Bitish navy was known as the most powerful navy in the world. It was always better than other navies. However, Kaiser Wilhelm, the German ruler, began to build up the German navy in 1900. At first, this would not concern Britain, because the Royal Navy (British Navy) was far too good so it would take Germany many years to catch up.
In 1906, things all changed. Germany invented the super-battleship ‘Dreadnought’ in 1906. It was faster, bigger and had a much greater firing range than any other existing battleships. Britain and Germany had a race to see who could build the most. In 1909 Britain had eight and Germany had seven Dreadnoughts. Britain was worried and feared that if Germany had both the strongest navy and army forces. Thus Germany increased more tension between other nations with armies and between Britain with naval race, but not as much as other factors.
Another factor that took a part in militarism was the war plan. Before the war broke out, Germany was worrying about the future war. The reason was because Germany was surrounded by Russia and France, who were not in the same alliance as Germany. So if a war broke out, Germany would have to face a two-fronts attacking Germany. Therefore the former Army Chief of Staff Alfred von Schlieffen came up with the Schlieffen Plan, in order to protect the two-front attack. The plan was carefully created and was sought very nearly succeeded. Its plan was as follow: first conquer France passing through Belgium, to get France out of the war, on a ‘Western Front’ within five weeks, and then take the armies to Russia, on an ‘Eastern Front’ which Germany estimated would take six weeks. Germany thought it would be very easy to pass Belgium, because they thought Belgium’s armies were not as strong as theirs, and the skills of armies were much better and trained than Belgium armies.
Another element that caused the war was nationalism. Everyone was nationalist in those days, and this helped cause war in two ways. The first one was people of countries like Britain, Germany and France. They made it more warlike. They put themselves put in high position, indicating themselves that they are the best country in the world. Also, especially French politicians like Clemenceau and Poincare hated the Germans. People were upset when someone abused their countries.
The second action that helped causing the war was the Balkans. The Balkans is the area of south-west Europe. It was occupied by Turkey once, until 1913 when Slav peoples such as Serbs, Bosnians, Bulgarians and Romanians wanted independence and rule themselves. Many of the nationalities in the Balkans were part of the Autro-Hungarian Empire. The Serbs were the most nationalistic of all. Serbia had became an independent country by the Treaty of San Stefano in 1878, but in 1900 many Serbs were still living under Turkey and Austria-Hungary rule. However, Serbia, in particular, wanted to unite all Serbs within a greater Serbia. This feared Austria-Hungary because it might lose not only the Serbs but also other Balkan nations. So Austria-Hungary wanted to take over the Balkans, to maintain herself protected (because the Balkans was like a bomb which could be burst any minute). As Russia was the protector of Serbia –because most Russian people were Serbs- it creased rivalry between Russia and Austria-Hungary. Therefore, nationalism was one of factor that caused the First World War by increasing tensions between the Great Powers, and the Balkan nationalism which brought tensions between Austria-Hungary and Russia. Another factor that contributed the tensions between the countries in Europe was imperialism.
Similar with other aspects that caused the war, imperialism took a big part on accumulating the increase in rivalry in Europe. Around 1900, the Great Britain conquered and ruled other countries which covered a fifth of land-area of the earth. The size of Britain’s colonies made other countries to think that they should have more colonies to win Britain. A great tension occurred when both Britain and France were trying to conquer Africa. Britain was trying to take over Africa from Cairo to Cape Town. France was trying to conquer Africa from the Atlantic to the Red Sea. In 1898, British armies and French armies met at Fashoda in the Sudan, and it almost brought to cause a war. But Germany led to more tension when Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany claimed that he wanted some colonies like other nations.
Another factor which contributed to the increase in rivalry in Europe was imperialism. Great Britain, Germany and France needed foreign markets after the increase in manufacturing caused by the Industrial Revolution. These countries competed for economic expansion in Africa. Although Britain and France resolved their differences in Africa, several crises foreshadowing the war involved the clash of Germany against Britain and France in North Africa. In the Middle East, the crumbling Ottoman Empire was alluring to Austria-Hungary, the Balkans and Russia.
The last long-term cause is the crises and wars happened between 1905 and 1913. First, the First Moroccan Crisis, which happened between 1905 and 1906. France wanted to occupy Morocco to finish up her empire in North Africa. The Kaiser, however, interfered in Morocco, because he wanted to see the strength of the Entente and believed that he could split the agreement, and he did not want to see France expanding her colonies. In 1905, the Kaiser visited Morocco and made a speech. He claimed that Morocco should stay as an independent country. The Kaiser’s visit to Morocco and his speech caused a crisis. France was upset and refused to back down, but did agree to the Kaiser’s demand to have an international meeting or conference to discuss the future of Morocco. However, the Kaiser took the shame rather than a confidence from the conference. Also it increased tension because Kaiser suffered an embarrassing defeat by France given a free hand in Morocco; the Kaiser did not like that British supported for France; Wilhelm II’s actions resulted the opposite of what he had hoped-it only helped strengthening the Entente Cordiale.
Second crisis was the Bosnian crisis, which took place between 1908 and 1909. In 1908 Austria-Hungary conquered Bosnia-Herzegovina. This made the Serbians furious because Serbia was going to unite herself with Bosnia. Serbia appealed to Russia for help. Russia wanted an international conference to discuss Austria’s action. However, Austria-Hungary refused Russia’s demand and was baked by Germany. Germany demanded Russia to agree with Austrian occupy of Bosnia-Herzegovina. Russia had to accept it because German armed forces were way too better than Russia’s. This crisis increased tension because Serbia wanted revenge to Austria for taking Bosnia; this crisis made Russia even closer to France and Britain.
Third crisis was the second Moroccan/Agadir crisis in 1911. This crisis occurred as the Kaiser, again, willing to break the Cordiale Entente. The Kaiswer sent a gunboat, Panther, to the Moroccan port of Agadir. However, Germany’s action failed. Britain was even more supporting France and opposing Germany. This crisis drew Britain and France closer together and the Kaiser was humiliated who blamed the British.
Forth crisis was the Balkan Wars, 1912-13. In 1912 Serbia, Greece, Bulgaria and Montenegro formed a group called the Balkan League. In October this League attacked the Turks to get them out of the small area they still controlled. It was successfully done and made Turkey out of Europe. It left Austria-Hungary alone in the Balkans. Because Serbia was the most powerful country, the Austrian generals wanted to crush Serbia. This let Great Powers stepped in and forced a peace settlement on the victorious Balkan states. Due to the peace conference of 1913 Serbia gained much territory because the Turkish lands were shared with the Balkan League. In a month, the Balkan League was broken apart and there was a second Balkan war - Bulgaria versus Serbia and Greece. In June 1913, Bulgarian started attacking but were quickly defeated. After the second Balkan war, a peace settlement followed. In the peace settlement Bulgaria lost nearly all the lands it gained in the first war. It let Serbia gain more land.
Finally, the short-term cause, the assassination of Franz-Ferdinand caused the war immediately. On 28 June 1914, The Archduke Franz-Ferdinand, heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary, and his wife were assassinated in Sarajevo the capital of Bosnia. Franz-Ferdinand and his wife Countess Sophie von Chotkowa und Wognin ran away and married secretly on 28 June 1900. On 28 June 1914, Franz-Ferdinand and Sophie visited Sarajevo, spending their wedding anniversary. They drove an open-topped car, which was very public. When they were driving, six big cars appeared on the streets. Then Cabrinovic, young Bosnian terrorist and member of the Black hand organization threw a small bomb at Franz-Ferdinand’s car. The reaction of Austria-Hungary came in three weeks after the Archduke’s death, that Austria-Hungary and Germany together declared a war. Therefore, the assassination of the Archduke and his wife brought a war immediately.
In the First World War happened due to some long-term causes and one short-term cause. The long-term causes included the alliance system, militarism, nationalism, imperialism and some small wars and crisis that happened before the First World War. The short-term was the assassination of the heir to Austria-Hungary: the Archduke Franz-Ferdinand and his wife Sophie. Therefore, the First World War did not only occur because of the assassination of the Archduke, but because of the other aspects that happened before the assassination.