World War I Causes

Long Term Causes

Militarism

Militarism is the glorification of the military and a readiness for war. According to American president,
Woodrow Wilson, this was the major contributor to the war. Britain had a policy, the “Two Power Standard”, in
which their navy must be twice as large as every other two navies of any two countries combined. The Germans
rivaled this policy, and started to build up their navy as well. This turned into an arms race between the two
nations. Germany tripled its military spending from 1900 - 1914 and Britain, seeing this as a large threat,
increased their own naval spending. Between 1870 and 1914, military spending increased by 300%. France and
Russia also increased their military spending in these times as well, to prepare for an oncoming war. With all
this military buildup and nothing to do with it, it was inevitable for a war to start; it just needed something to
set it off.

Nationalism

Nationalism is feeling of pride and/or devotion to ones country. Much of the rivalry that started was due
to nationalism. Many countries had been unified for years, and the pride in their country was strong. Other
nations, like the Ottoman Empire, wanted to create an independent political face for themselves. France and
Germany created a rivalry. France was still bitter about the land lost in the Franco - Prussian war, and wanted to
regain the land, but Germany wasn’t having any of that, they wanted to keep their land.

Alliances

Many alliances were made before the First World War. The Triple Alliance was the first one made. This
consisted originally of Germany, Austria – Hungary, the Ottoman Empire and Italy. Russia was also a part of the
triple alliance but once the alliance with Russia was broken, the Russians formed a new alliance with the
excluded country of France. Britain and her commonwealth countries later joined the alliance with Russia and
France, because Germany denounced Britain’s imperialism in Africa they were looking for some allies. They
found those allies in Russia and France and called the new alliance the Triple Entente. These alliances
heightened international tensions because if there was any crisis involving the countries there would be war
between them

Imperialism

Historically, many of the economic causes of the war can be attributed to a growing material
dependency of advancing European nations on imperialism. Nations such as Great Britain and France
maintained thriving domestic economies in the late 19th century through their control of foreign resources,
markets, territories, and people. Austria-Hungary took over (annexed) Bosnia-Herzegovina in the early 20 th
century. As a late arrival on the world stage, Germany was locked out of the most valuable colonial regions in
Africa and the Far East. In addition, the rapid exhaustion of natural resources in many European nations began
to slowly upset the trade balance and make nations more eager to seek new territories rich in natural
resources. Intense rivalries developed between the emerging economic powers and the incumbent great
powers.
Short Term Causes

Assassination

The assassination of Archduke Francis Ferdinand by the Serbian rebel group called the Black Hand. The
man who actually killed the Arch Duke Franz Ferdinand was Gavrilo Princip. The reason for this assassination
was to have a violent separation of Bosnia-Herzegovina and other countries under the Austro-Hungarian rule
and to put these countries under Serbian rule.

Ultimatum

The ultimatum was a list of rules sent to Serbia from Austria-Hungary, which required Serbia to suppress
all anti Austrian activities and dismiss all officials hostile to Austria-Hungary. Serbia was also required to allow
officials from Austria-Hungary to investigate the murders. Refusal of these demands meant that Austria would
declare war on Serbia but this also conflicted with Serbian independence. Austria mobilized its troops for the
threat of war.

Russian mobilization

Russia was prepared to aid Serbia if war was declared, so Tsar Nicholas II ordered the mobilization of
Russia’s army. Germany sent Russia a warning saying if they did not stop the mobilization of their troops
Germany would declare war on Russia. Russia did not reply to this warning and on august first Germany
declared war on Russia. Germany felt that if they declared war on Russia France would soon follow as well, and
on august 3rd Germany declared war on France.

The Schlieffen Plan

The Schlieffen Plan was created to help Germany in not fighting a two front war. The plan was to crush
France as quickly as possible so that they could have time to fight the slow moving Russian war machine. But
the eastern border of France was heavily defended, so Germany decided to move through Belgium into
northern France. But Britain had pledged to Belgium in 1830 that they would help to protect their neutrality. So
on august fourth Britain declared war on Germany. Just like that the 5 major nations were at war.