The Four Main Causes Of World War I

Europe entered 1914 with diplomatic tensions as rivalries grew and regions gained more power. The four main causes for World War I are classified as militarism, imperialism, alliances, and nationalism. Militarism sums up the use of weapons, the development of armies and navies, and the countries’ rushes to keep on equity with one another. Imperialism and nationalism refer to the countries’ “scramble” for colonies throughout the world, as well as the issues circulating through Austria-Hungary and Serbia when Franz Ferdinand was assassinated (Adas et al. 661). Lastly, alliances were the forces like the Triple Entente and the Triple Alliance which contained the rival countries who joined each other to fight in the war. All of the causes were