Causes of WW1

Causes of WW1

1. 4 main causes

   • NATIONALISM
     • Belief that your country is better than others... This made countries aggressive
   • IMPERIALISM
     • The desire to conquer colonies - this brought the powers not conflict
   • MILITARISM
     • The attempt to build up a strong army gave nations the means to make war
   • ALLIANCES
     • Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy formed the triple alliance... This alarmed Britain, France and Russia who formed the triple entente

2. Assassination of archduke Ferdinand

   • Franz Ferdinand was inspecting the army in Sarajevo with his wife Sophie.
     • Austrian emperor Franz Josef forbade him to be seen with her because she was a. Commoner
       • 28th June 1914 was also Serbia's National Day. Ferdinand's visit was an insult to the Serbs
         • The conspirators got their guns and bombs from the Black Hand. A Serbs terrorist organisation
           • Franz Ferdinand was shot on Franz Josef street

3. The schlieffen plan

   • Based on the theory that Germany would be at war with France and Russia
   • It assumed France was weak and would be easier to beat than Russia
   • The plan began to go wrong when Russia mobilised its army and France did not
   • Things got worse when Britain declared war on Germany

4. German historian Fritz Fischer argued that the German leaders had a 'will to war', that they wanted to expand German power, and they wanted the situation in Europe to deteriorate into war.