Nearly all of Europe was involved in World War I. The spark that set off the war was when a Serb from a Serbian nationalist group assassinated Archduke Ferdinand of Austria. Soon, nation after nation started declaring war on each other. However, there were other factors which influenced the war; militarism, alliances, imperialism, and nationalism. Of these underlying causes, the most significant are imperialism, militarism, and most importantly, alliances.
Imperialism played an important role in starting World War I. Many European countries controlled the economic systems of other countries, including Austria-Hungary. Austria-Hungary annexed Bosnia, and in doing so, “[aggravated] relations with Serbia and Russia” (What Started the War?). This …show more content…
Germany and Great Britain participated in an arms race, albeit a friendly competition. In 1910, 4 years before the war, Germany had spent around 30 million pounds of their army and Great Britain spent a little less than 30 million on theirs (Document C). However, Great Britain still was in the lead when it came to their navy, as they spent over 90 millions pounds while Germany had a navy that cost just short of 80 million pounds (Document C). Because of the increase in military spending, it’s reasonable if tensions between Germany and Great Britain evolves from a friendly arms race into a competition to see who actually will create a stronger fighting force. In a speech from Bernhard von Bulow to the German congress, he proposed that Germany “will only be able to keep [itself] at the fore if we realize that there is no welfare for us without power, without a strong army and a strong fleet” (Document D). In other words, he is trying to persuade the German government to increase funding on the military so that Germany can defeat its competitor, Great Britain, in the arms …show more content…
Without alliances, World War I wouldn’t have been a “world war,” but only a war between Serbia and Austria-Hungary. The two main contenders in World War I were the Triple Entente and the Triple Alliance. The Triple Entente included the countries Russia, France, and Great Britain, while the Triple Alliance consisted of Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy (Document A). These alliances caused a tangled web of war declarations. Since Austria and Serbia are at war with each other, so are Germany and Russia (Document B). This is because Russia, an ally of Serbia due to their slavic population, declared war on Austria, who is allied with Germany (What Started the War?). A chain reaction occurs, as wars are waged between France and Germany, Germany and Belgium, and Great Britain and Germany (Document B). This network of alliances is what made World War I ass devastating as it