Why Did World War One Break Out
Why did World War One break out in 1914?
In my opinion the most important long-term cause was the making of the alliances, after all they were invented so countries could keep peace and feel safe but instead countries fears increased. Since 1879 major European countries had been making alliances. In 1882 Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy formed the triple alliance but this alarmed France, Great Britain and Russia. By 1907 Europe was divided into two camps to help each other if there was a war.
Another long-term cause is Nationalism and this is an important factor because people started to believe that their country was better than others. After a French politician said, “to be a great nation you must colonise”, nearly everyone would have agreed. This made nations assertive and aggressive. This lead onto the Arms Race and Imperialism because Nationalism made the countries think their country was better so they built more ships and tried to conquer more land than other countries because nations thought the more land you own the more powerful your country was. In 1800 France and Britain both had large Empires, and these continued to grow through out the nineteenth century. Germany and Italy both wanted overseas Empires. So they united countries for the first time. The result was that in the years up to 1900 competition between European powers more intense. There was a scramble for territory, especially in Africa with its rich minerals and resources.
However there were a number of long term factors which helped to make the situation much worse even though they would not have caused the war on their own, they together with the above contribute to the outbreak of the war. These factors included rebellions and awful governments because rebellions were started by the head figure of parliament making every political decision, which meant that people started to disagree and started rebellions. Not only did most countries have one political decision maker but the
In my opinion the most important long-term cause was the making of the alliances, after all they were invented so countries could keep peace and feel safe but instead countries fears increased. Since 1879 major European countries had been making alliances. In 1882 Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy formed the triple alliance but this alarmed France, Great Britain and Russia. By 1907 Europe was divided into two camps to help each other if there was a war.
Another long-term cause is Nationalism and this is an important factor because people started to believe that their country was better than others. After a French politician said, “to be a great nation you must colonise”, nearly everyone would have agreed. This made nations assertive and aggressive. This lead onto the Arms Race and Imperialism because Nationalism made the countries think their country was better so they built more ships and tried to conquer more land than other countries because nations thought the more land you own the more powerful your country was. In 1800 France and Britain both had large Empires, and these continued to grow through out the nineteenth century. Germany and Italy both wanted overseas Empires. So they united countries for the first time. The result was that in the years up to 1900 competition between European powers more intense. There was a scramble for territory, especially in Africa with its rich minerals and resources.
However there were a number of long term factors which helped to make the situation much worse even though they would not have caused the war on their own, they together with the above contribute to the outbreak of the war. These factors included rebellions and awful governments because rebellions were started by the head figure of parliament making every political decision, which meant that people started to disagree and started rebellions. Not only did most countries have one political decision maker but the