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World War I
Major European powers including Great Britain, Germany, France, Russia, and Austria-Hungry for national security maintained polices that would almost guarantee a global outbreak of war. There were three major factors of World War I, the killing of the Archduke, the system of alliances throughout Europe and militarism. First, the murder of the Archduke caused great tension between Austria-Hungry and Serbia. Second Great Britain, Germany, France, Russia, and Austria-Hungry each formed alliances with two other countries. Finally Germany and Great Britain were continually building their respective armed forces in a race for arms. With the killing of the Archduke, countries within alliances had building their military power available. Tensions were high in Europe and war was almost inevitable.
The first cause of World War I was the killing of the Archduke Fraz Ferdinand. The Archduke was to be the next emperor of Austria-Hungry. When he was shot and killed by Serbian terrorists Austria-Hungry gave Serbia an ultimatum. When Serbia didn't agree Austria-Hungry declared war on Serbia. This triggered a chain reaction of countries declaring wars on each other all across Europe. This chain reaction though could have been avoided if all the major European powers had not employed policies of creating alliances with other countries.
Secondly all the major European powers formed a system of alliances. To be militarily stronger many countries would ban together in case of war. This is exactly what happened, Russia, France, and Great Britain formed the Triple Antant, and Austria-Hungry and Germany formed the Triple Alliance. When Austria-Hungry declared war on Serbia an ally of Russia it caused a chain reaction of war all across Europe. Finally, it is clear that World War I could have been avoided if European countries hadn't made alliances, and then the war would have only been fought between Austria-Hungry and Serbia...
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