What were the causes of World War I?
1 Answer
I would discriminate between spegific and more general or global causes.
Explanation:
The specific cause or "casus belli" was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria in Sarajevo in 1914 with the consequent chain reaction of declarations of war between European countries/empires that followed in a really wild and unavoidable succession.
The more global and general cause or causes are more intricate.
I think that at the start of the century the situation of Europe was similar to a classroom with several bullies that try to dominate the lot and profiteers that support this or that strong party to gain something from the fight.
England and Germany represent the two main antagonists:
The first has an old and enormous empire; she has a strong and traditionally powerful Navy but her army is scattered around the globe trying to control the empire that is giving the first signs of aspirations towards independence;
The second has a strong, proud and (up to now) victorious army; an army that is quite advanced and efficient. It has a capable and modern industry and production is high but...she needs markets (to sell) and colonies (to get raw materials).
The two nations are set on a collision course in particular on the sea in an attempt to secure advantages on foreign markets and in acquiring colonies.
France and the Austro-Hungarian Empire are strong but tired;
France has recently lost a war against Germany and looks at Germany as her natural enemy and, basically, wants to make Germany pay for the humiliation of the defeat;
Austria-Hungary is the shadow of an empire, exactly as her old emperor, is tired and not capable to keep subjugated the nations that compose the empire. The Balkans in particular are like an open wound that cannot be healed and continuously causes pain and suffering to the empire (it is not a coincidence that the spark that ignites the war starts from this region!).
Russia and the Ottoman Empire are two anachronistic nations that have old and outdated systems of government and rudimental social structures (if not primitive). Their armies are enormous but not very well equipped and really poorly led (Russia in particular is led by nobles that know nothing of modern warfare and treat their soldiers as slaves, while the Ottoman Empire will rely on German ”military advisors” to direct military operations).
So, now you are set for a confrontation between the big bullies (strong or supposedly strong) where at stake there is the Economic domination of the world for the next several decades. The one who win will dominate the Economy and decide upon the division of the raw materials and goods from the colonies.
At the end the big cause for me is a financial one. Also, a war (in a cynical and horrible way) has also the advantage to be good for industry (the heavy one in particular)!
