Causes of World War 1

Students will know they can do this when they apply their knowledge to quiz questions.

Success Criteria

Students will apply knowledge learnt of the four main causes of world war one.

​Lesson Focus

There were four main factors that contributed to the growing tensions between European countries in the lead-up, to World War I including:

• the alliance system

• nationalism

• imperialism

• militarism.

The alliance system

From the 1870s onwards, Europe’s leading nations grouped themselves into two alliances.
In 1882, the Triple Alliance was formed between the countries of Germany, Austria–Hungary and Italy. In 1907, the Triple Entente was formed between the countries of Britain, France and Russia

Nationalism was another important factor that contributed to the outbreak of war in 1914. Put simply, nationalism is a sense of pride in, and a love of, one’s nation. Nationalism grows out of an understanding of common goals and beliefs between the people of a nation – for example, a shared language, culture and history.

Militarism is the belief that all nations should build and maintain strong armed forces so that they are prepared to defend themselves against attack or promote their national interests. In the lead up to World War I, many European countries competed with each other not only over the size of their empires, but also over the size of their armies.