Causes of World War I

World War I was one of the worst wars in Europe. Almost every country on the continent was involved and in the end it cost over $300 billion and about 88 million lives. There were many things that helped cause this war. Three of the main causes were the alliance system, militarism, and nationalism.

The alliance system in Europe was one of the bigger causes of the war. There were the central powers and the allies. The central powers included Germany and Austria-Hungary. The allies included Great Britain, France, and Russia, along with some others and was near the end joined by the United States. Because all of the major powers in Europe were separated into two "teams" if two countries went to war most of the continent would have to go to war to back up their allies.

Militarism also was very important to the start of World War I. Militarism is a country wanting to build up their military. Germany was building up their military as much as they could so Great Britain, out of fear, began to build up theirs. Other countries followed this and put focus on their militaries as well. This helped caused the war because they would not be able to be defeated as easily as they thought. What would have been a quick what would now be even longer because the countries would be more evenly matched.

Nationalism had a lot to do with the start of World War I also. Nationalism is when the people who share a common heritage and history come together and share a great pride in their people. All of the countries had a lot of nationalism and this created a lot of tension between them. This tension made the countries more likely to go to war and caused the assassination of the Arch Duke and Duchess by a Serbian. War was then declared on Serbia starting a chain of war declarations.

There were a lot of causes of World War I but three of the main ones were the fragile alliance system, militarism, and nationalism. The people had great pride in their countries and built up their militaries. One declaration of war was made and a chain reaction was started, this was the very beginning of World