Critically asses three major causes of the First World War

There are many causes to the First World War, many of which are results of complex developments which took place for a number of years before the war, such as the conflict over the Balkans and the decline of the Ottoman Empire. The most obvious cause may be the assassination of Archduke Francis Ferdinand. However, upon close examination of the events leading up to World War One, we shall see that this was merely the …

…in which militarist technical development and nationalist sentiment thrived, thus creating an ideal environment for any meaningful event to trigger a chain reaction leading to what is remembered as the Great War - with horrendous losses and suffering being recalled to this day through a few survivors and the literature of the time (and letters from soldiers at the front, Rupert Brooke's poems, etc.) The lesson wasn't enough to prevent a Second World War, however...