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What Caused WWI
the Archduke and the Archduke’s wife. The boy’s name was Gavrilo Princip. Princip was arrested immediately, and he was sentenced to a long term of imprisonment. “Within six weeks, this seemingly minor event in a backwater area of Europe had sparked off a major war that was to last for four terrible years” (Pimlott 6).
“Of equal importance was the rampant spirit of nationalism, especially unsettling in the empire of Austria-Hungary and perhaps also in France.” (History Channel). Many people in Europe believed strongly in nationalism. Nationalism is described as “a feeling that binds together people who live in the same country, speak the same language, and have similar customs and ideas.” ( Snyder 10). The nationalism that was spreading throughout Europe during the World War I era was like a crippling disease. Nations who suffered from this ‘disease’ were starting to feel superior to others and they wanted to covet the land of neighboring countries. The countries were ready to go to war to get the land that they wanted.
The Alsace-Lorraine area was the rich industrial region between Germany and France. France and Germany had been fighting over this strip of land for years. During the war of 1870-1871 Germany had won the land. France now wanted the region of land back from Germany. Germany already had a plan to keep France from winning back the Alsace-Lorraine. (Pimlott 9).
Poland was another region of land where many of the Polish people had a great feeling of nationalism. Poland actually wasn’t on the map in 1914 due to the country having been split up three times between Russia, Austria, and Prussia. The Polish people were spread all over Europe, and they wanted their country back. (Snyder 10).
The Balkan States consisted of many proud ethnic cultures that did not wish to be ruled by any authority other than themselves. Although the Balkans were unimportant in relation to more powerful countries of the time, they managed to play an important part in the history of Europe through their determination. Within the Balkan States, the nationalism of the early 19th century erupted into an ocean of patriotic fever causing the citizens of Sarajevo to want to kill the Archduke. (Snyder 1).
Every country in Europe was trying to build up their own army. This process was called militarism. France had spent a lot of money increasing her armed forces. France had a population of forty million, and France’s armed forces had a population of nine hundred thousand. Russia had a huge army of one million three hundred thousand, but it had poor equipment and was poorly trained. Germany’s army of seven thousand was well trained and had modern equipment. (History Channel). All of the countries were developing new weapons to use. An example of how militarism was causing a great [next page]