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The Underlying Causes Of World War I

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There is continually something that prompts to another. Sometimes, it can bring about an enormous outbreak. At the turn of the twentieth century, Europe was at war. This war lasted more than four, long, gruesome years. It was also known as the “Great War”. New weapons and technology were enhanced and more progressed. This caused the number of casualties to increase. World war I was the most deadliest war of all. Before the war had started, many European leaders believed if they created a balance of power, it could prevent conflict happening. Although, conflict did follow. One of the main sparks of World War I (WWI) was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. Under that main spark were three other underlying causes of WWI. The causes …show more content…

Imperialism is a policy of extending a country’s power and influence through diplomacy or military force. Once conquering a territory a nation wants, it becomes a colony for the mother country. Mother countries want colonies so they can profit and enrich their imperial power. All the European nations wanted to pursue all the same actions of gaining land, resources and power. Mother countries were all willing to go to war to have the most colonies. Great Britain was the largest imperial power in the world (Document E). Great Britain was also known as the British Octopus because of how many colonies Great Britain has claimed. Mother countries were envious of Great Britain which caused jealousy and vexation towards Great Britain. When a mother country owns more colonies, they gain more money. This helps a mother country militarily and economically. The more colonies the better. The data displays the area and population of how much each European nation controls (Document F). Colonies were important to each nation because it represented power. Also, it helped gain protection for the mother country. Nations such as Austria-Hungary and Russia were way behind on becoming an imperial power. Germany however, was behind Great Britain which bothered Germany. The jealousy and competitiveness led to

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This demonstrates how every country was liable for the outbreak in one way or another. While growing advancements in technology and strong landed armies posed a threat to defending countries, naval forces proved to be just as intimidating. Similarly, Germany’s navy terrorized England and even pushed them to ally with France for protection (Doc. 7). This shows that the use of militarism and intimidation proved to further agitate relationships, especially that of

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Imperialism had taken over with increased wealth, trade, and industrialization among powerful nations. Many of the colonies that countries had were used to help in war. This caused much anger among colonies that were forced to fight in World War I. According to document F, a chart representing the size of colonies and who they belonged to in 1913 (a year before the war), Britain was the richest in colonies. Britain held 12,740,000 square miles of colonial land and a population 400,000,000 people living in those colonies.

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Causes of World War I World War I was one of the worst battles in history. The number of money spent and deaths are unbelievable. Nations spent millions on the war.

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In the next seven days Russia declares war on Austria-Hungary, Germany declared war on Russia, France declared war on Germany and Austria-Hungary, Britain joined France and Russia, Europe is at war!” (DBQ: What Were the Underlying Causes of World War 1, 2010, Background

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According to alphahistory.com “Imperialism is a system where a powerful nation controls and exploits one or more colonies”. Toward the end of the 1800s, several imperial powers existed. The British empire was the largest. Both France and Britain had many colonies in Africa and Asia.

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Although to this day the question still remains, what was the cause for WWI? A few of the causes to set off one of the greatest wars are Nationalism, Imperialism, Militarism, Alliance systems, and the assassination of the Archduke. Nationalism is the devotion and loyalty to one’s country, their main priority is to further its interests as opposed to the interests of other countries. This feeling spread through Europe during the 19th centuries thus causing many problems. The Slavic people of

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INTRO PARAGRAPH 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”. These forces were militarism, alliance systems, imperialism, and nationalism. Together these forces would become the main reasons for what caused World War I. MILITARISM PARAGRAPH One of the four main causes of World War I is militarism.

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“As imperial powers consolidated their hold on foreign lands, colonial administrators reorganized subject societies so they would become efficient suppliers of timber, rubber…” (931). The hold of trading and the more raw materials that are valued led to have more control on power over lands, because you have things that other nations want which makes it great for receiving land. Political dominance was a great deal to have, especially to claim land for growing

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