What Were The Causes Of Ww1

In 1914 the world witnessed the beginning of a war that would kill approximately 9 million men and cost the world a total of 186 billion dollars. On July 28th, 1914 Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia. Austria-Hungary claimed to begin the war due to the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, but the true motivation behind the war was much more complicated. The true origins of World War 1 were country alliances, imperialism, nationalism, and militarism. What could have been settled between Austria-Hungary and Serbia ended up including many other countries due to previous alliances. It began a chain of events from other countries declaring war on other countries to defend their alliances. There were two main groups at war. The first was the Allies, which included Serbia, Russia, the United Kingdom, France, Italy, Belgium, and the United States. The other party consisted of Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria, Germany, and the Ottoman Empire. Countries became involved for World War 1 for their own unique reasons. For example, Russia backed Serbia by mobilizing …show more content…
The entire nation had been in competition over land and by this time they had the dynamic militaries they needed to invade other countries and defend themselves. A third origin of World War 1 was nationalism. Nationalism is the extreme loyalty to ones country. Most people in this era believed that their country was superior to others and that their military could win a war against other countries. This made citizens believe that their country did no wrong and was not to blame for WW1. Rivalry, political leaders, and forms of literature fueled nationalism. Although nationalism can be beneficial to countries because it can motivate people to fight in wars and have a strong sense of pride for their country, it also increases competition between other