The world war 1 broke out on July 28, 1914 when Austria declared war on Serbia over the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. This sparked escalating alliances that drew most European powers into the war. Some of the long-term causes that heightened tensions were nationalism, imperialism, militarism as countries engaged in arms races, and a lack of international organizations to prevent or reduce conflicts. The assassination was used as a pretext for Austria to issue demands that violated Serbia's sovereignty, which led to Russia and Germany entering on opposing sides and pulling in their allies over the following weeks. By August 1914, 30 countries were engaged in the massive global war.

1. The world war 1 broke out on July 28, 1914. When Austria declared
war aginst Serbia. That war spread in whole Europe within a very little
time, war between the two countries very soon converte into World
War 1.
Till 1914 the wars were limited with respect of duration, countries,
investment, loses etc. But the war, which broke out in 1914 was
named as World War 1 because it culminited from mini to super
power.
Almost all the Europe was involved in that war, the loses were greater
Than the gains. It was actually a multi-dimentional war.
CAUSE OF THE WORLD WAR 1:
As far as the causes of the world war 1 are concerned, there are two
causes, “either because the nations were not free or they were too
free”.
All the causes of the world war 1 are based on these two reasons,
which is described under following headings:
NATIONALISM:
Nationalism is one of the major causes of world war 1. It further paved
the way for world war 1.
Actually, in the world war 1 no country was aggressor, all were
defending themselves and their allies, e.g., Russia came for the help
of Serbia, Germany came for Austria, Britain had to come towards
France to save herself from German attack.
SECRET ALLIANCES:

2. Secret alliance were actually the brain-child of Bismarck, which had
some benefits, but all the massacre brought in world war 1, was
almost due to those alliances. Whole Europe was divided into tow
blocks.
Germany, Austria and Italy had dual alliance-1879, which became
Tripple alliance in 1882. On the hand France and Russia had alliance
of 1894 and Great Britain and France had of 1904. In 1907 came the
Entente Cordial. So at the war time those two blocks came under
direct conflict against each other.
ARMS RACE:
Arms race also became reason of world war 1, as every country in
Europe was trying to strengthen it army. Germany was trying its “place
in the sun” it was trying to establish its arm navy for obtaining
colonies. It was like a competition between Great Britain and
Germany, that both of them were trying their level best to establish
navy for obtaining colonies.
For every ship built by Germany, Great Britain built 2 ship. Both the
Germany and France had 3.5 million troops and Russia had 4 million
troops. That arms race continued even during the war, as poison gas
and submarines were invented during the war in 1915.
LACK OF INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATION:
Another major cause of the outbreak of the world war 1 was the lack
of internaional organization, which could stop nationalism or military
competitions during that period.
International law existed but there was no such particular force to
implement that law. So that also caused the first anarchy in the world
and paved the way for world war 1.

3. BOSNIA CRISIS (1908 ):
Bosnia crisis aslo heightened the tension. Austrian taking advantage
of a revolution in Turkey, annexed the Serbia province of Bosnia. It
annoyed Serbia as it was also hoping to acquire Bosnia and
Herzegovina having 3 million Serbs.
The Serbs appealed to their fellow Slavs, the Russians, who called for
a European Conference, expecting France and British support. But
having the fear of Germany supportin Austia, both the countries
avoided any risk. So Bosnia and Herzegovina remained the part of
Austria.
IMPEALISM OR COLONIAL REVALRY:
In those days ambition to get colonies increased. Germany threatened
the centuries old supremacy of Great Britain in respect of colonies.
There were four main colonial rivalries.
-Between Great Britain and France on Egypt.
-Between France and Italy on Morocow.
-Between Russia and Germany on Persia.
-Between Great Britain and Germany on Africa.
ALSAUCE AND LORAINE:
Alsauce and Loraine also provide roots for the outbreak of world war1.
There was a conflict between Germany and France on the issue of
these cities. Newspapers were fanning the nationalism, so Alsauce
and Loraine were anxious to into the hands of France.
ECONOMIC RIVALRY:
It had been argued that the desire for economic master of the world
caused German businessmen and capitalists to want war with Britain,

4. who still owned about half of the world’s tonnage merchant ships in
1912. There isn’t much evidence to support this territory this theory.
Germany was already well on the way to victory in that area, as one
leading German industrialist remarked in 1913:
“Give us three of four more years of peace and Germany will be the
unchallenged economic master of Europe.
LENIN’S IDEOLOGY:
According to lenin, the cause of the world war 1 was the “spread of
capitalism.” He says that the essence of capitalism is constant
expansion. Profits must be reinvested to produce more profit or the
system collopses. So the capitalist countries had found a new outlet
for their surplus capital in investment increases.
At first it worked, giving capitalism a respite, but by 1914 all the
unclaimed areas of the world had been divided into colonies. The
countries that were left out, particularly Germany, wanted to see the
world redivided for their benefit. As lenin put it, the war was to decide
whether the British or Germans group of financial marauders was to
receive the lion’s share.
DEATH OF ARCHDUICE FRANZ FERDINAND:
The assassination of the Austrian Archduice Franz Ferdinand was the
event which sparked off the war. The Archduice, nephew and heir of
the Empror Franz Josef was paying on official visit to Sarajevo, the
Bosnian capital, when he and his wife were shot dead by a serb
terrorist, on June 28, 1914, who was the member of the serbians
secret organization “Blackhand”.
On 23rd July 1914, Austria sent an ultimatum to Serbia, comprising of
three clauses.

5. -All the secret organization working against Austria should be
suppressed.
-Serbia was to dismiss all the official to whom Austria objected.
-Austrian team would visit Serbia to see that the two demands were
carried out or not.
The first two demands were with carried out but the third demand was
totally the violation of sovereignty of Serbia. When Serbia denied to
work according to these demands, Austria declared war against
Serbia on 28th July, 1914. The Russian anxious not to let the Serbs
down again, ordered a general mobilization on 29th July. The German
government demanded that this should be cancelled and when the
Russians failed to comply, Germany declared war on Russia on 1
Ausgust and on France on 3rd August.
When German troops entered in Belgium, Britain came to defend it
and entered in world war 1 on 4th August. The escalation was
completed when Austria and Hungary declared war on Russia on 6th
August, 1914.
CONCLUSION:
So all these reasons were responsible for the outbreak of world war 1,
which lasted for 4 years and 3 months, involving 30 sovereign states,
taking 10 million lives in the battlefield, but unfortunately world was
quite unable to gain any lesson from the world war 1, as in 1939, the
second world war started, bringing much more destruction to the
world..