Causes of Wwi

Causes of WWI essay

There are many things that contributed to the start of WW1. The war began in 1914 but the bitter feelings and tensions between countries had started much earlier.

For 20 years, the nations of Europe had been making alliances (It was thought that alliances would promote peace). Each country would be protected by others in case of war. The danger of the alliances was that an argument between 2 countries could draw all the other nations into a fight, like the conflict between Austria-Hungary and Serbia. There were 2 alliances, the triple alliance (Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy) and the Triple Entente (Britain, France and Russia)

Militarism was another cause of war because Britain had a great navy, Germany wanted one too. Germany and France competed for larger armies. The more one nation built up its army and Navy; the more other nations felt they had to do the same.

Another cause was that European nations were racing to get more and more colonies and protectorates in Africa and Asia. Gathering colonies was known as imperialism. France

and Britain had many colonies in Africa and Britain had many colonies in Africa and Asia. Then Germany and Italy decided they wanted a colonial empire also.

In addition to political conflicts, the causes of the war included such forces as Nationalism. This led to competition for the largest army, navy and greatest industrial development. Nationalism created tension between France and Germany. The French lost the Franco-Prussia war and wanted revenge and Alsace Larraine back.

The Event that finally sparked the dispute that would one day be known as "The Great War" was the assassination of Austria-Hungary's Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife, Sophie, by Black Hand member, Gavrilo Princip. This finally gave the Austrians a reason to attack Serbian Slavs thus starting the war.