· Causes: the causes of first world war are as under-
· Militarism: this means the dangerous and burdensome mechanism of great standing armies and large navies along with an espionage system.
· Narrow nationalism or competitive patriotism: the love of one’s country demanded the hatred of the other. love of Germany demanded the hatred of France and vice – versa.
· Economic imperialism: it led to international rivalries. Every country tried to capture markets in every nook and corner of that world. This led to bitterness and hears – burning.
· Anglo – German rivalry & the charter of William II: angle German rivalry proved to be the main cause of world war I. Germany had become a great industrial country and wanted to have more markets England. William II, emperor of Germany was very ambitious and wanted to gain influence in tukeyby linking Berlin with baghedlaad by a railway line. This agave rise to a great rivalry between England and Germany.
· William II was arrogant, haughty and ambitious,. He wanted Germany to be the strongest power in the world. He believed in the policy of ‘world power or downfall’.
· Lack of international organization: there was lack of international organization to control international relations.
IMMEDIATE CAUSE:
· The immediate cause of the war was the murder of archduke was the murder of Archduke Ferdinand who was the heir to the Austrian throne. He and his wife Sophie were killed at Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia, an annexed territory of Austria, by a Serbian. The Austrians held government of Serbia. There was strong rivalry already between Austria – Hungary and Serbia in the Balkans.
WWI: CENTRAL POWERS VS ALLLIES POWERS
CENTRAL POWERS:
Germany, Austria – Hungary, turkey (entered Nov. 1914), Bulgaria (entered the allies or oct. 1915) etc.
The allies or entente powers:
Great Britain \ England \ united kingdom(UK), France, Serbia, Belgium, Japan Russia USSR (left dec. 1917),Italy (entered in April 26 ,1915), Romania (entered aug, 9116), USA (entered April 6, 1947) etc.