Cephas Doughlin

3/14/14
US History II
Main Causes of WWI
In the beginning of the 20
th
century Europe, had control maybe empires around the
world, the Europeans thought their living was the best. Their sprit dropped after four years of
war their moral declined. World War 1 was a war that had many reasons for its beginning, and
was the start of Europes downfall. The main reasons were (the spark) the assassination of
Archduke Francis Ferdinand Nationalism, and the idea of creating a balance of power. All these
events led up to the inevitable World War 1, each individual cause had its own set of mini cause
but those were the three main causes of World War I.
The first reason that started World War I was the assassination of Archduke Francis
Ferdinand otherwise known as the spark. It was predicated some damned foolish thing in the
Balkans would ignite the next big war by Otto von Bismarck and the assassination was that
thing, 7 assassins from a Serbian Nationalist group (the Black Hand) were sent to kill Ferdinand.
Killing the arch duke thought that would allow Serbia to be an independent country and would
get Austria-Hungary out of their country. The morning when the archduke when on a drive with
his wife one of the assassins happened to be on the same road with them and shot and killed
both the archduke and his wife. With the death of Ferdinand that causes the Austrian
government to spring a rage against the Serbian people in which causing more of a negative
effect for the Serbians instead of a positive. With the death of the arch duke Francis Ferdinand
caused the first spark if World War I.
The second reason causing World War I was Nationalism of the different countries. Due
to the partnership between countries (their allies) the chain reaction began when one country
would attack another. When Russia declared war on Austria, Germany would declare war on
Russia. As it continued one thing led to another. When Germany attacked Russia they were
ambushed by France and Austria. France jumping in caused Britain to join forces with France
and Russia causing a war within Europe. For four long years Europe was having its own civil war
and over 10 million lives were taken without a known cause of who is to blame for the start of
the war, some blamed Austria and Serbia (they blamed each other) but most of the blame was
towards Germany. The main cause of the chain reaction was Germany, them jumping in
between a dispute of two countries.
The third main cause of World War I was the idea of creating a balance of power. In
order to prevent a large scaled war the Europeans leaders had the idea of creating a balance
power. Germany, England, Russia and France were the best candidates of Europe to come to an
agreement to become one and control everything else, the smartest thing to do was to create
an alliance. The idea of an alliance was difficult to perform and failed so Bismarck formed an
alliance with Austria-Hungary and Italy creating a triple alliance. France, Russia and Great
Britain then formed their own alliance called the Triple Entente in response to the triple
alliance. Having two new territories in the same area caused lots of tension in which allowing
the cause of World War I easier to happen.
In conclusion the three main causes of World War I was the spark, Nationalism and the
idea of creating a balanced power. The first tragedy was the assassination of the archduke of
Austria setting the Austrian government off in an uproar targeting the ones responsible for it:
Serbia, setting off the dispute between Austria-Hungary and Serbia. The second reason was
Nationalism between different countries in Europe. There were a few countries that had their
own civil dispute. There were back to back attacks causing a chain reaction between Russia,
Austria, Germany, Russia, Britain and France with that war was inevitable. The third cause of
the war was the idea of trying to balance power. There were times were alliances were
necessary to avoid domination, but not everyone wanted to be allied certain countries. There
were two groups with their own type of alliance, there was the triple alliance: made up of
Austria, Bismarck and Italy, the other alliance was the triple Entente, made up of France, Russia
and Great Britain. With two different alliances in the same area tensions built erupting the war.