Another long-term cause was the rivalry between Germany and France; this was because in 1870-1871 there was a war between the two countries. In this war France had lost the territory of Alsace–Lorraine to Germany and vowed to one day get revenge and take the territory back. Therefore there was a lot of extra tension between France and Germany, which helped spark off a war.
In 1871 Germany became a nation. The new leader was a man called Kaiser Wilhelm 11. He was an ambitious man and wanted Germany to be as strong as Britain both militarily and industrially. This was a main long-term cause because between 1871 and 1914 Germany had been catching up with Britain as a major industrial nation. This created tension because Britain felt threatened that its position as a major industrial power was being caught up. Between 1906 and 1914 there was an arms race between Germany and Britain over the building of powerful battleships called dreadnaughts. Maybe if this had not been happening, (the tension between Germany and Britain would not have been as great,) a war would not have taken place to such a full extent. However because it did, we do not know what would have happened if the situation were different.
Additionally there was tension in the Balkans (Serbia, Bosnia, Montenegro etc). For years there had been tensions between Austria Hungary and Bosnia. Bosnia was an independent country and wanted to extend its influence over Serbia whilst Austria-hungry were determined not to let this happen.
It was also the case that Austria-Hungry was made up of a series of nationalities and was afraid that if one country gained their independence the rest would follow and this would lead to the break-up of the Austro- Hungry Empire.
This was a very important cause because it involved a lot of countries and Austria-Hungry and Serbia became enemies both countries played a big part in World War 1.
This cause was also linked to one of the main causes of tension: the rivalry that existed between Russia and Austria-Hungry. Russia, though one of largest countries in the world, was also one of the most backward in terms of its industrial development. Russia desired more land and so it looked to the Balkans to extend its influence. Clearly this posed a threat to the Austro-Hungarian Empire, as they too wanted to extend their influence in the Balkans. This made the countries compete with each other, and therefore happy to try and settle a score by war.
All these reasons were long-term causes of world war one, they were all very important but in my opinion the most important was the fact that in 1871 Germany became a nation. The leader - Kaiser Wilhelm 11 was ambitious and wanted Germany to be as strong as Britain both militarily and industrially. This created tension because Britain felt threatened that its position as a major industrial power was being caught up. Between 1906 and 1914 there was an arms race between Germany and Britain over the building of powerful battleships called dreadnaughts. I think this was the most important because Germany and Britain were almost the ringleaders of the alliances in the war and if all the tension between them didn’t exist I don’t think there would have been as much of a wide scale war as there was.
Short-term causes of World War one started to occur around one event that happened on the 28th of June in 1914, this is often known as the trigger cause. While the heir to Austrian throne Arch Duke Franz Ferdinand was travelling in Sarajevo in Bosnia, a Serb terrorist assassinated him. This helped with war because it had serious consequences.
The Austrians blamed the Serbian government for the killing and declared war. As a result Belgrade in Serbia was shelled. Now a war had really begun.
The Russian army then prepared to help Serbia defend itself against the attack, but Germany being in an alliance with Austria sent a demand to Russia ordering the country to hold back from helping Serbia otherwise they would declare war. This was an important cause because Russia did not do as the Germans wanted and helped Serbia.
So Germany declared war on Russia, and at the same time sent its vast army towards France and Belgium.
The French army was then put on footing ready to fight any German invasion. (These are all important short-term causes and contributed to making the situation a world war.)
Germany hearing about this declared war on France and invaded neutral Belgium. Belgium tried to stop this, but their army was nothing compared to Germanys. Britain ordered Germany to withdraw from Belgium. While the Germans were still in Belgium Britain declared war on Germany.
To complete the picture Austria Hungry declared war Russia.
In my opinion the main cause of this war was Germany’s desire to dominate Europe. They continually wanted to make their empire bigger and increase their wealth.
Also the alliance system was a very important cause because of all the countries that were linked together. For example Germany invaded France and Belgium, but Britain got involved because they were in an alliance with France.
The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand mattered a lot because it caused Austria’s behaviour towards Serbia and from that other countries got involved.
