Militarism, alliances, imperialism, and nationalism were the four main causes. Most of the European countries were all in somewhere responsible for the outbreak of war. There was no one country to blame.
What were the causes of World War 1?
World War 1 was caused by a number of issues, like leader’s aggression towards other countries. This was backed by the rising nationalism of the European countries. Economic and imperial power, fear of war urged military alliances and arms race. This would further increase the tension contributing to the outbreak of war.
The continent of Europe spilt into two conflicting sides, so many different powers were siding in mutual defense agreements, when the war did happen, it involved nearly every country in Europe. When alliances were signed, some countries were forced to support policies implimented by their partners, which was not taken so easily.
In some ways the basic causes of World War 1 goes back as far as the early 1800's. People controlled by other countries began to develop feelings of nationalism and patriotisms, often refered to as consciousness of sharing a common past and a closeness of speaking the same language. For Twenty years, the nations in Europe had been making alliances, they thought it would promote peace and that others would be protected by each country in case of war, making it foolish for one country to declar war on another. The danger of these alliances was that …show more content…
It was the most destructive War that had ever happened in History. It killed about 8½ million people and wounded 20 million more! It destroyed empires and economies and changed the whole of Europe. How had this happened? There are many reasons that contributed to the outbreak of War. There were long and short term causes. These included rivalry between Germany and Britain, tension in Austria-Hungary and Franco Prussian Empire. The assassination at Sarajevo of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife, Countess Sophie, heir to Austria-Hungarian Throne by a Bosnian Serb was just one cause. The spark that set alight the tensions of Europe at the beginning of the 20th