Ask a Teacher

What were the causes of first world war?

A number of interrelated factors had caused the First World War. The assassination of Aarchduke franz ferdinand was the immediate cause of World War I. The war had its roots in the developments since 1800‘s. The chief causes of World War I include .

A. Militarism : Each country wanted to out number others in terms of arms and ammunition.A build-up of military might occurred among European countries before World War I broke out. Nationalism encouraged public support for military build-ups and for a country‘s use of force to achieve its goals.

B. Alliances :World War I was a major war centered in Europe that began on 28th July 1914 and lasted until 11th November 1918. It involved all the world‘s great powers, which were assembled in two opposing alliances: the Allies, also known as Triple Entente, (consisting of the United Kingdom, France and Russia) and the Central Powers or the Triple Alliance (comprising of Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy). These alliances both reorganized and expanded as more nations entered the war.

C. Imperialism

During the late 1800‘s and early 1900‘s European nations carved nearly all of Africa and much of Asia into colonies. The race for colonies was fueled by Europe‘s increasing industrialization. Colonies supplied European nations with raw materials for factories, markets for manufactured goods and opportunities for investment. But the competition for colonies strained relations among European countries. Incidents between rival powers flared up almost every year. Several of the clashes nearly led to war.