CAUSES OF WORLD WAR ONE

CAUSES OF WORLD WAR ONE

World War One was caused by two alliances- The Triple Entente(Russia, Britain, France) and The Triple Alliance(Germany, Russia, Italy). In 1907, the Triple Entente was formed. Russia came out of splendid isolation. Splendid isolation is when a country stays out of alliances and agreements. Willhelm 11 was the new leader of Germany at this point. He was incredibly unpopular to other countries, as he was very power hungry. Britain, Russia and France were the main leading countries in the early 19th century. When Germany's new leader became threatening to their power, the main powers were already annoyed by this. Germanys leader, Kaiser Wilhelm 11, was also very militaristic and strongly believed in nationalism. This means that he was deeply involved in the rights of Germany. This could also be interpreted as selfish, and an unfair ruler, as it mean she he would fight for his own pride rather than the interest of the country.

Imperialism was also a large triggering, which could be known as ' The Scramble For Africa'. The British Empire was very large by 1900, and had extended over five continents. The amount of land ‘owned’ by Britain and France increased the rivalry with Germany who had entered the scramble to acquire colonies late and only had small areas of Africa. Due to the Kaisers power driven ways, this angered him because he wanted as much power as Britain and France had, and to gain power you had to have an Empire. Land overseas was also a problem because of the Moroccan Crisis in 1904. Morocco had been given to France by Britain, but the Moroccans wanted their independence. In 1905, Germany announced her support for Moroccan independence. Historians think this is because of the Scramble of Africa after Germany was left with little land, so by interfering and winning support with Morocco, perhaps the Kaiser…