The Two Main Causes Of World War I

World War One Causes by Kayla Owen

The Great War, or more commonly known as World War One, was one of the most important wars in history. It was the first war which involved the whole globe. It took place in Central Europe when central powers such as Germany and Austria-Hungary aligned with other countries in order to obtain more land. Most of the states which were controlled under the Ottoman Empire aligned with each other against Russia. Russia then began to ally themselves with other states such as France. World War One was caused by many things; but most importantly militarism, nationalism and imperialism.

The first cause of World War One was militarism. Militarism is the belief of the people in a country that their people must be willing to support their country at all costs. A common opinion of militarists is that all young men must be taught to go into the military for their country as soon as they come of age. Russia is a militaristic country; this is because Russia thought their country had the best military. This caused them to get into a lot of disagreements with other countries. Militarism was a direct cause of World War One because countries could get the idea that they have better militaries than there, so it created a sense of cockiness in the citizens which therefore led to militant conflicts.
Nationalism is very similar to militarism and is often confused as it. Nationalism is one having pride in their country. Where the military is part of a country, it is not always encouraged or admired by the people. This is where nationalism and militarism divide. Nationalism was a main cause of the war because it led to people having too much confidence in their country. This led to some countries wanting to unify together whereas others wanted to remain independent. Therefore, creating tension between countries which led to conflict and