Although there were multiple reasons for the cause of WWI, nationalism contributed the most to the outbreak of the war due to Serbia’s desire for independence and excessive confidence of the European nations. The first example of such nationalism was Serbia’s effort in forming a large, independent Slavic state. Having Slavic minorities in its nation itself, Austria-Hungary opposed a greater Serbia in fear of seeing its own nation disappear. Along with the Slavs, there were various other ethnic minorities in Austria-Hungary with dreams of creating their own national state, and it was easy to predict what would occur after Serbia achieved its goal of nationhood (Spielvogel 770). Therefore, the heir to Austria-Hungary’s throne was assassinated
