World War I began in 1914 up to 1918. It was centered in central Europe and mostly involved the world greatest powers at the time. It consisted of two powers that were against each other. These powers were the allied powers and the central powers. The allied powers included Russia, Britain Empire, France, Brazil and others. The central powers were Germany, Bulgaria, Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire. The war also included other continents like Africa, North and South America, but most countries were in the allied power. The World War I is also known as the Great War.
The main trigger for the World War I is believed to be the assassination of the heir of the Austro-Hungarian kingdom Archduke Franz Ferdinand. Although there was a rush to solve this crisis, the Austro-Hungarians, may have triggered the Serbians into a war. It was after the Serbians failed to agree to some demands by the Austro-Hungarians that the Austria-Hungary kingdom declared war on Serbia in July 1914. This war then triggered the other counties to declare war on each other. The Russians supported the Serbians, mainly to protect their influence on the Balkans. France declared war against the Germans, mainly because of what had occurred during the Franco-Prussian war. The Germans also declared war on Russia while Britain declared war on the Germans.
It is believed that although the assassination of the Austro-Hungarian heir may have triggered the war there were other significant causes that had been developing, and they are believed to have been the principal causes of the World War I, it was like a bomb waiting to explode. These reasons include nationalism, alliances, imperialism and militarism. Other minor factors were misinterpretation of intent, also delays in communication by some countries and incompetent governance.
Nationalism, this means a country being particularly interested in matters of another country. This was common during that time. Differences in the interests by different countries in a country may have caused the war. This is like the case of the Russians, who had an interest in Serbia, and its attack by the Austro-Hungarian led to Russia getting involved in the war, and so did the Germans. The formation of alliances also may have also caused some countries to engage in war. An alliance is a signing by two or more countries that promise to help each other in case of war. One of such alliance was the triple entente, an alliance by Britain, and France to stop the Germans control over Europe.
The other cause was imperialism, which is a country’s conquest over another country and colonizing them. This may have triggered the rivalry and war between France, and Britain over the Germans. This was so especially because France had large conquest over Africa also, Britain had taken up its share but the Germans had been late, and this may have triggered the declaration of war between Germany and France, and Britain and Germany. The other cause for the war is militarism; this is also referred to as the arms race. Most Europeans countries had strengthened their battleship equipment, and their military, the British for instance had built the dreadnought ship. This meant that these countries had been preparing to go to war, and it was only a matter of time.
The effects of World War I were there was a change in governance, initially most of Europe was ruled under empires and monarchies, these changed, and they introduced republics. It also led to the falling of some empires like the Ottoman Empire. It also led to territorial enlargement of some countries while they deprived others. Germany was the most affected it was forced to give up some of its territory to Italy and France. There was also the formation of new countries. The communist wave also started to loom at around this time of the World War I.
There was also the effect it had on the economies of countries so much cost had gone into war and most countries had spent a lot in the war. On a brighter side, there was the improvement in technology and this had an effect on improving the economy of countries after the war. On the social impact, most societies were traumatized, mostly caused by the loss of their loved ones. There were also the remnants of ammunition in the field, which were dangerous to the farmers who were attending to these fields.
