Causes of WWI

World War I started due to a culmination of several long and short term factors involving aspects of nationalism, imperialism, militarism, alliance systems, and physical conflicts occurring over a forty year period. The industrial revolution brought around a radically different Europe than there had ever been before and it made nations compete and be wary of each other politically, economically, and militarily. This tension among the leadership of the European nations was supported by the …

…Russia and France with in two days of each other. In order to avoid a two front war, Germany relied on an aged plan called the Schlieffen Plan which caused them to access France through Belgium, violating the “Scrap of Paper” treaty signed by all nations declaring Belgium to remain neutral. By violating this treaty and presenting a threat to British borders, Britain joined the fight against Austria- Hungry and Germany. The war had begun.