In this essay I'm going to be explaining the causes of WWI. There are four main causes of WWI. They are Nationalism, Imperialism, Militarism and Alliances. The assassination of Archduke Ferdinand was only the "spark" which set off the "barrel of gunpowder". The four causes had created so much tension in Europe that it only needed one event to trigger the war. I will break down the four causes into long term, medium term and short term. The first long term cause is Nationalism.
Nationalism is the belief that one's own country is the best in the world. The problem with this belief is that one looks down on other countries, and vice versa. The reason why Nationalism is a long term cause of the war is because it takes time for individual nations to come together; and more time to build up confidence in each nation.
The second long term cause of the war was Imperialism.
Abduction of Europe
St. Margrethen - Switzerland / Austria
English: Deutsch:Imperialism comes from Nationalism. It is one's belief that an individual nation is so good that it has the right to take over the others. This is called an empire. The countries they take over are called colonies. This contributed to the war because many countries have been affected by Imperialism. France wanted some land back and some Serbians didn't want Austria-Hungarians in their land. The reason why Imperialism is a long term cause of the war is because empires take time to build up. The British Empire took several decades to build up.
A medium term cause of the war was Militarism. Militarism is when one nation demonstrates its glory through military advancement. A nation would continue building up armies until it is better than every other nation. So when one nation releases a powerful military weapon, the other nation tries...