WW1: The Three Major Causes Of World War One

Have you ever heard of the “Great War”, otherwise known as World War 1? It was the first time in history that all of the countries were at war with each other, and that was and still is today a big deal. Now a question that may currently be running through your head right now could be something along the lines of “What on Earth caused all of the nations to go to war with one another?” Well the answer to that question is not the assassination of the Archduke Ferdinand, because all though this was the event that sparked the first world war, it was not technically a cause. The pressures and tensions leading up to the assassination were the true causes. Three of the main causes of WW1 include imperialism, alliances, and nationalism.

The definition of imperialism is basically a policy of conquering and ruling over other lands. The need of a country to expand its empire by conquering and ruling over foreign countries was a major cause of World War 1. Leading up to WW1, countries were sending off men to fight foreign battles with other imperialist countries over land in order to expand their empires power. France, Spain, Portugal, AHE (Austrian-Hungarian Empire), Russia, the English, and the Dutch were major imperialist countries during the mid 1800s, Britain being the most powerful. Britain began to colonize the countries and land that they ruled over, and the other countries were soon to follow, with Belgium, Italy, and Germany following those countries, and the US and Japan doing overseas expansion. Now with France and England gaining more and more power, the tensions between Germany and England and France began to grow as well. Imperialism didn’t seem to help their rivalry. By around 1900, France had control over most of th...

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... excited to fight in the war. With all of this pressure building, empires began taking sides before it was too late. Russia, France, and England (the 3 major powers at the time) forged an alliance against Germany, AHE, and Italy. Once these alliances were made, it became set in stone that the war was inevitable, with alliances made, the people feeling patriotism, schools using militarism, and the countries fighting for imperialism, the war was clearly on its way.

In conclusion, WW1 was a big deal, that was sparked by the assassination of the Archduke Ferdinand, though that was not the cause. WW1 had many tension leading up to it, which allowed something as small as the assassination of an Archduke to cause a war. The 3 main causes of the world war was actually imperialism, nationalism, and alliances, all of which allowed the first world war to begin.