What were the causes of the First World War?
Christopher Bunney 9B What were the causes of the First World War? There were many different causes of the First World War: the imperialism, militarism and nationalism in the time preceding it led to a highly-strained situation between the main powers of Europe, which just needed a small spark to burst into war. Although it is very difficult to establish the main cause of the First World War, some people think that competition for a bigger and stronger empire, a long-term cause, was the most important cause because almost all of the other causes were a direct result of it. In the early
twentieth century, the five great powers: France, Germany, Austria-Hungary, Russia and Britain, controlled Europe. There was great competition, especially between Germany and Britain, to get a larger and more powerful empire. Alsace-Lorraine had recently been taken from France by Germany and they wanted revenge. Germany was in fear of a French attack. This is why Germany made an alliance with Austria-Hungary in 1879. Italy joined to form the Triple Alliance because it was angry with France for stopping its plans to colonise North Africa. France enlisted the help of Russia, who had borders with both Germany and Austria-Hungary. In 1907, ...
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twentieth century, the five great powers: France, Germany, Austria-Hungary, Russia and Britain, controlled Europe. There was great competition, especially between Germany and Britain, to get a larger and more powerful empire. Alsace-Lorraine had recently been taken from France by Germany and they wanted revenge. Germany was in fear of a French attack. This is why Germany made an alliance with Austria-Hungary in 1879. Italy joined to form the Triple Alliance because it was angry with France for stopping its plans to colonise North Africa. France enlisted the help of Russia, who had borders with both Germany and Austria-Hungary. In 1907, Britain joined Russia and France to form the Triple Entente because it wanted an ally among the five great powers of Europe, but was not prepared to ally with Germany after the Boer War. In this way, the Alliance system, a direct result of imperialism, divided almost all of Europe into two armed camps. Another major long-term cause of the war was militarism. King George V was king and Britain at that time had the largest empire and navy in the world. This is linked to imperialism. Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany envied Britain and built up his own navy. Britain responded by increasing its navy and the naval arms race was started. Plans for rapid mobilisation were made. This blew up the tension even more, and Europe was on the brink of war. The last major long-term cause of World War One was nationalism. Nationalists were so proud of their nation that they wanted it to be the richest and most important. (Therefore this is also linked to imperialism because nationalists wanted their countries to have the biggest empires.) Such strong feelings made countries very aggressive towards each other and quite unforgiving if their nation had been offended. It was this nationalism which encouraged Gavrilo Princip, a Serb, to shoot dead Archduke Ferdinand, the heir to the Austrian throne. At the beginning of 1908 there was reason to believe that Europe might be entering a period of stability. None of the major non-European threats; USA and Japan had no interest in disturbing the European stability. There was peace, but not because the alternative was unthinkable, but because no crisis had come along that was worthy to start a war on. The assassination of Archduke Ferdinand was a trigger cause of the First World War. It was the excuse Europe needed to declare war. Russia, who had an alliance with Serbia, began to prepare for an attack on Austria-Hungary. Austria-Hungary declared war on Russia. Then Germany also declared war on France, either because they were worried about an attack or to keep to the Schlieffen plan. German soldiers marched into Belgium; Britain declared war on Germany because of the Anglo-Belgian treaty. Then Austria declared war on Russia, and then Britain and France declared war on Austria-Hungary. The war had started. In 1914, Germany had decided that an all out European war was inevitable and the longer they held out, the less chance they had of winning. So they presented a ‘blank cheque’ to Austria-Hungary to give them their full support. The Schlieffen plan ensured that Russia, France and almost certainly Britain would be drawn into fighting. In conclusion, the most important cause in many people’s eyes is the Triple Entente of Britain, France and Russia and the Triple Alliance of Italy, Germany and Austria-Hungary because this made Europe divided into two camps which would attack Germany on two fronts. Also the Schlieffen Plan is a major cause because it drew Britain, France and Russia into the war because of the Triple Entente and past treaties which the countries had signed, for example, the Anglo-Belgian alliance, which meant that Britain had to help Belgian if they were invaded, which they were.
