World War I

There were many causes of World War 1, or the “Great War”. Many people believe that the causes went back to before 1914. From the death of Queen Victoria, her children and her grandchildren became bitter rivalries. For me there were only five reasons for the beginning of the Great War. It all started by the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary. From this assassination a domino effect began.

Before the assassination of the Archduke, alliances had already begun. There was the triple alliance consisting of Germany, Italy, and Austria-Hungary. Then there was the Triple Entente which was Great Britain, France, and Russia. Although these alliances were defensive in nature, they meant that any conflict between one country from each alliance was bound to involve the other countries. The fact that Germany faced a war on two fronts greatly influenced the actions during the crisis. By 1914 Italy was not a full member of the Triple Alliance. Italy had a secret treaty with France which promised to stay neutral if Germany attacked France and when war broke out, they stayed out. This means that Germany had only one dependable ally, Austria-Hungary. The main rivalries though were, Germany and France over Alsace, Russia and Austria over the Balkans, and Great Britain and Germany over their navies and economic power.

Another cause of WWI was militarism. Increased military and naval rivalry led to the belief that war was coming. Germany thought that through a war could they become a world power. With military preparations this belief grew stronger. All the three Entente powers held secret military talks. The British and the French naval authorities agreed that the French navy should be concentrated in the Mediterranean and the British in the North Sea. Germany and Austria also had military agreements. When the war was fought, it was going to be fought by all powers because they planned it cooperatively.

Nationalism was the next major long-term cause of WWI. Nationalism involved all those who shared a common language, history and culture. It was a strong feeling of support for ones own nation. Nationalists believed that the needs