I am doing a paper about World War I. This paper is on what were/was the causes of World War I. This will include many specific facts and relevant terms. The direct cause of WWI was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand at Sarajevo on June 28, 1914. There were four main causes of World War I: militarism, alliances, imperialism, and nationalism. Militarism was a cause of the war, because the war was an "arms race" with Britain, France, and Germany competing to build larger armies and navies. Alliances was a cause of the war, because it forced many countries to enter into the conflict even though they were not affected originally. As each country's alliances became involved and then those alliances's alliances became involved the …show more content…
Militarism between the Great Powers in Europe and Asia put military leaders, naming generals and admirals in primary leadership positions as government ministers. This cause led to the increase of weapon manufacturing and had a physical effect on many European governments. After 1871, the war atmosphere caused by the secret alliances, led to an arms race among the powers. The race was particularly between 1900 and 1914, as the worldwide situation became much worse than before. As a result of the arms race, all the European powers were ready for a war by 1914. An alliance is a formal political, military, or economic agreement between two or more nations. Military alliances contain promises in the event of war or aggression. They may also contain economic elements, such as loans. Alliances were hardly a new phenomenon in European history. They provided European states with a good amount of protection. They served as a discouragement to larger states, who might make war on smaller ones. During the 1700's, alliances were used both as defensive measure and a political