Causes and Trigger of WWI

Imperialism

• Europeans were the first ones to imperialize as they increased their power by spreading their influence into other countries in Asia and Africa.
• Many countries wanted to do this and this created tension between many countries because they all wanted to compete.

Alliance

• Many alliances were created during WWI and the 2 main ones being the Triple Alliance and the Triple Entente.
• These partnerships were created to succeed common goals and caused war in between countries.
• If one country declared war on another country then they would be calling war on all the alliances of that country.

Militarism

• In WWI countries wanted to show power by showing militarism.
• When certain countries increased their capacity of their military and made them extremely powerful, other countries felt threatened and so they wanted to increase their own military.

Nationalism

• Many people started to believe that their country was the best.
• This pride that these people felt in their country created tension among the countries and became a big cause of World War I.

Archduke Ferdinand

• In 1914 Gavrilo Princip, from Serbia, shot the Archduke of Austria-Hungary, Franz Ferdinand.
• The Serbians wanted to be free from the Austrian Empire but Austria-Hungary wasn't letting them.
• This decision was a grave mistake and in the end started WWI by making countries create alliances against each other.