Causes of World War One

In the 1800’s nations began being created by small states that had similar culture and language. These states were ready for independence and have their own recognition in the Europe. Nationalism thus led to the creation of two states, Germany and Italy. During this time war played a major role therefore nations such as Great Britain and Germany were building up their defense forces, Britain was known for its superior navy and it was a pioneer in the field while Germany the larger landlocked nation was known for its army and superior weaponry to the other nations they also had a large navy force.

The tension between Great Britain and Germany increased due to the building of military forces and for security purposes nations felt that the building of alliances ensure that nations would support each other during a time of war. Germany and Austria-Hungary created an alliance, which was natural as they both spoke German and had a similar culture, Italy joined the alliance as Austria-Hungary was to the north and needed support as well. This Alliance was known as the ‘Triple Alliance’. This alliance agreed that “to go to war if attacked by Russia” (www.angelfire.com)

On the other hand France, Russia and Great Britain got into an alliance and it was known as the ‘Triple Entente”. Now that the alliances were formed and tensions were high as both alliances had an interest in the Balkans and relations between the key players of each alliance i.e. Great Britain and Germany were not at good terms the assassination of “Archduke Francis Ferdinand was assassinated by a Serbian terrorist named Gavrilo Princip” (www.angelfire.com)

Therefore the war started on June 28^th 1914 and ended after a three and a half year deadlock along the Western Front.

Bibliography

www.angelfire.com. (n.d.). Retrieved from www.angelfire.com.

site, h. l. (2013). Causes of World War One. Retrieved 8 6, 2013, from www.historylearningsite.co.uk: http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/causes_world_war_one.htm