Why did World War One break out in 1914?

In my opinion the most important long-term cause was the making of the alliances, after all they were invented so countries could keep peace and feel safe but instead countries fears increased. Since 1879 major European countries had been making alliances. In 1882 Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy formed the triple alliance but this alarmed France, Great Britain and Russia. By 1907 Europe was divided into two camps to help each other if there was a war.

Another long-term cause is Nationalism and this is an important factor because people started to believe that their country was better than others.

After a French politician said, “to be a great nation you must colonise”, nearly everyone would have agreed. This made nations assertive and aggressive. This lead onto the Arms Race and Imperialism because Nationalism made the countries think their country was better so they built more ships and tried to conquer more land than other countries because nations thought the more land you own the more powerful your country was.

Get quality help now

Marrie pro writer

Verified writer

Proficient in: International Relations

5 (204)

“ She followed all my directions. It was really easy to contact her and respond very fast as well. ”

+84 relevant experts are online

Hire writer

In 1800 France and Britain both had large Empires, and these continued to grow through out the nineteenth century. Germany and Italy both wanted overseas Empires. So they united countries for the first time. The result was that in the years up to 1900 competition between European powers more intense. There was a scramble for territory, especially in Africa with its rich minerals and resources.

However there were a number of long term factors which helped to make the situation much worse even though they would not have caused the war on their own, they together with the above contribute to the outbreak of the war.

These factors included rebellions and awful governments because rebellions were started by the head figure of parliament making every political decision, which meant that people started to disagree and started rebellions. Not only did most countries have one political decision maker but the also had corrupt governments who only kept themselves in power by paying mobs.

Every major conflict usually has a short-term trigger and world war one is no exception. The trigger or spark in this case was the assassination of Franz Ferdinand and it was important because he was the heir to the Austria – Hungary throne. A Serbian assassin, called Gavrilo Princip, killed him and his death gave Austria-Hungary a reason to attack Serbia. They declared war on Serbia but the war turned so big because the countries allied with Austria-Hungary and the Triple Alliance also went into war against Serbia. Countries also allied with Serbia, the Entente Powers had to get involved too. The war grew bigger because then agreements were made to ensure more men. Like the British that joined the war, who had the Indian Armies on their side because the Indians thought they'd get self-governance and Independence because they, at the time, were being ruled by and governed by the British.

Of course this event linked to a number of other factors such as the Sarajevo trial were lots of Sarajevo assassins were sentences to at least 3 years in prison, maybe 20 years and one was sentence to life in prison and others were sentenced to death by hanging

In conclusion I believe that the First World War started because of long term problems, the real causes of World War One was the alliances themselves. This stood out to me because if alliances weren’t invented the war would have been between only two countries Austria- Hungary and Serbia but Russia got involved to defend Serbia. This set off all the other alliances, and always before the alliances a French politician said, “to be a great nation you must colonise”, this is another of the long term causes that stood out to me, because it made nearly everyone think there countries was the best and the most powerful. Which I think made countries join as allies and also some countries get angry with each other.