World War I

World War I was caused by a plethora of reasons. The most common cited reasons are Nationalism, Alliances, Imperialism, and Militarism. Many more reasons can be extracted as combinations of the four. Alliances are cited to be a cause because major European powers were making alliances left and right during the late 18th- late 19th century. The alliances started to be defensive at first, yet as time went on, became more aggressive in nature. The Dual Alliance of 1879 between Germany and Austria-Hungry was strictly defensive and said aid would be sent in anything were to occur. Just 32 years later with the formation of the Triple Entente in 1907, was much more aggressive in nature and called for Britain, France, and Russia to be allied against Germany and Austria Hungry. Many of the alliances were not stated publicly, and this caused much confusion and suspicion to arise, and countries could not trust each other. This caused much strife and conflict between already tense foreign relations.
Imperialism's role in the formation of the war was mainly evident in the Balkans. Austria-Hungry, France, Russia, Turkey, and the individual nations in the Balkans were all fighting for control or influence of the area. Turkey was forced to retreat from the control of the area and this began a race for control. Austria-Hungry wanted Bosnia and Herzegovina and asked Russia if they could have it. Russia said they would help if given control of some kind of warm water port. Austria-Hungry jumped the gun and took Bosnia and Herzegovina, and this caused the nearby country of Serbia to fear its imminent annexation. Serbia asked for Russia's help because Russia assumed Serbia to be their slavic brothers. Germany forbade Russia from helping Serbia. Imperialism is cited to be a cause because Austria-Hungary began taking more and more aggressive means of acquiring Bosnia and Herzegovina. Serbia's fear of annexation caused even more strife than was normal. This political stress caused the assassination of the Austrian Arch-Duke Frans Ferdinand. Nationalism is also a big part of the war formation because every nation located in the Balkans hates each other. They have no problem with the constant violence and death. Serbia is located among these perpetually fighting countries. Serbia desperately wants to be left alone by Austria-Hungary, and when Austria-Hungary took bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia feared what would come next. It was the massive amount of diehard nationalistic pride that motivated Serbia to assassinate. Militarism was more of a factor for the larger European countries. Britain had the greatest navy in the world at that time, and Germany hated her for that. Germany built some ships and increased her navy, but nowhere near the size and magnitude of Britain's. Germany increased the size of her army more readily because, not being surrounded by water, a large navy wasn't the most grave of concerns. Conflict began to arise ust prior to actual outbreak of war when Russia began to mobilize her troops, and Germany ordered her to stand down, but this time, Russia did not. Militarism aids in adding to conflict because now that all the countries are armed to the teeth, the slightest breeze could set them off and cause the war to begin.