Essay: The Causes of World War I

World War I was a major war that many countries participated in. The war started when the Archduke of Austria, Franz Ferdinand, and his wife Sophie,  Duchess of Hohenberg, were assassinated on June 28, 1914. This set off a chain of events that led to World War I. The Great War started that day and lasted until November 11, 1918, when Germany had formally surrendered and the other countries resolved their conflicts. Other than the assassination of the Archduke, there were four “MAIN” causes that led to the World War. Militarism, Alliances, Imperialism, and Nationalism, were all causes, but the most significant was Imperialism.
The least significant cause of World War One was militarism. Militarism is the build-up of armaments and the glorification of the military. European nations started to focus on their military so they could defend themselves and influence weaker countries when necessary. Newly emerging nations posed a threat to already established countries, causing many nations to build up their militaries in order to protect themselves. Militarism had produced competition that led to a violent escalation in the production of weapons and warships. An example of this was the rivalry between Germany and Great Britain.  “Between 1900 & 1914, Germany tripled its spending on warships making it the 2nd strongest naval power in Europe” (MAIN Causes, Militarism). Germany, a fairly young nation, started building up their warships and weapons to compete with Great Britain, an established power. In order to do this, Germany had to triple its spendings to expand their navy and have new weapons. “By the early 1900s the European powers, driven by nationalist rivalry and militarism, had modernized and equipped their armies and navies, bringing the continent closer to war” (Expert Text, Militarism). Due to the younger nations like Germany expanding their militaries, older European powers became paranoid. They needed to protect their people, so when one country made an improvement, they had to make their military better to match them. The Early 1900s were when new and deadly weapons were produced. Because these weapons were threatening, “It was natural for military leaders to be obsessed with modernizing their forces and equipping them with new technology,” (Expert Text, Militarism). Military leaders during this time wanted their forces to have new technology in case of war, so many new military weapons were invented. Paranoid countries were developing new weapons to protect themselves and become the most powerful nation in the world. It was for this reason that militarism was the least important cause: Building larger militaries was a means to defend the homeland or dominate other nations. Nations grow their military in order to protect their independence, which is motivated by nationalism, or to take advantage of other countries and get rid of their independence, which is motivated by imperialism. In order to find the primary cause of a conflict, the motive is more important than the means, making a tool like militarism less significant.
Alliances did not directly cause the war, but they expanded size of the war from a local conflict in the Balkans, to a world war across Europe and its nation’s colonies. Alliances are a pact in which nations agree to defend each other in a time of war. Alliances were a tool for nations to team up and protect themselves from more aggressive powers. “The Balance of Power worked like a seesaw, if one nation became extremely powerful, two other nations might form an alliance against it in order to balance off its power. It was almost like the playground see-saw”(MAIN Causes, Alliances). The Balance of Power was compared to a see-saw. If one country had more power than their allies in an alliance, or a country “turned their back” on their allies, it was possible that the other countries in the alliance wanted to gain that power back. They would do this by forming an alliance only between themselves without the more powerful ally knowing. This caused the balance of power to constantly shift (like a see-saw), along with their trust. Many alliances were also built upon shared cultures and religions. A good example of this would be the alliance between Russia and Serbia. After the Ottoman empire was weakened, “Serbia emerged as a newly independent Slavic state in the late 1800s, and hoped to unite all Slavs of the area into one united country under Serbian leadership.” (MAIN Causes, Imperialism). Russia was an established Slavic nation that also shared the orthodox christian religion with Serbia. Outside threats like Austria motivated Serbia to seek protection, and common cultural and religious goals made Russia a natural ally. When Austria-Hungary invaded Serbia, what could have been a small regional conflict turned into a larger european war when Russia got involved to keep their promise to protect Serbia. Austria-Hungary at this time was involved in its own alliance with Germany and Italy, called the Triple Alliance. Meanwhile, Russia, France, and Britain formed their own alliance called the Triple Entente to counter this and maintain the balance of power. When Russia invaded Austria to protect Serbia, Germany defended its ally by invading Belgium and pushing towards Russia’s ally France. These entangled alliances caused the war to expand, however they still don’t provide a reason for Austria to invade Serbia or for Serbian Nationalists to assassinate the Archduke.
Nationalism was a significant reason for the war because it motivated nations to form alliances, build militaries, and defend their independence. Nationalism is a more intense version of patriotism, where people love their country and become willing to do anything to protect it. “Nationalism will cause groups of people to unite for common goals. These groups will often seek to overthrow oppressive forces and establish self-government. Other goals include economic advancement & improvement.” (MAIN Causes Nationalism). Nationalism motivates people from similar backgrounds to work together to gain independence, empower themselves, and better their lives. This caused the people of Serbia to initially seek their independence from their oppressive Ottoman rulers, and later work together to build a stable nation. One of the negative impacts of nationalism is that it is “a force that prompts violence, as it will create revolutions, wars of conquest, and wars of pride,” (MAIN Causes-Nationalism). This means that people will gladly lay down their lives in the name of their country, even if it leads to larger conflicts. In the case of World War One, Serbian nationalist groups like the Black Hand saw no problem with killing to stay independent. This motivated them to assassinate the Archduke, leading to Austria declaring War and setting of the powder keg of European alliances. This makes nationalism an important motive and cause of World War One.
Finally, the most significant cause of World War One was imperialism, which was the root of the conflict. The definition of imperialism is “when a stronger nation dominates a weaker one, socially, politically, and economically,” (MAIN Causes-Imperialism). The large countries tried to change smaller countries socially by conforming the culture and religion of the smaller nations to their own, and politically by taking over their governments and passing laws that only benefit their nations, rather than the native people. They also tried to take advantage of smaller countries economically by their taking resources, and dominating their markets and trade routes. European countries wanted to expand their territory by influencing countries because they wanted the most territory. This increased tensions worldwide. It also upset the balance of powers in Europe as some countries were able to seize more colonies than others. An example of Imperialism that happened during World War one was when the Ottoman Empire was in charge of the Balkans. “The Ottoman Empire used to control the entire Balkan area, but by 1914, it had weakened and lost nearly all of it.” (MAIN Causes, Imperialism) The Ottoman empire was weakened due to loss of power. They could no longer maintain the Balkans. During this loss of power, Austria saw a chance to fill the power vacuum and dominate the newly independent region. Motivated by imperialism, they invaded the Slavic territory of Bosnia-Herzegovina, which angered many of the independent Slavic states such as Serbia. This imperialist aggression fueled Serbian nationalism, making it the root cause of the assassination. Outside of the Balkans, imperialism led to WWI because European nations like Britain, France, and Germany were also competing for colonies in Africa and Asia. This further increased tensions, and helped motivate militarism and the weapons race, along with the creation of alliances, as this expansion upset the balance of power in Europe. Imperialism is the most important reason because it provided a motive for all three of the other causes, making it the root of the war.
These four causes led to the great war, but Imperialism was the most significant. Militarism made countries paranoid and made each country build up their own military in order to keep up. Alliances may have not caused the war directly, but it did expand the war because the allies of Austria-Hungary and Serbia made a pact to protect the countries in time of war. Nationalism was a cause because the Serbian Nationalist who assassinated the Archduke of Austria-Hungary had too much pride for his country, and went to extreme measures that ended up doing more harm than help. Lastly, Imperialism was the main cause because it included the other three. Imperialism is when a larger country attempts to take over a less powerful country. Imperialism has militarism in it because a strong military is required to take over small countries. Alliances counter imperialism by letting smaller countries protect themselves from imperialist powers and to maintain a balance of power. Like alliances, nationalism is fueled by imperialism, as people band together to protect their independence from the imperialist aggressors. Although all of these factors were necessary to cause World War One as we know it, Imperialism created the conditions for militarism, entangled alliances, and nationalism to flourish.