Why Did World War 1 Occur Essay

Historians repeatedly disagree with each other on how events in history occurred and why they occurred. One historian says that it’s because of this, and another says it’s because of that. Perhaps the event that is the most difficult to untangle would be World War 1. WWI, spanning from 1914 to 1918 began from the assassination of the Archduke of Austria by the Serbians. Soon after, Austria declared war on Serbia. Serbia’s allies stepped in to defend the country, and so did Austria’s allies. This chain continued until all of the world was at war with one another. WWI happened because of three reasons; militarism, the alliance system, and the primary reason, imperialism. One minor cause of WWI was militarism. The race to see which country has the superior military, and defense, is sure to get any country to attack another one just to be the best. The London Times History of the World document for instance, shows the growth in armaments from the Entente Powers and

When a country goes to war, it is assured that its allies will “have their back” and aid them when they need it. In the case of WWI, the same rings true. As soon as Austria attacked Serbia, Serbia’s ally, Russia did not hesitate to counterattack Austria. After that, Austria’s ally, Germany, declared war on Austria. In short, the allies of a country will not let a feud of two countries between those two countries. There will always be an ally who intercepts, only broadening the war and making it worse. In a political cartoon by John McCutcheon, it depicts Austria and all of its alliances, and Serbia and all of its alliances in the form of soldiers standing on the earth. In the far background is a woman lying on a bed with a dagger in her heart and a banner across the bed that reads, “The Peace of Europe”. All of the soldiers are pointing accusing fingers at one another. What this cartoon ultimately shows is that all of the countries started the