Secondly, one should look at the rivalry between the countries. Although a vague topic, rivalry was a large factor in the cause of WWI. Europe, especially Britain and Germany were in serious rivalry with each other. Kaiser Wilhelm was jealous of his cousin George V and his empire and navy. Due to this, Wilhelm invested a lot of his time and money into his military in order to match it with Britain’s. This led to military races; for example, the naval race in 1900 between Britain and Germany began with the revolutionary British battleship, HMS Dreadnought. Since then, Germany tried to match their strength with her own, and so the cycle went on. From there, both countries were expecting war having spent so much time preparing for it. Also, the Germans and the French neighbours made war plans for land battles; the Schlieffen Plan and Plan Seventeen. These were created expecting the worst in a war e.g. The Schlieffen plan assumed that Russia and France both declared war on Germany and involved swift tactics to take Paris the attack Russia. These assumptions really boosted the expectations as well, to a point where a conflict would automatically (almost willingly!) turn into a full scale war. This shows that the fierce rivalry between the countries created technological advances and war plans that would all be to waste if not used properly. It was almost like the countries knew what the war would be like and were just waiting for a spark in the gunpowder.
Ultimately, it is necessary to look at the problem in the Balkans. The Balkans was under control of by the weakening, Turkish (Ottoman) empire, and wanted freedom. This led to the Balkan countries (Bulgaria, Greece, Montenegro and Serbia) establishing a Balkan league which led to the Balkan wars. The result of the wars was freedom and, the growth of Serbia. The link with causing the war here is between Austria-Hungary and Serbia. Austria was a ‘patchwork empire’ which means many of its inhabitants were from different parts for Europe. Around 46% of the population was of Slavs who were also a rebellious group (as well as the Serbs) who were constantly rioting. Austria wanted to destroy the Slavs in the Balkans however, due to the effects of the Balkan wars on Serbia (gaining more land and power); they were also becoming a threat to Austria-Hungary. Due to this, Austria invaded a part of the Balkans and cut off the Serbian access to the Adriatic Sea, causing the hatred between the countries to grow. Also, Austria-Hungary was allied with Italy and Germany, who both wanted some control over the Balkans as well, Italy because they wanted control over the Adriatic Sea from all sides and Germany because of their ambitious railway plan to Baghdad and back (in search of oil). This would mean that any small conflict would, again, result in an excuse for all the countries invade, and to make matters worse, Russia was allied with Serbia so the conflict would expand to a world war. In the end, that was what happened; the heir to Franz Joseph of Austria-Hungary, Franz Ferdinand was assassinated in 1914 while in Serbia. This shows how the Balkan problem grew with Austria-Hungary to a point where war was almost inevitable.
In conclusion, looking at all the possible reasons for the outbreak of WWI, the alliances – how they would be dragged in to a conflict, the rivalry – how the tension was very high and the Balkan problem – the rivalry with Austria-Hungary and the Balkans. Each reason is equally important in the cause of the war, and even though the real reason that started war was the assassination of Franz Ferdinand, the main cause showed from the evidence above would be all the tight alliances between the world powers. Purely because it is what caused WWI to be a long, four year war, rather than a battle between two countries, it was the alliances and their interference that up scaled all the battles, and really caused a world war.
