Causes Of World War I

World War One - Causes
The first world war began in August 1914. It was directly triggered by the assassination of the Austrian archduke, Franz Ferdinand and his wife, on 28th June 1914 byBosnian revolutionary, Gavrilo Princip.
This event was, however, simply the trigger that set off declarations of war. The actual causes of the war are more complicated and are still debatedby historians today.
Click on the topics below to learn more about what caused World War One.
Alliances    Imperialism    Militarism    Nationalism    Crises
 
Alliances
An alliance is an agreement made between twoor more countries to give each other help if it is needed. When an alliance is signed, those countries become known as Allies.
A number of alliances had been signed by countries between the years 1879and 1914. These were important because they meant that some countries had no option but to declare war if one of their allies. declared war first. (the table below reads clockwise from the top leftpicture)

1879
The Dual Alliance

Germany and Austria-Hungary made an alliance to protect themselves from Russia | 1881
Austro-Serbian Alliance

Austria-Hungary made an alliance with Serbia tostop Russia gaining control of Serbia | 1882
The Triple Alliance

 Germany and Austria- Hungary made an alliance with Italy to stop Italy from taking sides with Russia |
1914
Triple Entente (noseparate peace)

Britain, Russia and France agreed not to sign for peaceseparately. | | 1894
Franco-Russian Alliance

 Russia formed an alliance with France to protect herself against Germanyand Austria-Hungary |
1907
Triple Entente

 This was made between Russia, France and Britain to counter the increasing threat from Germany. | 1907
Anglo-Russian Entente

This was an agreementbetween Britain and Russia | 1904
Entente Cordiale

This was an agreement, but not a formal alliance, between France and Britain. |
Imperialism
 Imperialism is when a country takes over new...