Main Causes For WWI Essay, Research Paper

Four Main Reasons for World War I

World War I began on July 28, 1914, with the declaration of war by Austria-Hungary on Serbia, and hostilities between the Allied and Central Powers continued until the signing of the armistice on November 11, 1918, a period of 4 years, 3 months, and 14 days. There were four main causes for the World War. They were Nationalism, Imperialism, Military Expansion, and Crises Foreshadowing the War.

Nationalism created great political tensions between single nation states such as France and Germany, and threatened the stability of multi-nation states such as Austria-Hungary. These were reflected in nationalistic propaganda, an arms race between the majors, and trade barriers and tariffs, which worsened tensions further.

Imperialism lead to many colonial interest problems. France, Britain, and Germany were having problems over who should get colonies in Africa. Many peace treaties were signed so that war wouldn?t be an option. Of course that didn?t work. These problems almost foretold the war.

As a result of the above, between 1871 and 1914 the nations of Europe adopted domestic and foreign policies that steadily increased the danger of war. Most of the European nations thought that they might have been in danger so they maintained a large army and navy. To make the matters worse Europeans nations made alliances with other countries just in case war broke out. The alliances were as follows; Triple Alliance- Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy. Triple Entente- Britain, France, and Russia.

The last is Crises Foreshadowing the War. Between 1905 and 1914 many international crises and two local wars occurred. The first one was over Morocco, where Germany intervened in 1905 to support Moroccan independence from France. The second one was happened in the Balkans in 1908 over the annexation by Austria- Hungary of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

All of these things could have been prevented. I think both World Wars were unnecessary. I know for a fact that the French Revolution spread the ideas of nationalism.