Causes of Ww1

Causes of World War 1 In 1914, a conflict arose in Europe that started what is now called World War 1 (WW1). This war did not just spring up out of nowhere there many causes involved that started this vast conflict. The immediate cause of WW1 was the assassination of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand who was killed in the Bosnian capital Sarajevo (Mulligan). The main cause of WW1 is M.A.I.N which represents militarism, alliance systems, imperialism, and nationalism (Danzer 579). And a contributing factor of WW1 is escalating tension in the Balkan region. Because of the assassination, M.A.I.N, and tension in the Balkan Peninsula the conflict known as WW1 began. Often the immediate cause for some event is what happened right before that event occurred in this case the assassination of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand was the immediate cause. In June 1914 the Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand was visiting the Bosnian capital, Sarajevo, when he was shot (Mulligan). The Archduke Franz Ferdinand was killed by a Serbian named Gavrilo Princip who was associated with a group known as the Black Hand, which promoted Serbian nationalism. Right after the assassination Austria-Hungary and Serbia were in a diplomatic crisis with each other. On July 28 1914, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia thinking it would only be a short war (Danzer 580). But they had actually started what is now called the First World War. Although the assassination was the spark that started the war it was not the main reason for the war.

The main cause for the start of WW1 was M.A.I.N which stands for militarism, alliance systems, imperialism, and nationalism (Danzer 579). All of these are long term causes eventually led to the start of the war. Militarism played a very important part in starting WW1; almost every country was bulking up their armies. Even Germany found that they were competing with Britain for who had a better navy. Germany didn’t have much of a Navy until Wilhelm II, Germany’s Kaiser,