WWI Causes

The first main cause of WWI was nationalism. Nationalism is feeling loyal to your country. Being very patriotic. The killing of the archduke was a good example of nationalism because it showed that the man was being loyal to his country. The second cause of WWI was the alliance system. The alliance system is an agreement to support another country and be on there side in case of an attack. There was conflict between two countries, but both countries had alliances so that meant many more countries were involved in this conflict than just those original two. The third cause of WWI was imperialism. Imperialism was using colonies to show power. All the countries at war were trying to prove they are the stronger country by getting the most colonies. The fourth main cause of WWI was militarism. Militarism was striving to have the most powerful military out of all the countries. This created conflict because it meant that the countries were getting angry if another country had created a stronger/larger military.

The start of WWI was the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand. Austria-Hungry was in Serbia controlling them and Serbia wanted them out of their country. So they sent an assassin to kill Ferdinand. This angered Austria-Hungry, so they decided to invade Serbia, which started the war. This was the spark of the war. It wasn't the only thing that lead to the war because there were already conflict and heated tension between most countries at this time.


-Unrestricted sub warfare: (1915-1918) A type of naval attacking in which submarines can sink ships without warning. Didn't give the men onboard to leave the ship and then let the people sink it. Just killed people for no good reason. Germany got out of hand with this so the US entered the war.
-Lusitania: (May 7, 1915) A ferry boat that transported goods and people from Great Britain and the US. The ship was torpedoed by a German U-boat and sunk. This created a big conflict and angered the US. It made them want to enter the war even more than ever.
-Sussex Pledge: (May 4, 1916) A pledge Germany made promising they would sink any ships with their u-boats unless there was known that that ships was carrying weapons. Three days after this pledge was made, a Germany u-boat sunk the Lusitania killing many innocent civilians. This was another reason why the US should join the war.
-Zimmerman note: (1917)A telegram from Germany that was inviting Mexico to join the Central powers. The United States intercepted the note and became angered by it because they were on the side of the Entente Powers. They decided they should join the war.