Cynthia Shim
Mrs. McInturf
World Civ 10
2 February 2015
Causes of World War I
World War I began in 1994 when Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia. This seemingly small conflict quickly proved to become a very large scale war, as Germany, Great Britain, France, and Russia soon became involved, mainly due to the treaties that obligated them to defend themselves along with their allies throughout the war. Militarism, alliances, and imperialism are often credited as the causes of this war, as well as the assassination of Franz Ferdinand. The causes of World War I began before the war actually started, and had so set Europe at odds that only needed a small spark for the world to go into war.
Militarism was one of the main reasons for the start of WWI. According to Document 1, Great Britain, France, and Germany spent the most money for weapons throughout the war, which increased the chance of war by creating more tension between the countries by threatening with more artillery. Germany especially had an industrialized army, and spent millions of dollars improving their military to prepare for battle. As soon as war was declared,
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Bosnian nationalists (those who wanted Bosnia to be its own country and not under the rule of Austria-Hungary) saw their opportunity to strike the Archduke when he announced his trip to Sarajevo. With the help of the neighboring country, Serbia, assassins were recruited and trained to kill Franz Ferdinand. These assassins were called the Black Hand. The Black Hand’s ultimate goal was to create a greater Serbia, and was determined to reach this goal by any means possible. They did not believe that this goal would be achieved through negotiations; they felt as the though the only way to succeed in reaching their goal was through violence and destruction, thus becoming a secret society of terrorists (Document