Causes of World War I - Overview

Overview

See also: Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and July Crisis

Although the chain of events unleashed by the assassination triggered the war, the war's origins go deeper, involving national politics, cultures, economics, and a complex web of alliances and counterbalances that had developed between the various European powers since 1870.

Some of the most important long term or structural causes are:

• The growth of nationalism across Europe
• Unresolved territorial disputes
• Intricate system of alliances
• The perceived breakdown of the balance of power in Europe
• Misperceptions of intent – e.g., the German belief that the United Kingdom would remain neutral
• Convoluted and fragmented governance
• Delays and misunderstandings in diplomatic communications
• Arms races of the previous decades
• Previous military planning
• Imperial and colonial rivalry for wealth, power and prestige
• Economic and military rivalry in industry and trade – e.g., Pig War (Serbia)

The various categories of explanation for World War I correspond to different historians' overall methods. Most historians and popular commentators include causes from more than one category of explanation to provide a rounded account of the causes of the war. The deepest distinction among these accounts is between stories that see it as the inevitable and predictable outcome of certain factors, and those that describe it as an arbitrary and unfortunate mistake.

In attributing causes for the war, historians and academics had to deal with an unprecedented flood of memoirs and official documents, released as each country involved tried to avoid blame for starting the war. Early releases of information by governments, particularly those released for use by the "Commission on the Responsibility of the Authors of the War" were shown to be incomplete and biased. In addition some documents, especially diplomatic cables between Russia and France, were found to have been doctored. Even in later decades however, when much more information had been released, historians from the same culture have been shown to come to differing conclusions on the causes of the war.