The Causes Of The First World War

The most important and main points were the alliance system in 1890, militarism, and imperialism before, during, and after the war. Although these three were the starting points of the war, alliances can be seen as the absolute leading cause of World War One.

As soldiers went away to war, waving at their family and friends goodbye hoping to see them on Christmas Day, instead were blown across a field, torso and head 50 feet apart. World War One, or the “War to End all Wars”, started when a Serbian terrorist assassinated ArchDuke of Austria Hungary, Franz Ferdinand, on June 28, 1914, which led to disputes and chain reactions of declarations of war between countries. Although this event was said to light the fuse, the big wires that were attached to the bomb consisted of alliances, militarism, and imperialism.

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

What actually started the war was the alliances between countries. Countries in Europe formed alliances with each other (e.g., Russia, Britain, and France in the Triple Entente and Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy in the Triple Alliance) (Doc A). The countries in the Entente all blamed Germany for the war and felt the need to intervene (Doc B). Germany was backing up Austria-Hungary and Russia was backing up Serbia whom were in a spat. Which lead to invasions and more friends of these countries joining the war to aide them.

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.

Serbia agreed to most but not all of these demands. This resulted in Austria-Hungary declaring war on Serbia. Due to the alliance with Serbia, Russia entered the war.

supplies, protected their interests, and conquered their enemies. Varying opinions exist as to the motives for

Imperialism is when countries lose trust and peace due to land and resources. In document Q it states “a steadily increasing concern about national security gave rise to theories that a country’s survival … depended on… its territorial possessions and on… economic resources” As we can see people began to worry and they started gaining the mindset that if their country didn’t have land they would crumble. Document Q also states “a state had to acquire as much territory as possible as quickly as possible while there was still territory to take.” Countries immediately took action, attempting to dominate different locations and expand their level of resources. In WW1 one country stood out that even a nickname was given to it, “bloodsucker of the world.” Britain took over many pieces of land as we can see in document O. This map shows Britain having a great deal of octopus arms reaching around the map. How did this affect the war? Because of imperialism more and more countries wanted to get ahold of land. Therefore, creating tension. The more land other countries lost to Britain, France and other growing countries the more restricted trading, alliances, and other contributing factors became. Alongside trying to obtain land the need of armaments and supplies increased and countries like Germany “suddenly announced her determination to increase her already monstrous armaments.” (document N) Due to imperialism, large amounts of

In this essay I will be explaining three reasons on how WW2 started. The question I used for this research was; what caused WW2? The reasons that I chose was; 1. How the treaty of Versailles caused WW2, 2. How fascism caused the war and 3. How Hitler caused WW2.

Many factors contributed to the start of World WarI also known as “The Great War”. Multiple Peer reviewed articles study five of the leading causes of the war. In no particular order, it analyses short term as well as long term factors. Five of the commonly discussed contributors include but are not limited to Militarism, Alliances, Nationalism, Imperialism and the defining short term factor Assassination.

“Imperialism was a cause because building an empire needs manpower such as an army and a navy to conquer and keep the land that they colonised.” Imperialism often brings on nationalism and is accompanied by a strong military.

Imperialism made countries want to aspire to increase wealth and power by making other territories be under their rule. Countries competed for overseas territories in search of raw materials and market for their goods. It created rivalry in

4. Considering the period 1933 to 1945, analyze the economic, diplomatic, and military reasons for Germany’s defeat in the Second World War.

The war that broke out in 1914 was one of the worst, if not the worst, wars in human history. It had left millions dead and a scar burned into European history forever. However, if we do not identify why war broke out in 1914, stopping others wars will be impossible. Clearly, we may never know the answer to this, but many sources give many interpretations. In this essay, I will try to recognise the key factors that led the outbreak of the Great War in 1914 and try to identify the most significant of these causes.

This question has formed part of the historiography of the causes of the First World War, a historical debate that has endured ever since the conflict ended. It periodically resurfaces with new theories being advanced such as the Fischer thesis, usually on account of the release of previously unseen documents or because of a shift in the political climate. It has emerged to the fore once again because this year is the centennial of the war’s outbreak and there are plans to commemorate it nationally across the UK.