Causes of WWI

The long-term causes of militarism, imperialism, alliances and nationalism helped create the conditions for war leading to 1914. Countries competed for parts of northern Africa and the Ottoman Empire. Militaries were growing at a steady pace and the people were literally becoming restless to fight for their country. Also, alliances had become stronger and more prominent. However, it was the assassination of the heir to the Austria-Hungary throne which sparked the war in 1914.
In the nineteenth century, countries were becoming much more nationalistic. Everyone was proud of their country and many nations felt superior to others. People were more than willing to fight for their people and for their nation. Nationalist movements wanted people of one nationality to live within the same borders. Many nations were not happy with these movements. The border and land disputes create are what had lead to the assassination of the Archduke of Austria-Hungary. The nationalism and such problems continued through until the early twentieth century.
The recent Industrial Revolution meant that countries wished to increase their foreign markets. Countries were constantly competing for land to obtain more resources and power. The countries were all trying to improve their empires. Make them better than anyone else’s and that is called imperialism. As the countries saw it, the more colonies the more power. Great Britain, France and Germany all wanted northern Africa. France and Great Britain were able to come to a compromise, yet Germany still didn’t wish to settle anything with the other two counties. The crumbling Ottoman Empire was appealing to Russia, Austria-Hungary and the Balkans. Therefore, many conflicts developed between the nations.
After the France-Prussian War, alliances were being made. Countries sought out security and alliances promised the help and defences of another. In its acts to isolate France, Germany formed two separate alliances. The Three Emperors League with Russia and Austria-Hungary in 1872 and the Triple Alliance with Italy and Austria-Hungary in 1882. Due to disagreements with Germany after the firing of Bismark, Russia left the Three Emperors League and aligned with France in the Franco-Russian entente in 1894. Prewar, the countries who would eventually fight were divided between two major alliances. The first was the Triple Entente with Great Britain, France, Russia and Serbia. The second being the Triple Alliance with Germany, Austria-Hungary, Rumania, Bulgaria, Greece, Italy, Portugal and Montenegro. With all of these alliances the domino affect was created. Once two countries got involved, all the other countries were bound to also because of how they were aligned. For if the point of an alliances is to help the country in need. All international tension was increased by this "division" of Europe.
To prepare themselves for future wars countries would build up their military forces. Militarism expansion was extremely competitive between Great Britain and Germany. Britain wanted to have the better Navy for several reasons. A few being that they were an island and therefore surrounded by water and they had many colonies far away. 1906, they introduced the Dreadnought. One battleship among various others. Soon afterwards Germany also introduced the Dreadnought. Many military leaders believed that just because they had the resources and weapons, they should use them. The constant competitiveness caused tension to grow and the arms race continued on. As the militaries and technologies grew, so did the war.
The inciting incident of WWI happened in Sarajevo, Bosnia on June 28, 1914. Archduke Francis Ferdinand, heir to the Austria-Hungary throne was assassinated by a Serbian nationalist. Immediately Germany pressured Austria-Hungary to declare war on Serbia. Which the country did on July 29 of that year. Like falling dominos, Germany, Great Britain, Russia and Canada were all at war.
The countries of Europe were always competing. Whether it was about who was prouder or had a bigger military. As well as having better alliances and bigger empires. The tension grew and the war became inevitable. With each passing day te severity of the war grew. All it took was one Serbian nationalist to start World War I.