Introduction to World War One

It began with the assassination of an Archduke and his wife.  It lasted four years from 1914 to 1918, killing more than 9 million people. This is World War I, the Great War, a horrific period in our history that forever changed the world.

But how did it all begin? Historians have now deduced there are four main reasons that led to the Great War: the Alliance System, nationalism, militarism and imperialism.

The Alliance System split most of 1914 Europe into two main alliances. One was the Triple Entente, which consisted of France, Russia and Britain. The Triple Alliance consisted instead of Germany, Austria-Hungary and for a short while, Italy. Another major cause for the World War was also because of this strong sense of nationalism. This meant unquestioning loyalty to one’s nation and also fear and suspicion of foreigners. The third reason for the World War was because of militarism. There was this sort of Arms Race between all of the Great Powers. The last reason for the Great War was because of imperialism.  Some of the nations had made pacts with other countries around the world. It wasn’t a case of simply a war breaking out in Europe. This was going to escalate to great levels.

The British Empire was very great and had control over many nations at the time. This was how Australia became involved in the Great War. Over 300,000 men took part, and of this number, more than half were either killed or injured.