Throughout history, societies have engaged in countless wars for varying reasons. Wars have led to millions of fatalities, long-lasting psychological and physical harm to people, devastation of families and communities, destruction of property, and disruption of economic and social fabric of countries. In some regimes, war has been used to overturn problematic governments and correct injustices. Furthermore, war has been used in expansionism and to promote nationalism. It is, therefore, important to understand the causes of war due to its serious implications. In most scenarios, scholars focus on the political causes and ignore other multiple causes, particularly social. However, even though most wars arise from decisions made by military and political officials, it is often caused by a social phenomenon (Gleditsch & Theisen, 2010). Consequently, for societies to fully understand war and be reminded of its inhumane, sinister and sadistic nature, people need to understand its social causes.
The three main causes of the First World War were the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, European expansionism, and Serbian nationalism. The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the heir of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, on June 28, 1914, and the poor handling of the events that followed by the Serbian and Austria-Hungarian Empire triggered the war. However, the early 1900s were characterized by expansionism among numerous nations and empires across Europe; this was a contributing factor to the war (Norwich University Online, 2017). Imperialism contributed to the war by causing heightened tension among countries in Europe. Finally, nationalism was one of the major reasons for the war. In the years prior to the First World War, nationalism was a major phenomenon that influenced political forces in most countries. In Serbia, nationalism continued to rise as the Ottoman Empire declined (Norwich University Online, 2017). Their nationalism culminated with the assassination of the archduke leafing to the war.
References
Gleditsch, N. P., & Theisen, O. M. (2010). Resources, the environment, and conflict. In M. D. Cavelty & V. Mauer (Eds.), The Routledge handbook of security studies (pp. 221–232). New York, NY: Routledge.
Norwich University Online. (2017). Six causes of World War 1. Web.