What Caused The Outbreak Of The First World War

What caused the outbreak of the war?

In late June 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria was assassinated by a Serbian nationalist in Bosnia. A rapid increase of threats followed the incident led to the world's first global conflict, The First World War. The Great War between the Allied Powers of Great Britain, France, Russia and the USA and the Central Powers of Germany, Austria Hungary, Italy and Turkey had began in mid-August 1914. The introduction of the modern technology and weaponry such as machine gun and tanks to warfare resulted in an unbelievable destruction and death of more than 9 million soldiers. The war broke out in 1914 due to several factors which are considered to be the causes of the war including the Imperialism, War
One reason was the Arms Race and Naval Expansion which led on from the Imperialism which I will mention later on. The arm race began during 19th century. Germany had the greatest military buildup as it had the biggest on-land arm force in Europe. Meanwhile Britain had increased its powerful navy and its navy was by far the largest in the world. However, Britain was anxious about the German navy which was rapidly growing as well as its army which had over 4 million soldiers. At the same time Germany were determined to overcome Britain by its navy. The conflict between Britain and Germany developed over time. There was race between this two of who would construct the most powerful fleet of battleship. This caused tension between the nation and it was better proved who is better and stronger by declaring war. The naval and arms race were considered as a short term cause because the race had just happened and I think it's quite important because the race developed a strong disagreement between two nations. Another cause of the First World War was the Alliance system. As I mention earlier Germany wanted to be greater than Britain which led to competition for colonies and naval race. However this could not be happened without Alliance system. To win Britain, Germany needed countries to support it and to help in time of war. European countries made alliances that would pull them into Battles. If one
Britain and France both had a large empire and colonies oversea and these continued to grow during 19 century. Unlike Britain, Germany and Italy became united countries in 1870s and they wanted to have oversea empires. Due to the jealousy between nations, this may led to the outbreak of the war. Not just Arms and Naval Race which caused the war, also Imperialism of who had more power through colonisation. More colonies means more powerful as they could gather raw material and cheap labour. In this case, Britain and France owned so many colonies throughout the world, meanwhile Germany had none. The desire for great empire and the competition for colonies helped pushing the nations to the war. This linked to Arm Race and Naval Expansion that I have mentioned earlier because more army and navy can be built if you have more colonies as Britain got the greatest navy because it had many colonies oversea. Nationalism is a feeling that one's nation is superior to other nations. It made people feel that they are better that others and this could be prove this through fighting. Germany had the most powerful army and Britain had the most powerful navy. This caused conflict between two nations which may led to a war. The Balkan did not wish to be ruled by other authorities other than themselves as they wanted to gain