Four Main Causes Of World War I

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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. Militarism is the policy of building up strong armed forces to prepare for war. Leading up to World War I, European nations expanded their armies and navies creating new stresses among the European powers. This buildup of military power in Europe led to an arms race between nations. Between 1870 and 1914, Britain went from spending $3.54 to $8.23 per …show more content…

The alliance system is a system where countries made two groups and basically when one country gets attacked that whole group gets attacked. This caused World War I, it was a war between two nations turned into war throughout an entire continent. The alliance system had two groups, the two groups being the Triple Alliance and the Triple Entente. The Triple Alliance consists of counties Germany, Italy, Austria-Hungary. The Triple Entente consists of countries Great Britain, France, Russia. (Document 2). In the excerpt from the Article 231 of the Versailles Treaty, this is a way they stopped World War I. They said that it was Germany’s fault, then Germany signed the Versailles Treaty and ended World War I. (Document 4). In the excerpt from The Century of Total War this is how World War I started. This short excerpt also explains how all of the countries are involved in World War I. The alliance system caused World War I when a few countries chose to align themselves in a defense pact. Russia came to Serbia's defense and Germany came to Hungary's defense, causing the entire continent of Europe to be at