The causes of the First World War were similar and differed from the causes of the Second World War politically, economically, and socially. Both of these significant, historical events were substantially affected by the interaction of dominating societies during this time period. During the First World War, these leading societies were the European authorities of Britain, Germany, and Austria, with slight assistance from the U.S. However, the United States allocated their full engagement during the Second World War. Eventually, with years to come, the United States would become one of the primary superpowers. Although these two wars were notably different from political, social, and economic views, both of these event shared numerous similarities.

First I want to give a brief introduction of the war. World War I (WWI), which also known as the Great War and the First War, was happened since 28 July 1914, and ended on 11 November 1918. As one of the most destructive war in European history, many countries from different continents joined the war. They composed two opposing sides, the Allies (British, France and Russia) and the Central Powers (Germany, Italy and Austrian). Later American, Japan and some other countries joined, and most of them against the Central Powers (and later Italy also joined the allies). The war lasted for 4 years, and about “9 million combatants and 7 million civilians died” during that period. From this huge number we can see how cruel the war is. (1)

Otto Van Bismarck was the German chancellor from 1860 to 1890 and was successful in uniting all of Germany. He instilled a deep sense of nationalism into the Germans. Nationalism is a desire to connect people to a common language and culture. His most famous saying was that “the great debates of our time will not be decided through democracy but through iron and blood.” Bismarck was instrumental in creating the triple alliance between Austria-Hungary, Italy and Germany. Bismarck understood the value of keeping a peaceful Europe and skillfully used his power to stay out of battles throughout his leadership. That changed when William Kaiser the second inherited the empire and fired Bismarck for not

World War I has several causes, including four decades of conflict which led up to its actual beginning (McMeekin, 2011). Alliances between countries, nationalism, military structures and imperialism all played significant roles in the conflict, but there were more immediate origins that were also important when it came down to the decision to go to war (Barnes, 1929). During the crisis of 1914 there were decisions made and actions taken by generals and statesmen, including an assassination of Archduke Ferdinand and his wife, that pushed a tenuous peace over the edge (Williamson, 1991). The 1914 crisis that started WWI came about after a prolonged struggle between several countries, including Germany, Russia, Italy, France, Austria-Hungary, and Britain (Williamson, 1991). Both colonial and European issues had been ongoing between those countries for many decades, and that had raised the stakes to a level that could not be ignored any longer (McKeekin, 2011). A change in the European balance of power in 1867 was the long-term catalyst for the problems and clashes that ultimate led to the war (Barnes, 1929).