What caused WW1?

Question

What were the main causes of WW1? What started it?

Answer 1

the short term cause of WW1 is the assassination of archduke fraz (francis) ferdinand of austria in sarajevo, bosnia. he was assassinated by gavrilo princip- a member of the black hand (a terrorist group)

the 4 lonng term causes of ww1 is nationalism, an intense loyalty to one's nation and beliefs, imperialism, building empires overseas-it made countries fight for the country they are trying to take over, militarism, building of military and using military if demands are not kept, alliances- a formal agreement to help each other out when allies are at war

Answer 2

What Caused Ww1

Answer 3

Even before the assassination of the Prince of Austria-Hungary... it was a guts standoff. Every country had confidence that its new technological weaponry and troop count could defeat any other country, which led to a severe lack of negotiations. Nobody wanted help and nobody gave a rat's a$$ who was on which side of the line. Eventually Germany decided it would settle a score with the Serbians when the Archduke Franz Ferdinand (Prince) was assassinated. The Germans and Austro-Hungarians blamed a Serbian sect known as the Black Hand for the death of the Prince. So war was declared.

In the end there were millions of dead troops. People were literally mowed down by machine guns trying to charge trenches in open battlefields. Disease was rampant. It really taught people a lesson about arrogance and trust in technology.

Answer 4

Basically, The main causes were in fact..the MAIN causes. Militarism, Alliances, Imperialism and Nationalism. The assination of the Austrian Arch Duke was essentialy the catalyst that started the war. Militarism which is the strengthening of ones armies and naval forces, lead to the arms race between Britain and Germany. Whenever Britain would strengthen its military, so too would the Germans. This lead to a race to see which nation would be able to strengthen their armies, equipment and soldiers first. This essentially pushed both nations ionto war.

Alliances which is basically a realtionship between colonies with a formal document, meant that the Triple Alliance (Germany, Italy and Austria-Hungary) and the Triple Entente (Britain, Russia and France) were formed. The European countries had made mutual defence agreements that would pull them into war. When one country was attacked, allied countries would be sworn to defend them.

Imperialism is when colonies or countries extend themselves to fomr large empires. During the 1900's there was large contestion for places such as Africa and Asia. This increase in competition and desire for larger empires led to more confrontations that would pull the nations into war.

Nationalism which is extreme pride for ones nation, not only led to the catalyst which started World War One, but also had severak other effects. Due to nationalistic prode, the Serbian Nationalistic group known as Black hand, assasinated the Austrian Arch Duke, because the wanted the slavs in Bosnia to have the freedom they needed and so that they could seperate themselves from Austria-Hungary. Nationalism alsomeant that many nations had to demonstrate their power and dominance.

Hope 6 years is'nt too much of a late reply

Answer 5

World War I began a month after Archduke Ferdinand of Austria was assassinated in Serbia. This lit a fire that spread through Europe in the form of War beginning with Austria invading Serbia. The assassination started the Great War but the reasons were far more complicated and include Militarism, Imperialism, Nationalism and Alliances.


The Alliances included the Triple Alliance- Germany, Austria-Hungary, Italy; Triple Entente- United Kingdom, France, and Russia. These alliances grew as the war progressed and as one country declared war another would soon follow. It happened like this:

Russia was allied with Serbia, so Russia declared war on Austria

Germany was allied with Austria, so Germany declared war on Russia

France allied with Russia, so France declared war on Germany

Germany shortly afterward invaded Belgium, bringing Britain into the war.


WWI saw an increase in technology, Britain and Germany were competing against each other in how to kill each other most efficiently; machine guns, tanks and planes were how to do it.


Imperialism- Due to European nations extending their empires there were more conflicts and more reasons to get sucked into a war.


Nationalism- Having extreme pride in your country; the match that lit the war fire. The Serbian terrorist group, the Black Hand played a major role in the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand. They helped to supply the weapons and recruit Gavrilo Princip, the gunslinger who killed Ferdinand and his wife.

Answer 6

Well it all started when Russia and Austria (Who were both in an Alliance with Germany) started Fighting over who could control the Balkans (Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia). Germany had to side with one and sided with Austria. Austria then entered the Balkans and took Bosnia. This got Serbia and Russia upset and Started the Balkan Wars. During this time a Serbian assassin killed the archduke Franz Ferdinand. Due to there alliance France Entered the War on Russia's side and Germany entered the war on Austria's side. The only major country that remained Neutral was Britain, but due to a plan called the Schliffen plan Germany invaded France through Belgium who had an alliance with Britain. This dragged Britain and her Empire into the war on the side of France, Russia and Belgium. Thus began World War 1.

Another reason was that Germany and Britain were both building such vast navies that the other felt threatened so they kept building more and more. Eventually they clashed with the British Dreadnaughts coming on top pf the German Nassau class Battle cruisers

Answer 7

Serbs started the WWI by killing archduke of Austria, more exact Austro-Hungarian archduke.
Organization was called the Black Hand and was run ed by Serbian general Dimitrijević..
Every were will be and is written that Gavrilo Princip killed archduke and that he was in organization called Mlada Bosna or Young Bosnia. Mlada Bosna was under Black Hand.
There were no Serbian solders in Great War. They started the WWI but they didn't went to the front.
The main cause is that Serbian politicians like today wanted to have a bigger land or country. So in 1991 they started another war and for the first time after WWII they had concentration camps for non-Serbian people.

Answer 8

"Drummergirl" is correct - the assassination of archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria - that did light the match to the powder keg.
But there was more to it.
Here's what I use in my classes as a memory aid :

"My Needs Are #I Priority" - - Selfishness caused the war.

M - Militarism - Many European countries expensively arming themselves to the teeth with modern armies, weapons, and navies. Once you spend all the resources - there is a general desire to try them out - get your money's worth. Bad idea.

N - Nationalism - Nations of people feeling pride in their nationality. Their "home team" was their armed force. Bad game to play.

A - Alliances - Treaties on paper obligating warfare to expand once it started. Another bad idea. These alliances were supposed to be a deterrent to war.

I - Imperialism - New countries such as Germany (just formed in 1871) wanted its share of the world to exploit as Britain, France, and others had been doing for centuries.

P - Population - Germany had a population increase of 50% from its founding in 1871 to 1914. They wanted more land
but had nowhere to expand except into neighboring European countries. Bad location for Germany.

Answer 9

After the Archduke of Austria was assassinated, the countries found that their alliances obligated them to come to each others defense. It could have been averted by open communications which were not available at that time.

The outcome of WWI was so harsh on Germany that the resentment for revenge grew in Hitler's warped mind. So, in effect, the cause of WWI also became the cause of WWII.

Answer 10

Confounded Serbians