World History

World War I was a universal conflict that took place mostly throughout Europe between the year 1914 and 1918 . The Great War began with a conflict between Austria-Hungary and Serbia , but it then affected many local European nations along with thirty two different countries . After the Franco-Prussian War occurred in 1870 , the United States and European settled for an extended period of relative tranquility and peace Nevertheless , because there were rapid commercial and industrial advancement , many western powers were expanding their territories as well as their trading system . This caused national rivalries

and alliances to gradually grow , emerge , and intensify . The Balkan Wars caused a western intervention as the Ottoman Empire collapsed . The war has been over for almost a century , but nowadays , many of its issues are still being debated . There were several short-term and long-term events that led to the outbreak of World War I

The assassination of Archduke Francis Ferdinand was an immediate cause and the final event that led to the outbreak of WWI . Ferdinand was heir to the Austrian throne and he was shot dead along with his wife on June 28 , 1914 by a Serbian nationalist , Gavrilo Princip , who belonged to a secret society known as the Black Hand . The assassination at Sarajevo gave Austria the perfect excuse to take hostile action against Serbia Besides this occurrence , there were many other scenarios that also led to the cause of the Great War . Some long-term causes were related to nationalism , militarism , and imperialism

Nationalism exists in every country and during the 20th century , many people that resided in Europeans countries have had the desire for independence . This has led to a series of national struggles among the people that lived in the Balkan territories . Since so many powers were involved , this created instability . Also , nations were trying to achieve independence as rivalries in Europe were trying to dominate each other There was so much pride and prestige devoted to these countries this led to the impossibility of reaching to agreements as well as peace

In 1815 , the Congress of Vienna brought upon a lot of problems throughout Europe . Germany and Italy were once left as divided states but the revolution and a strong sense of nationalism brought the unification of Italy (1861 ) and the unification of Germany (1871 France was left vengeful and discontent over the loss of the territory Alsace-Lorraine to Germany as a result to the Franco-Prussian War in 1871 . After this incident , revanche became one of France 's major goals One of the major problems that created much conflict was the fact that Serbia and Austria-Hungary owned different territories , all of whom wanted to gain their freedom from the nation that they resided in Allies built powerful and developed militaries . Nationalists were very product of their own nation and they wanted every to recognize them as the riches and the most important . Nationalism has caused a major contribution to the alliance system since no country felt comfortable fighting a war alone

Militarism...