WW1: The Main Causes Of World War I

The most direct cause of war was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. The Archduke of Austria-Hungary was assassinated by Serbian nationalists who did not want to be under the rule of Austria-Hungary. After this incident, Austria-Hungary proposed a ultimatum to which Serbians did not agree. This began war between Serbia and Austria-Hungary. Although Germany supported Austria-Hungary when they went to war, Germany didn’t directly start the war.

The assassination of Franz Ferdinand and his wife by a nationalist triggered World War I. The incidents that led to the Great war had already occured back in the nineteenth century. Nationalism, imperialism and militarism were key factors that lead to the war. Being that nationalism is demonstrating pride in one 's country which many of the countries in Europe experience. Imperialism which is defined as political, military and economic domination of strong nations over weaker territories and militarism therefore played a role because of the glorification within the military and war itself.

Serbia threatened Austria-Hungary with war, Russia, allied to Serbia, mobilized its forces. Germany, allied to Austria-Hungary mobilised its forces and prepared to threaten Russia. War was avoided when Russia backed down. There was, however, war in the Balkans between 1911- 1912 when the Balkan states drove Turkey out of the area. The states then fought each other over which area should belong to which state.

They wanted to break free from their control. The Black Hand was a Serbian secret society that was formed in 1911 whose sole mission was to help Serbia break free from Austria-Hungary. A courageous member of the Black Hand society, Gavrilo Princip succeeded in assassinating Archduke Ferdinand and his wife, Sophie on June,28th 1914 after his driver took a wrong turn in Bosnia. Subsequently, Austria-Hungary blamed Serbia for this and tensions rose due to immense rivalry

As the expansion of the war advanced, countries within Europe made mutual defense agreements that would drag them into battle. The main mutual defense allies were Russia and Serbia, Germany and Austria-Hungary, France and Russia, Britain and France and lastly, Belgium, Japan and Britain. Once Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia, Russia got embroiled to defend their Slavic ally. Germany, who was allied with Austria-Hungary declared war on Russia as they saw them mobilize. France and Britain were then dragged into the war after Germany wanted to invade France through Belgium, this was known as the Schlieffen plan.

Main Causes of World War One Nationalism, Imperialism, Militarism, and Alliances helped to not only begin World War One, but also to propel it forward and fuel the fire that kept the Triple Alliance and the Triple Entente, later referred to as the Central Powers and the Allies, in ongoing battles. Several events went down in order to instigate the beginning of this war, including the demands Austria-Hungary made of Serbia, the steadily increasing prices of war, and the assassination of the Archduke Ferdinand which finally pushed it over the edge and was the leading cause in the outbreak of World War One. Even though there were many other causes, Nationalism, Imperialism, Militarism, and Alliances were definitely the main leading causes. Nationalism was only one of the four main motives that helped World War One begin. The document reprinted from “The Origins of the First World War” by James Joll states, “Our whole race must stand together to halt the onslaught of these aliens from the North.”

Firstly, one of the predominant reasons why one would suspect Germany prompted The Great War is due to the decisions made by the German Emperor who ruled from 1888 to 1914, Kaiser Wilhelm II. Driven by the desire to transform Germany into a global power, the Kaiser Wilhelm II and Admiral Alfred Von Tirpitz started expanding Germany’s navy on the basis of the Kaiser’s Foreign Policy, “Weltpolitik”, during 1898 - 1912, which ensued the notorious Anglo - German Naval Arms Race. At that time, Britain’s navy was the largest, so in doing so, the Kaiser Wilhelm II furthered the tensions and the resentment between the British and the Germans as it posed a major threat to the British supply

Even though their problems were pushed to the side if any of this problem occurred again or if any new one were created it would cause everyone to get involved because they had to support their allies

Adolf Hitler was a German politician who was the leader of the Nazi party, rose to power for many reasons. The economical, social, and political standpoints in Germany at the time were a disaster. He promised German people he would bring back the pride in their the country. After World War I the economic situation was abhorrent. The war damaged the economy, and had gone into hyperinflation, which wiped out citizens savings quickly.

Austria-Hungary blamed Serbia for the assassination and gave them a harsh ultimatum to follow. Serbia declined the ultimatum and Austria-Hungary declared war on them. This set off a rapid chain of events which got all the Great Powers involved. Russia declared war on Austria-Hungary because they were allies with Serbia.

When Prime Minister Pasic learned of the assassination plot, he had a difficult problem on his hands. If he did nothing, and the plot succeeded the Black Hand 's involvement would surely come to light. The tangled connections between the Black Hand and the Serbian government would put Serbia in a very bad position. Should he warn the Austrians of the plot, he would be seen as a traitor by his countrymen. He would also be admitting to deeper knowledge of anti-Austrian actions in Serbia.

The war could’ve just been a spat between Austria-Hungary and Serbia if Russia hadn’t been so eager to protect the other countries, like Serbia, they had an ethnic tie with. Although there are many possible reasons for the war, militarism, imperialism, and alliances are the main three with alliances being the most main reason. Militarism and imperialism riled up the countries, making them angry and afraid, but alliances really pushed the countries over the edge into the war. It all just piled up into one big, bad heap of hatred that spurred the countries

Causes of World War I World War I was the bar fight of all bar fights and was expected to end quickly. Unfortunately, the treacherous battle field held soldier's longer than expected. At first, Europe had been flourishing with colonies worldwide and had developed in technology greatly.

Many factors played into the start of World War I like nationalism, the arms race, the lack of balance of power, Sebians assassinating the Archduke of Austria-Hungary, and alliances, but there is one big cause you can argue that started the war. Tension between and within countries caused leaders of the countries and groups to spark rebellions of the groups, and one thing after another a World War was on their hands. Germany's tensions between France and Russia started alliances. Serbia had sparked the first rebellion by trying to gain independence from the mother country Austria. Europe was thought to be in a strong position, but at the end of 1918 the position was reduced.

Why WW1 was inevitable. With the crazy number of deaths you’d wonder why the war was alled “The Great War” and were gonna find out why it is called that. There are many reasons that WW1 was inevitable but some main ones are the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the power vacuum in the balkans and nationalism. There are more reasons why WW1 would have started or things that would of sparked the flame too start