World war1 reason for war

Answer 1

Why did the First World War break out? Britain had a large empire which was protected by the royal navy. Britain felt threatened by the Germans growing naval power and their political ambitions overseas. Germany had a well trained army and a growing navy. They were jealous of Britain's navy and empire. Russia was a huge country and was rules by tsar. Russia wanted land around the black sea and the Mediterranean so it became a close ally of Serbia and a rival with Austria. They saw themselves protectors of Serbia and the Serbs. This was because Russians and Serbs were slaves and they shared a similar language. The Russians also felt it was their duty to protect orthodox Christians of the Balkans region. Russia had a huge army, but it was badly equipped and poorly trained. France was a strong country but very anti German. Italy was a young country with a small army. The Austro- Hungarians Empire was very keen to establish the Balkans region. Within the empire there were different nationalities, including Serbs. They did not want Serbia to grow in influence because it might unsettle the Serbs in its empire. Since 1878 the Austria had been running the provinces of Bosnia-Herzegovina. In 1908 the Austrians formally took over Bosnia- Herzegovina. The Serbs and the Russians were furious at this action. However neither country was strong enough to act upon this action. In 1912 and 1913 the Balkans wars took place and Serbia emerged as a stronger state. This worried many Austrians who felt Serbia would need to be restrained. Eventually tension between the Austro Hungarian Empire and Serbia became war. The murder of Franz Ferdinand was the excuse for a war that the Austrians were looking for.