What ever view taken by historians on what country caused the war; nationalism, in the Balkans especially and imperial and economic rivalries, regardless were main contributing factors to war. [Ross Steward, Causes and consequences of the First World War pg 2] .
Throughout the late C20th and the early C19th a wave of nationalism swept the continent of Europe, which would later cause much tension and eventually be where the final spark to war takes place. The actual term of nationalism refers to both the desire of people with the same culture, tradition and heritage to form their own independent nation (self determination) and the belief that one's culture or race is superior to another. Normal nationalism is fine, however when it gets extreme or militant it becomes very dangerous. Both these forms contributed to the lead-up of the Great War. [The Great War and its aftermath pg24] .
It can be strongly argued that a cause for war would be the militant Slavic nationalism in the Balkans, who longed for an end to foreign imperial rule. The region of the Balkans, located in the South Eastern Europe had traditionally been under the control of foreign powers. Turkey had dominated there for a number of years but in the early C20th had seen her empire in sharp decline. This left a power vacuum in the Balkans which drew three powers, two of them being the major powers of Russia and Austria-Hungary as well as the minor power of Serbia. Strong nationalistic sentiment within the Slavic population of the Balkans resulted in a strong push for independence, through war if necessary. The Serbian nation which was newly formed and wanted to gain more territory left from the further demise of Turkey. However the Austrian-Hungarians felt threatened by this increased Slavic nationalism especially from Serbia whom they felt was the "focal point of nationalistic agitation in the Balkan region". Historian M.
