Why did world war one start?
965013
...that did it!! Arch Duke Ferdinand assassination....start was only the start...then came the Versailles treaty, where Germany had to pay thru the nose!!\n\nhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_war_one
281877
Wow, just ignore the previous post. Someone has their wars mixed up.\n\nThe United States was neutral during WWI because they felt that this was a European conflict, and none of their business. What drew us into the war was a German U-boat attack on a US ship.
819935
It started when archduke Ferdinand was assassinated by a anarchist.  The US joined in when the Germans sank the Lusitania.
654469
Just read this:  http://www.firstworldwar.com/origins/causes.htm\n\nThe war started out as a dispute between Austria-Hungary and Serbia over the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, but escalated as other countries entered the melee.\n\nHistory can fault Germany because they lost.
609983
In which war, WWI or WWII?
788604
It has everything to do with the Treaty of Versailles. As it's name points out, this is a treaty signed in the Hall of Mirrors in the French city of Versailles. It was the peace treaty that officially ended World War I and unofficially started World War II.\n\nOne of the terms of this treaty was the creation of the League of Nations, whose goal would be to prevent another world war. Other parts of the treaty stated that Germany was to be fully blamed for World War I and because of this, Germany was demanded to pay up all damages calculated of WWI. Also, Germany was denied having an airforce, a navy and was only allowed to have a limited land army. It's colonies were taken away and other damages were also imposed. In a nutshell, Germany was brought to it's knees and into a depression.\n\nThis helped bring about the rise of Hitler who promised to tear up the hated treaty. Of course, Germans supported him and once he arranged for virtually limitless power, it was too late. Nations part of the League of Nations were also fooled by Hitler. They allowed Hitler to take over Austria-Hungary, which belong to Germany prior to WWI. The League of Nations did not disagree much with Hitler's request to undo the Treaty of Versailles. They agreed with him that the terms were much too harsh.\n\nIt was only until Hitler marched into Poland that everyone realized what was happening. But of course, that set foot into a much bloodier World War.\n\nReally, the League of Nations failed to prevent WWII by allowing a genius psychopath to manipulate them. (This is my opinion.)\n\nHope this novel of mine answers your question.
456581
World War 1 fought 1914 to 1918.\nDem.President Thomas Woodrow Wilson in office 1913 to 1921.
47443
World War I, also known as the First World War and (before 1939) the Great War, the War of the Nations, War to End All Wars was a world conflict lasting from August 1914 to the final Armistice (cessation of hostilities) on November 11, 1918. The label World War I or First World War did not come into general use until after the outbreak of World War II in 1939, and until then it was commonly known as the Great War or the World War. The war was fought by the Allied Powers on one side, and the Central Powers on the other, resulting in eventual victory for the Allies. No previous conflict had mobilized so many soldiers or involved so many in the field of battle. By its end, the war had become the bloodiest war in recorded history, though this record was soon to be superseded by World War II.\n\nAmongst Western countries, World War I became infamous for trench warfare along the Western Front, involving a system of opposing trenches (separated by a "No Man's Land") running from the North Sea to the border of Switzerland. More than 9 million soldiers died on the various battlefields, and nearly that many more in the participating countries' home fronts on account of food shortages and genocide committed under the cover of various civil wars and internal conflicts. In World War I, only some 5% of the casualties (directly caused by the war) were civilian - in World War II, this figure approached 50%.\n\nUltimately, World War I created a decisive break with the old world order that had emerged after the Napoleonic Wars, as modified by the mid-19th century national revolutions, the processes of European national unification and European colonialism. Three European land empires were shattered and subsequently dismembered to varying degrees: the German, the Austro-Hungarian and the Russian. In the Balkans and the Middle East, the Ottoman Empire experienced the same fate. Three European imperial dynasties, represented by the Hohenzollern, the Hapsburg and the Romanov families in Germany, Austria-Hungary and Russia respectively, also fell during the war.\n\nWorld War I witnessed the first advent of Communism as a means of government in Russia. The following decades would see the transformation of the old Russian Empire into the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, a global superpower. In the east, the demise of the Ottoman Empire paved the way for a modern democratic successor state, Turkey, in the core region of Anatolia, in addition to a number of successor states and territories throughout the Middle East. In Central Europe, the new states of Czechoslovakia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia and Yugoslavia were born and Austria, Hungary and Poland were re-created. Shortly after the war, in 1923, Fascists came to power in Italy; in 1933, 15 years after the war, Nazism took over Germany. Problems unresolved or created by the war would be highly important factors in the outbreak, within 20 years, of World War II.\n\n\n\nCauses:\n\nOn June 28, 1914, Franz Ferdinand, Archduke of Austria and heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, was assassinated in Sarajevo by Gavrilo Princip, a Bosnian Serb student. The Archduke was there to assert imperial authority over a disputed province. Princip was supported by pan-Serbian nationalists, with links to the Serbian military. Though this assassination is usually considered the immediate trigger for the war, its origins can be traced back to the complex web of alliances and counterbalances that developed between the various European powers after 1871.\n\n\nReasons and responsibilities\nThe reasons for the outbreak of World War I are a complicated issue; there are many factors which intertwine. Some examples are:\n\nFervent and uncompromising nationalism \nUnresolved previous disputes \nThe intricate system of alliances \nConvoluted and fragmented governance \nDelays and misunderstandings in diplomatic communications \nThe arms races of the previous decades. \nRigidity in military planning
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Entangling alliances triggered by the assassination.  Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia because of the assassination.  Serbia was allied with Russia, so Russia was dragged into the war.  Germany mobilized to attack Russia, but Russia was allied with France so France came to Russia's defense.  Germany and France had been at war before and had plans for invading each other.  France's entry into the war led Germany to use one of their old plans for invading France which required them to march through Belgium.  Britain was allied with Belgium and had pledged to help Belgium in the event of an attack by Germany, so Britain was pulled in on the side of the French and Russians.  Since Britain was involved, that meant all of her colonies were involved as well.  \n\nThe book The Guns of August has lots of details on the causes of the war.\n\nAlso, check out the Wikipedia article at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Causes_of_World_War_I
121703
There weren't just three - there were dozens of factors that contributed to "The Great War".  Three of the main ones that I can think of are:\n\nColonialism - the Germans wanted to build a colonial empire to match the British.  This required military buildup threatening it's neighbors.\n\nMilitary Alliances - Because of all the complex alliances among the European powers, the Assassination of Archduke Ferdinand triggered a series of declarations of war, starting with Austria-Hungary declaring war on Serbia.\n\nFranco-German tension - France and Germany had hotly contested the Alsace-Lorraine region bordering the two countries, and had fought several wars over it's occupation for many years.  The region exchanged hands several times but was considered part of France at the outbreak of WWI fueling more of Germany's hatred for France.
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I’m getting too old, I can’t believe anyone would need to ask such a question.\nWorld War I, 1914–18, also known as the Great War, conflict, chiefly in Europe, among most of the great Western powers. It was the largest war the world had yet seen.Causes \nWorld War I was immediately precipitated by the assassination of Archduke Francis Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary by a Serbian nationalist in 1914. There were, however, many factors that had led toward war. Prominent causes were the imperialistic, territorial, and economic rivalries that had been intensifying from the late 19th cent., particularly among Germany, France, Great Britain, Russia, and Austria-Hungary.\nOf equal importance was the rampant spirit of nationalism, especially unsettling in the empire of Austria-Hungary and perhaps also in France. Nationalism had brought the unification of Germany by blood and iron, and France, deprived of Alsace and Lorraine by the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–71, had been left with its own nationalistic cult seeking revenge against Germany. While French nationalists were hostile to Germany, which sought to maintain its gains by militarism and alliances, nationalism was creating violent tensions in the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy; there the large Slavic national groups had grown increasingly restive, and Serbia as well as Russia fanned Slavic hopes for freedom and Pan-Slavism.\nImperialist rivalry had grown more intense with the new imperialism of the late 19th and early 20th cent. The great powers had come into conflict over spheres of influence in China and over territories in Africa, and the Eastern Question, created by the decline of the Ottoman Empire, had produced several disturbing controversies. Particularly unsettling was the policy of Germany. It embarked late but aggressively on colonial expansion under Emperor William II, came into conflict with France over Morocco, and seemed to threaten Great Britain by its rapid naval expansion.\nThese issues, imperialist and nationalist, resulted in a hardening of alliance systems in the Triple Alliance and Triple Entente and in a general armaments race. Nonetheless, a false optimism regarding peace prevailed almost until the onset of the war, an optimism stimulated by the long period during which major wars had been avoided, by the close dynastic ties and cultural intercourse in Europe, and by the advance of industrialization and economic prosperity. Many Europeans counted on the deterrent of war's destructiveness to preserve the peace.\nWar's Outbreak \nThe Austrian annexation (1908) of Bosnia and Hercegovina created an international crisis, but war was avoided. The Balkan Wars (1912–13) remained localized but increased Austria's concern for its territorial integrity, while the solidification of the Triple Alliance made Germany more yielding to the demands of Austria, now its one close ally. The assassination (June 28, 1914) of Archduke Francis Ferdinand at Sarajevo set in motion the diplomatic maneuvers that ended in war.\nThe Austrian military party, headed by Count Berchtold, won over the government to a punitive policy toward Serbia. On July 23, Serbia was given a nearly unacceptable ultimatum. With Russian support assured by Sergei Sazonov, Serbia accepted some of the terms but hedged on others and rejected those infringing upon its sovereignty. Austria-Hungary, supported by Germany, rejected the British proposal of Sir Edward Grey (later Lord Grey of Fallodon) and declared war (July 28) on Serbia.\nRussian mobilization precipitated a German ultimatum (July 31) that, when unanswered, was followed by a German declaration of war on Russia (Aug. 1). Convinced that France was about to attack its western frontier, Germany declared war (Aug. 3) on France and sent troops against France through Belgium and Luxembourg. Germany had hoped for British neutrality, but German violation of Belgian neutrality gave the British government the pretext and popular support necessary fo
83816
Well, to work backwards, then forwards: The men who owned the military equipment factories and other factories, wanted to take over the world's markets.  The American businessmen and the German businessmen wanted to conquer the world, but the Germans got greedy and wanted it all, so we split.  This is what caused the war with Germany and America.  Japan was allied with Germany, as was Italy and Mussolini wanted colonies in Africa, as did Germany.  The United States put an oil blockade around Japan, which in Napoleon's time was considered an informal declaration of war, so Japan bombed Pearl Harbon on December 7th, 1941.  \n Before that, General Motors made Tanks for the Germans and engines for one of their fighter bombers, (the JU-88, I think).  Germany had a Steel Empire called KRUPP steel.\n  This steel company financed Hitler and later used slave labor in the war. Krupp steel also built steel mills in Japan, which were used to make Japanese weapons, guns, cannons and aircraft carriers.  After the war, that steel company was called Mitsubishi steel, which now makes automobiles.  Krupp steel was divided up into 68 companies after the war.  \n  World War I was also financed by Krupp steel, which made a lot of money selling guns and cannons to the government.\nIt involved Trench Warfare, and almost became a stalemate, since until the Tank was invented, there was no way to go across No Man's Land to attack the enemy with enough force to destroy him. \n  By the way, in 1916, an epidemic of flu broke out which later became the Pneumonia Pandemic of 1918, which killed millions of people and is supposed to come back any year now, (but Bird Flu has taken the spotlight in the news.)  But the bad weather and unsanitary and unhealthy conditions in the trenches gave the soldiers this sickness in WW1.\n  For the causes of World War I and World War II, we have to go back a long time.  The land called Alsace-Lorraine, in France now, has/and had iron ore and coal.  During the Black Plague a lot of people left this area and a man named Krupp bought up 243 deeds.  About two hundred years later, one of his descendents started making iron, and later, an heir wanted to make steel, and learned how to do that.\n  With this steel he first made spoons, but they were too small for him to sell in Austria.  He later started making gun barrels, and made a lot of money selling gun barrels.\n  At that time cannons were made out of brass, and brass cannons start to melt when they are fired too much.  The land where the steel was made was in what used to be called Prussia, which had a king named Frederick the Great, who was a Despot.  A despot is an isolated, individual will who is unchallenged.  Frederick the Great was considered educated, or Enlightened.  Other examples of a despot are Catherine the Great of Russia, and Louis XIV of France, Hitler, Stalin, and Franco.  Also, Henry VIII could be called a despot.  Anyone that says The State is Me, or I am the Law, who can have your head cut off if you disobey them, is a despot.  In a democracy we can challenge despots because we have the Bill of Rights, which allows freedom of assembly, and of speech, and of belief, etc.\n  Also, we have three branches of governement, so each branch checks the other to keep it from becoming despotical.\n Otherwise the President would be a despot.  But the people must maintain eternal vigilance to preserve their Liberty.\n  And other people do not have our system of government.\n France lost Alsace-Lorraine to the Prussians in 1871.  France got the land back after WWI, at Versailles.  The Germans took it over from the French when it invaded France after it invaded Poland, Austria, and cut Czechoslovakia in half.  If France had resisted with 3 divisions it could have stopped the german advance.  If the german tanks had not stopped to call Berlin for directions, they could have gone all the way to the Atlantic the first few days without any resistance.  The german c
206413
The principal reason Russia entered World War I was because Russia still felt itself to be the hereditary protector of the self-determination of Slavic peoples in Europe (also, Russia and Slavs are Orthodox Christian, Austria and Hungary are Catholic Christian). Serbia, a kingdom racially made up largely of Slavic peoples, was threatened by Austria Hungary after the assassination of Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo. When Austria threatened to invade Serbia, Russia ordered a partial mobilization (calling up of reserves and deploying its army) against Austria as a deterrent. Germany, who was Austria's principal ally, declared war against Russia.\n\nRussia's position as hereditary protector of the Serbs came about through the centuries long conflict with the expanding Ottoman Turkish Empire which placed the Balkans under the Ottoman Yoke, the enlsavement, persecution and exploitation of the Christian population (largely Orthodox Christian, just like the majority in Russia). In the late 1800's and very early 1900's, in a series of conflicts called the Balkan Wars, Russia was instrumental in forcing Turkey out of almost all of the Balkan Peninsula.\n\nRussia and Austria had been allies in the Napoleanic Wars and afterwards for several decades, but in the Crimean War Austria made a deal with England to not declare neutrality (at the time, when a friend went to war, you declared your neutrality so your friend did not have to deploy soldiers in defense against your possible attack). As a result, Russia felt it had to send many of its best soldiers to guard against Austria while sending politically unreliable soldiers such as Polish and Asians, who did not perform well against England and France. Russia lost the war and never forgave Austria. In 1866, Prussia instigated a war against Austria; when Prussia won, part of the peace was a forced alliance from Austria.\n\nI hope this helps.
376929
It already did start -- over 60 years ago!\n\nVery, very generally, I suppose most would say that it began when hitler invaded Poland in September 1939.  It isn't quite that simple, and many factors occurred that led up to that act, but that's the accepted answer for when it actually began.
115581
here is a link that will help u http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Causes_of_World_War_I
609113
Wow, that's an indepth question to ask.\n\nFor starters, World War I completely reshaped the map of Europe and parts of the Near and Middle East.  The Austrio-Hungarian Empire was divided into Czechoslovakia, Hngary, Yugoslavia, and Austria; parts were also given over to Romania and to Italy.  The Ottoman Empire was divided into British and French Mandates, forming Iraq, Palestine, and Jordan for the British and Syria and Lebanon for the French, as well as the independant state of Turkey.  The Russian Empire was separated into Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland.  The German (Prussian) Empire was divided as well, with part of their territories going to create the Polish Corridor, giving Poland access to the North Sea, an allotment was also made to Czechoslovakia, Blegium, and, of course, the German independant state.\n\nSome of the statistical information concerning World War I is as follows:\n\n-10 million soldiers dead\n-6.6 million civilians dead\n-21 million wounded\n-8 million MIA (Missing In Action) or POW (Prisoners of War)\n-Cost of War appx. $180 billion\n-Other Costs in Relation ~ $150 billion\n\nThere was also a mass movement of displaced people as their homes were utterly destroyed in the wake of the war.\n\nIn terms of politics, the ultimate loss of Russian troops allowed for the successful usurpation of the government by the Communist party.  Since Europe's economy was trashed, the United States became the dominant power in the world financially and wound up being the largest lending agent for the restoration of Europe.  France, bitter at their ultimate defeat, wanted Germany to be punished for its role in the war, which successfully undermined Woodrow Wilson's attempts to settle the Versailles treaty without instilling a sense of anger in the Germans unsuccessful.  Germany was forbidden to have a standing military, and felt betrayed by its high command (Jews, Liberals, Socialists), and combined with the effects of high unemployment created a perfect breeding ground for Hitler and the Nazi party to emerge later.  Italy did not get all that it asked for -- a mutilated victory -- which opened the door for Facism and Musilini.  Britain, with the creation of the Mandates in the Middle East, made a grab for the oil industry.  The Bourgeoisie class was elevated, which mostly eliminated the power of the Aristocracy, which, combined with a deteriorated economy, weakened the strength of Imperial Colonialism and set the stage for the dismantling colonial states held by European states all over the world.\n\nThe full repercussions of World War I would not be felt until World War II with the rise of Nazi Germany and Facist Italy.  The end of the war left countless dead and/or missing and/or displaced, German divided between western powers and those of Russia, who had taken over most of the countries that would later become the USSR.  This set the stage for the Cold War, which would last until the early ninties after the fall of the Berlin Wall.  The Holocaust left over six million Jews dead and the remainder displaced.  As a result, many Jews migrated to Palestine, which soon after became Isreal, a nation backed by the west and resented by Muslims everywhere, thus creating tensions between the Middle East and the Western nations.  The advent of the first atomic bomb would also set off a long series of discussions on the US's use of nuclear technology against Japan.  The United Nations also formed as a result of World War II; their first conferences were held in San Francisco (mostly so the NSA could tap the other delegates' phone lines and listen in on other conversations being held).  The Cold War resulted in the Arms Race, and the decision of the US government to simply out-spend the Russians and drive their economy into the ground, slowly deteriorating the basis for their system of government.  Really, we have not seen all the final effects of World War II, though some of the major politica
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World War I\n\nWEB LINKS\n\nPRIMARY SOURCE DOCUMENTS.\n\nFantastic Resources.\n\nhttp://www.historyteacher.net/APEuroCourse/WebLinks/WebLinks-WorldWar1.htm\n\nWorld War I\n\nhttp://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/FWWusaG.htm\n\nAlthough the USA had strong ties with Britain, Wilson was concerned about the large number of people in the country who had been born in Germany and Austria. Other influential political leaders argued strongly in favour of the USA maintaining its isolationist policy. This included the pacifist pressure group, the American Union Against Militarism.\n\nhttp://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/FWW.htm\n\nhttp://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/modsbook38.html\n\nRead and listen to stories of the War from the people who lived it. Explore diaries, letters, scrapbooks, newspaper cuttings, photos and keepsakes.\n\nhttp://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/worldwarone/\n\nhttp://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/pathways/firstworldwar/\n\nhttp://www.wfa-usa.org/new/links.cfm\n\nAn Internet History of The Great War\n\nhttp://www.worldwar1.com/\n\nGood luck\n\nKevin, Liverpool, England.