Causes of WWI
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Militarism
Alliances
Imperialism
Nationalism
Bad Government
Had millions of men to
fight in their armies and
navies
Wanted to “keep balance
of power”
Germany and Britain
clashed over sizes of
navies
Trained all their men,
reservists
All European nations were
militaristic
Countries built up armies
and navies – had thousands
of soldiers
When one country
increased arms, so did the
others
Became known as Triple
Alliance when Italy
joined in 1882
Alliances made in
response:
1894 – France and
Russia
1904 – France and
Britain Entente Cordiale
“Friendly Relationship
1907 – Britain, France
and Russia form Triple
Entente
Sought protection through
alliances
Germany and AustriaHungary formed Dual
Alliance in 1879
1902 – Britain and Japan
make naval treaty
Countries thought
alliance would stop war
but when countries went
to war their alliances felt
obligated to follow
By 1900, British Empire
covered 1/5 of land area on
Earth
Led to clashes between
imperialist powers
Huge tensions
Countries who believed
they were “superior” felt
justified in taking over
foreign land – social
Darwinism
Made countries ruled by
foreign powers want
freedom
Cause many rebellions
and tensions between
imperialist nations and the
people they ruled
Everyone was a nationalist
during this time period
Made people more warlike
Enraged when their
countries were insulted
Not many democracies
Hard for democracies to go
to war because people have
to agree on it
Most governments were
corrupt
Went to war not for “right
reasons”
Thought it was okay to go
to war simply to win more
territory and power for
ruler
Most European nations
were autocracies – ruled by
one person