World War I is one of the most historical moments in the 20th century.  The conflict which was, primarily in Europe between 1914 -1918, was as a result of the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. He was the heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary and was assassinated on 28th June 1914. The heir was murdered by a Serbian patriot, and this angered the Austria-Hungary and, as a result, declared war on Serbia (Sondhaus, 2011). This leads to a series of conflicts among the Europeans powers as Russia also ready itself to attack Austria-Hungary. There was a formation of different alliances among nations and with time the war grew and spread all over the world.

Although the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand was the immediate cause of World War I, there were also other underlying issues such as nationalism, imperialism and militarism that also made a significant contribution to the emergence of the war. Nationalism is one of the leading factors that led to the emergence of the First World War. Nationalism in Europe caused territorial and economic tension, and this brought about the Balkan crisis. There was economic competition among the European countries which led to increased tension. Britain and Germany engaged in economic competition and this to a great extent fueled the war. Nationalism was also evident in Russia as explained by the rise of Pan-Slavism in the country. The Pan-Slavs sought protection and leadership from Austro-Hungarian, and this nationalism also brought about the war (Shepley, 2011).

Also, imperialism is seen as a leading cause to the WWI as it also brought about tension and competition among the nations. Every European nation wanted to be the strongest and the best which lead to the acceleration of the Balkan crisis. The nations also fought for raw materials and new markets that. Also, the nations start to take over land in other parts of the world such as Africa, China, Middle East and India among other countries. The fight for obtaining the most land results in European countries fighting over who get what land. A good example is the war between Britain and Russia in Afghanistan due to her geopolitical location during the “Great Game”. It was also evident when Britain and France openly opposed the Russian imperialization during the Crimean war.

Militarism was another factor that leads to the emergence of World War I.  By this time; most European countries were competing in the production of weapons. As soon as one nation produced new weapons, all the others followed suit and hence competition in the manufacture of arms accelerated. The European nations also wanted to test their weapons at war and this to a great extent brought about the WWI (Sondhaus, 2011). There was increased military spending especially among the Germans and Russia and as a result, the World War I escalated significantly. As the crisis persisted, there was the formation of several alliances that often conflicted with one another. Every country pledged to support and protect the other from enemies thus creating entangling mutual protection schemes.  The emergence of these alliances produced a lot of suspicion and distrust among the European powers and ultimately brought to the war.  In these alliances if one country went to war all the other countries in the alliance were forced to go to war also. The two conventional alliances were (Allied power) England, France and Russia while the other alliance (central power) Germany, Austria-Hungary, Turkey, and Bulgaria.

It is imperative to note that the U.S remained neutral in the first years of the WWI. The country maintained neutrality as it opposed both the allied and central powers who were the principal participants in the war. However, a series of events lead to the U.S joining the Allies to fight the Germans and the Central Powers. One of the major events leading the US to the battle was sinking the British Lusitania by a German U-boat. This incident leads to the death of 1200 people including 128 Americans, and this agitated the Americans. The breaking of the Sussex pledge made the matter worse since it made the country cut off trade with Western Europe.  Also, the American got involved in the war after the interception of a German telegram made by Arthur Zimmermann that was on its way to Mexico (Shepley, 2011). The interception was made by the British and the telegram instructed Mexico to declare war on America.  This made America feel irritated by the Germans and contributed to their entry into the war.

It is also imperative to point out that the World War 1 was also largely influenced by technological advance. In fact, the technological advances made the war much more difficult especially to infantry soldiers. The new technologies led to trench warfare and lack of new tactics led to massive slaughter at the hands of new technology (Sondhaus, 2011). The new technology brought about increased use of machine guns and rapid fire artillery that provided a boost to any army fighting on the defensive in this war. Also, use of poison gas made the war more miserable.  The use of this gas was also another significant technological aspect of the war. In addition, the war also experienced technological advances in form of tanks and airplanes that eventually led to the end of the conflict.

References

Guttman, J. (2011). Naval aces of World War I. Oxford: Osprey.

Keylor, W. (2013). Realism, Idealism, and the Treaty of Versailles. Diplomatic History, 38(1), 215-218. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/dh/dht112

Shepley, N. (2011). Britain, France and Germany and the Treaty of Versailles. Luton: Andrews UK.

Sondhaus, L. (2011). World War I. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

 
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