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The Causes of World War One

            When German Chancellor Bethmann-Hollweg was asked why war broke out he replied with a sigh "Oh - if I only knew!" (Ross, 53) This statement implies that there was not just one thing that caused the war there were many. Tensions were building all over Europe prior to the outbreak of World War One. Every tension can be attributed to one of four causes, nationalism, system of military alliances, military build up and colonial competition. If these tensions were gunpowder then the spark that ignited them was the assassination of Franz Ferdinand in June 1914. The assassination gave Austria-Hungary the ideal excuse to stop Serbian ambitions once and for all.
             The tensions before World War One can be largely attributed to the rise of nationalism throughout Europe. Nationalism is the belief that your nation's political and economic goals came before everyone else's.
             Nationalism is an exaggerated form of patriotism. This increased the possibility of war because one nation's goals would undoubtedly come into conflict with another nation's goals. Nations would magnify small disputes creating huge issues of small problems which led to war.
             There was an intense feeling of nationalism in every country but there was also the need to feel safe. This was done by creating alliances and with all the hostile superpowers in Europe. Naturally since there were so many powers within Europe there was a large and complex system of alliances.
             One of Germany's goals was to isolate France. Germany achieved this by allying itself with Austria-Hungary and then Italy to form the Triple Alliance. This alliance made France feel uneasy and isolated. France responded by making an alliance with Russia. This alliance seemed reasonable for a two reasons. Firstly, both Russia and France were alarmed by the expansion of the German Empire. Secondly, Russia possessed on of the largest empires both in land holdings and population but lacked current technology.


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