Preview

Causes of WWI

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1664 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Causes of WWI
Causes of World War I Essay
World War I broke out on the 28th June 1914 when a Serbian terrorist group, who called themselves the Black Hand, assassinated Franz Ferdinand the heir to the Austrian-Hungarian throne. By the time the war had ended in 1918, it had taken the lives of more than nine million soldiers. Ever since, historians from all over the world have debated and discussed the reason for not only why and how the war came to pass, but the reason for the grand geographic scale of it. One way to categorise the causes is into three sectors: nationalism, imperialism and militarism. Nationalism is the belief that a nation will benefit further by acting individually, or the lusting for national independence in a country under rule from another. Imperialism is a policy by which a nation extends authority through territorial gain, and/or political establishment of superiority over another nation. Militarism is when the military is placed predominantly regarding administration of a particular state, or whereby military preparedness, and strength during a time of peace is of extreme importance to a state. World War I broke out in July 1914 primarily due to nationalism, followed by tensions exacerbated by imperialism, and lastly due to militarism.

Topic Sentence: Nationalism is the most important cause of World War I, because it was the main trigger of all major problems in the Balkans, which created huge tension in Europe from the end of the 19th century to the beginning of the 20th. An area where nationalism was creating huge tension at the time was Serbia. Serbians are part of an ethnic group called Slavs. Austria-Hungary, Serbia’s neighbour had a population that consisted of a high percentage of Slavs. The Serbians saw the Slavs in Austria as being oppressed and dreamed to unite them under one large Slavic state; the creation of this country would mean that Austria Hungary’s empire would split in two. This desire to unite all the Serbs lead to the

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    Humn410 Final Exam

    • 2051 Words
    • 9 Pages

    |1. (TCO 1, 2) Analyze how nationalism and militarism contributed to the outbreak of World War I. |…

    • 2051 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Nationalism, the love and support of one's country, has always existed. At this time, however, it was so prominent, it helped cause the first world war. Since so much pride was devoted to countries, it made the possibilities of peace between past rivals less probable. People felt great loyalty and were willing to do anything for their country. In history, many wars have been over territorial disputes. A country feels nationalistic, and people's pride leads to people wanting to expand with more land. A country can feel so strongly about this, that they will fight for it. The spark of the world was the assassination of the Archduke Francis Ferdinand and his wife. They were shot by a Serbian nationalist because of the crisis in the Balkans. The Balkan Peninsula was a mountainous area below Austira-Hungary and consisted of many different ethnic groups. Each group was very nationalistic and wanted to extend its borders, especially Serbia. Austria-Hungary took over two Balkan Slavic areas. Document 6 describes the tension in this region at the time. Serbia did not want Austria-Hungary to have Bosnia and Herzegovina. The archduke was shot because the Serbians…

    • 1251 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Wwi Dbq Essay Example

    • 649 Words
    • 3 Pages

    At the turn of the twentieth century, Europe seemed to enjoy a period of peace and progress. Yet below the surface, several forces were at work that would lead Europe into the “great war”. One of these forces was nationalism and it had an explosive effect in the Balkans. But, nationalism was only one of the many causes of World War I. Historians and eyewitnesses have described the causes of World War I and have tried to assess the responsibility for it. Two causes for World War I are militarism and nationalism. Militarism is when the empires use weapons and armies strength to show who is more powerful. Empires would build stronger weapons to fight other empires to show their strength. Nationalism is pride in one’s country or culture. All countries thought their best. These two causes influenced World War I.…

    • 649 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    During 1914, the entire Europe was a powder keg filled not with gunpowder, but pride. Finally, it blew up with the assassination of the Austrian archduke Franz Ferdinand in the 28th of June. While Franz Ferdinand was on his way to examine Serbia, he was assassinated by the Serbian nationalist (Sowards). In response to this action, Austrian angrily announced an ultimatum to Serbia, which strictly demanded Serbia to end all anti-Austrian agitation and punish any Serbian official whoever involved in the murder plot. However, the refusal of the demand gives many extreme nations like Germany an opportunity to show and test their army. Meanwhile, nations like Germany has a very strong nationalism thinking in their mind, which helped them to build up the second largest navy through out the entire Europe and to be more aggressive on declaring war on other nations. The assassination of Franz Ferdinand was a great chance for Germany to test their army, therefore Germany encouraged Austria to declare war on Serbia and claimed that she would provide help if Austria did that. As a result, this led to the beginning of World War I that at the end led to great damaged on the economy and the government of the entire European nations. Therefore, among all the reasons that led to World War I, nationalism, usually have a positive effect, turn into an evil idea that brought over 5 millions men died in the war. (U.S. Department of Justice)…

    • 3410 Words
    • 14 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    World War 1 Causes

    • 120 Words
    • 1 Page

    World war 1, also known as the Great War, happened in 1914-1918. World War 1 was the first global conflict. More than 38 million people suffered from casualties. When fighting for war, the soldiers were in Trench Warfare. This meant that they were fight in man made trenches. Trenches would get deep and muddy. The soldiers had to live inside them and with the dead bodies that would fall, the soldiers would have to bury them inside the trenches, so each body was stacked on top of another. A spark of the war was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. He was assassinated by a Serbian nationalist. The causes of World War 1 was due to Nationalism, Militarism, and…

    • 120 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    * Nationalism was another cause of World War I. This feeling of patriotism and loyalty to one’s country was brought about by a similar historical and cultural background. This idea of nationalism led to the uniting of different ethnic groups, who broke away from larger nations to form smaller ones. In areas where ethnic groups are mixed, conflict arose; each group wanted independence. As these diverse groups continued to desire freedom from their countries, war became…

    • 497 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    There have been countless debates over what was truly the main cause of World War One (WW1). The largest portion of underlying causes fit into three general categories: imperialism, militarism, and failure in the alliance system. Of course the assassination of Archduke of Austria ignited the flame that was WW1, but there had to be fuel to keep the fire burning. All of these three categories had influence on the lasting of the war, but upon analysis of historical documents and actions it can be noted that the militaristic aspect and the failure in the present alliance system can be arbitrarily tied back into imperialism.…

    • 563 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    cause of wwI dbq

    • 801 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The spark that started World War I was the murder of Archduke Ferdinand, the Austro-Hungarian Empire by Serbian nationalists. This was brought about by the nationalism and desire for independence in the Austro-Hungarian controlled Balkans. The Russians, according to Snyder, considered herself the “Mother of the Slavs” and had to protect and control the Slavic people living in eastern and central Europe (p.163), including the Serbians who, alone, were not match for the Austro-Hungarian Empire, even if it was weak, and aided the Serbians. The Slavic people’s desire for freedom from the Austro-Hungarian Empire was only one part of the nationalism that caused the Great War, however. French nationalism also played a part, as the French were bitter about the loss of Alsace-Lorraine and also the nationalism in Turkey played a role as the Turks wanted freedom from the Ottoman Empire. Propaganda also sparked a lot of nationalism in countries, with newspapers revealing the rival countries in insulting ways.…

    • 801 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Why Did World War 1 Occur

    • 1258 Words
    • 6 Pages

    It is amazing to think about World War 1 or also known as the Great War and what happened during those significant but dreadful events. In this paper I will be explaining what started World War 1, who was involved, and what happened as an end result. To proceed, World War 1 erupted due to the assassination of the archduke Franz Ferdinand (1863-1914), heir of the Austro-Hungarian throne, by the Serbian nationalist Gavrilo Princip (1894-1918). According to Dr. Benson, within a couple of months, most of the nations in Europe was at war. The U.S. did not join the conflict (war), until early 1917 (Benson).…

    • 1258 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Causes of WW1

    • 615 Words
    • 3 Pages

    World War 1 or ‘The Great War’ was a conflict between the central and allied powers in 1914-1918. It took place mainly in Europe and Italy but was later expanded into France, Germany, and the South of Turkey. The causes of World War 1 are still debatable today. However, some points of the War are more important to note than others. Likewise, not only did the Serbians assassinate Archduke Franz Ferdinand, but the development of militarism also proves to be a main cause as well. The struggle of imperialism was correspondingly apart of the cause too because it set up the scene for other wars to take place. This is why imperialism is so substantial in history when we reference the Great War. These causes led to a world of propaganda, 8.5 million deaths, rationing of food, and higher taxes.…

    • 615 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Dbq Wwi

    • 887 Words
    • 4 Pages

    World War I was the result of leaders' aggression towards other countries which was supported by the rising nationalism of the European nations. Economic and imperial competition and fear of war prompted military alliances and an arms race, which further escalated the tension contributing to the outbreak of war. One cause of the World War was militarism, which is a policy in which military preparedness is of primary significance to a situation. Another cause of the World War was nationalism. Nationalism is the pride and devotion form one towards his/her country. It played a great part in the causes of World War 1 because citizens wanted to stand up for their country, and fight for them. The third main cause of the war was the alliance systems, which is a friendly relationship, usually agreed by a treaty. The fourth, and final main cause of the war was called the Imperialism Rivalries, which is the competition between countries and their governments. By using one of the four main causes, it helped countries declare victory, and to decide who they would rather bide with, or oppose.…

    • 887 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Causes of World War I

    • 328 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Many events led up to the war involving alliances and assassinations, but the confusion began when countries blamed other countries. Alliances, militarism, and colonization are the most important and effective causes of WWI.…

    • 328 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    What caused WW1

    • 630 Words
    • 3 Pages

    What factors were involved in starting the Great War? The time period leading up to World War I was the age of imperialism, a time when many countries in Western Europe were building up their empires throughout the world. They would oftentimes get into "disagreements" amongst themselves over who was to control certain areas of the world. The countries were jealous, suspicious and did not trust each other....... war was inevitable! World War I had roots in the following things:…

    • 630 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    WWI WWII Cold War Essay

    • 2135 Words
    • 6 Pages

    The World War I began as Austria and Hungary and the Ottoman Empire considered as “crumbling empires” because multinational nation unify and divide countries due to nationalism and this lead to Europe imperializing the Ottoman Empire, this was called Balkan Powder Keg, newly independent nations struggle over national boundaries and Russian Pan-Slavism and demands of Serbia. By 1912, nationalism began to tear apart the Austro-Hungarian and Ottoman Empires. As states in the Balkans Continued to rebel and win their independence for these two empires, they also fought among themselves over the spoils of the wars. These Bloody and fierce wars, along with the fact that Serbia, a Slavic state under Austro-Hungarian rule, dreamed of having an independent state ruled by their own people, led to the Europeans considering the Balkan region the “powder keg of Europe.” In 1914, the nephew of Francis Joseph and heir to the Austrian throne, Archduke of Francis Joseph…

    • 2135 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    Causes of World War 1

    • 1400 Words
    • 6 Pages

    World War 1 was fought between the allied and the central powers from 1914 to 1918. It was fought between the central powers consisted of Germany, Austria- Hungary, Turkey and Italy and the allies consisting of U.K , France, Russia and U.S.A. The war in itself is considered a notable example of a total war as all the belligerents used every means of warfare including chemical warfare to try to win.…

    • 1400 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays

Related Topics