What were the MAIN causes of WW1?
Imperialism
Militarism
- Both the Arms and Naval Races were the two major military rival races throughout the years 1900-1914
- The Anglo-German Naval race created vast amounts of tension between Britain & Germany
- The Arms Race meant all the great powers were constantly pressured to keep their armies strong and well equipped to ensure their forces matched that of a potential enemy
- This formed a balance of power
- Britain was a dominant imperial power. They easily took control of colonies, although the Boer War was an exception, as lots of blood was shed for the possession of South Africa.
- The scramble for Africa was a source of much rivalry between European powers
- As soon as Kaiser Wilhelm II rose to power, he was set on finding 'a place in the sun' - weltpolitik
- In the two Moroccan Crises (1905 & 1911) due to the Kaiser's desire for more territory, he interfered with French interests and set off a war
Nationalism
Alliances
- One of the main causes of WW1 was Serbia's great, nationalistic policy - a desire for all Serbs to be united to form a 'Greater Serbia'
- This ambitious desire was exactly what would ruin A-H's polyglot empire, which is why there was so much tension between the two countries
- This later sparked the beginning of WW1, as A-H wished to put an end to Serbia's nationalistic dream
- Also, Britain's desire to maintain their supremacy at sea was quite a nationalistic policy, and this caused the Anglo-German naval race creating tension
- By 1914 there were two armed, rival camps in Europe: The Triple Alliance and Triple Entente
- By 1914 the Triple Entente was stronger than the Triple Alliance
- Italy had opposed Germany's actions throughout the years, which weakened their bond and made G rely greatly on A-H