Leading Causes of World War I World War I was one of the bloodiest wars that this world has ever seen. An estimated eight and a half million people were killed (Adelblue “An End to the Great War”). World War I began in 1914 and lasted for four long years. Almost all of Europe was involved, and several alliances were formed, the Triple Alliance, being Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy. While France, Russia, and Britain became early on allies. and America eventually joined to help its allies, due to unrestricted submarine warfare (Adelblue “An End to the Great War”). Militarism, alliances, and nationalism fueled one of the worlds biggest wars, World War I. Militarism was one of the main causes of World War I, and was started by Social Darwinism. Each of the countries involved used their militaries to eliminate weaker groups and nations. This caused tension, leading to armies and navies expanding in each nation (Adelblue “Setting the …show more content…
The distrust throughout the countries led to treaties pledging that certain countries would defend each other, which separated the countries outside of the pledges further (Adelblue “Setting the Stage for War”). This only increased the tension, as each country began taking sides, and set the stage for the war. Eventually, Germany began to fear that the French were seeking revenge from a previous war, the Franco-Prussian War. Germany knew that France wouldn’t attack alone, so they quickly took action and formed the Triple Alliance. Germany signed a treaty with Austria-Hungary and Italy, enforcing the fact that each country was beginning to take sides (Adelblue “Setting the Stage for War”). This action alone progressed the beginning of the war drastically, as each country began taking sides after this. However, alliances alone didn’t begin the war, several other factors weighed in on the beginning of World War