The balance of power mechanism and the system of alliances, had saved Europe from major wars for forty-three years, failed to preserve the peace in 1914.

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That militarism, imperialism and nationalism, along with conflicts between European powers, eventually sparked a war, that because of the Alliance systems grew to a world scale.

European alliance systems contributed greatly to the outbreak of world war one. Different nations militaristic, imperialistic, and nationalistic ideals either offended or worried opposing countries to such a point that plots of assassination, militaristic armaments production and territorial claiming were made.

With the build up of tension, and once considered small countries attempting to expand there empire, gave great concern to the European powers which created a sense of false security about being attacked by one another.

Secret alliances were made by Germany to Austria-Hungary and later with Italy because of this fear of invasion. These 3 central powers in Europe became known as " The Triple Alliance". France and Russia saw this alliance as a threat, so an agreement was made that they would ally with one another if one of them were under attack.

This Franco-Russian alliance built great tension on the central powers due to belief that they were surrounded by powerful forces.(O'Brien, C; 1991)

Britain felt worried because of the fact that no alliances were made with any of the major European powers. Britain didn't want to ally with Germany because of the Bore War. So in 1904, France and Britain prepared to forget previous disputes, and an agreement was made that an alliance between Russia, France and Britain was forged making the dual entente between France and Russia even more powerful with the addition of Britain. This alliance was known as "The Triple Entente" ( Philip, W; 1998)

The European alliance systems definitely contributed to the cause of World War One. If Germany hadn't allied with Austria - Hungary, then a world scale war could have been averted. That...