Why was there a war in 1914?
Long term causes
M
Militarism- this was where countries built up their armies. Each country tried to
compete to build the biggest army. This created a lot of rivalry and tension and it made
countries suspicious of each other. They wanted to test their armies and prove they
were the best in a war.
A
Alliances. There were 2 rival alliances- the Triple Entente (Britain, France,
Russia) and the Triple Alliance (Germany, Austria-Hungary and Turkey). Each alliance
had made agreements to support each other against their enemies. This created lots of
tension. The each felt that the other was trying to be too powerful and they felt
threatened. This made them more willing to stick by each other when war was declared.
I
Imperialism. This is where countries built up their empires. An empire gave a
country power and money. Countries wanted to build up their empires but this led to
competition and rivalry. They felt that if one country had a big empire, then this would
be a threat to them.
N
Nationalism. This is where a country believes that their country is the best.
Each country felt this and they wanted to prove they were the best by having the
biggest empire and biggest army. This again led to a lot of rivalry and made countries
more willing to go to war to prove they were the best.
Trigger: The event that set the war off was the assassination of Archduke Franz
Ferdinand. He was the heir to the Austrian throne. He was assassinated by a member
of the Serbian Black Hand gang. This led to Austria declaring war on Serbia. The
diagram explains how everyone then got involved.