Essay On The Causes Of World War 1

Dillan Badilla
March 20th, 2014
Ap European History
Period 1

In 1914, Gavrilo Princip had assassinated Franz Ferdinand, The duke of Austria. The assassins had been put up by the Serbian government, soon the Austrian government found out and had decided to retaliate. This had been the tipping point that had caused World War 1. But this is not the only cause to World War 1. The other causes of World War 1 were MIlitarism which was strongest in Germany. Germany was allied with Austria-Hungary at the time which is also a cause, the alliances in 1914. A few main alliances were the Triple Entente, which makes Russia France and Britain watch and protect against the ever growing threat from Germany. There were alliances made all throughout Europe that bounded almost everyone to protect someone. Another cause was Nationalism, germany mostly. Germany because they were a fairly new country who wanted to prove themselves as a nation. The final cause was imperialism. which was happening all over the place and it made countries scared their land might be attacked. World War One was not only caused by an assassination but was caused by alliances made throughout Europe along with insane nationalism, extreme militarism and frantic imperialism.
Nationalism, just like pride can be a deadly sin. It truly shows how deadly it can be at the beginning stages of world war 1. People began believe that dying for their country shows how great of a country they are. This is happened to Germany. In the movie All Quiet On The Western Front you can see how pride the kids are to go to war for their country but for all the wrong reasons. Nationalism would also be considered a form a racism. So you can see how hating another country for not being your country can...

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...race. Germany had known that it was losing so it decided the best way to combat losing the arms race was to declare war.
In conclusion, there were many factors involved in the casing of World War One, but there were 3 very influential causes. Nationalism, which was extreme if not borderline insane pride in your country. Alliances that had stirred up countries into thinking they were not safe. being that this was 1914 and countries were still developing and some were weaker than others, it was very likely you could be invaded which is why alliances scared some countries into a hostile state. And the final cause was militarism, a kind of dictatorial state where you were ready to go to war at any minute and there were guns everywhere and children were not safe. World War One was caused by a lot of things but Nationalism, Alliances, And Militarism were the root causes.