What were the causes of World War One?

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In 1914 relationships between countries in Europe were very unstable. Germany had formed an alliance with Austria-Hungary against Serbia and Russia, who been joined by Britain and France to form the Triple Entente. There are a number of causes in the world war some were long term such as Nationalism and Alliance and short term like the assassination of Ferdinand, which ultimately caused one of the most important events in history.

One of the main long term causes of the war was - the use of Alliances. An alliance were meant to bring peace and stability but actually was one of the long term causes of the world war. Using alliances the war escalated as more countries joined the war, it would have started with a small country getting into a dispute with another small country. They would feel confident as they would have had a bigger ally to back them up, the lone of ally’s goes on until many countries are dragged into the war. The chain reaction got Russia and Germany involved, and later Britain and France. Without the Triple Alliance and the Triple Entente, we would just have had a minor war between Austria - Hungary and Serbia.

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Another key long term cause was Nationalism. Nationalism is a devotion and pride in a country. The rise of nationalism was before 1914 and caused rivalry, even hatred between the major nations, who wanted to show the world how great their Nation was. Germany was desperate and hungry to show how great their country was. Willhem II was determined to make Germany recognised as a great nation and wanted an empire around the world. Tsar Nicholas II, the leader of Russia was very nationalistic too. He was determined to make Russia strong and did not want his country to ...

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