Nationalism
Nationalism from the French Revolution and Napoleonic conquests spread nationalism throughout most of Europe. Inherent in nationalism was the idea that people with the same ethnic origins, language. And political ideals had the right to form sovereign states (self determination). At the end of the 19th century, the issue of nationalist, remained unresolved in Eastern Europe and in the Balkans. As the Ottoman Empire declined, territories succumbed to the forced of nationalism. Austria-Hungary confronted the nationalist aspiration of the Slavic peoples: poles, Czechs, Slovaks, Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes. the most menacing and militant Slavic people were the Serbs who pressed for unification with the independent kingdom of Serbia. Russia added fuel to this situation by promoting pan-slavish, a 19th century movement that stresses the ethnic and cultural kinship of the various Slavs peoples of Eastern and Central Europe and sought to politically unite these people. The purpose of this policy was to promote the secession by Slav areas, weakening the Austrian rule and preparing territories for future Russian annexation. Russia's support of Serbia which supported Slav nationalism, and Germany's backing of Austria-Hungary which tried to counter the threat of national independence, help set the stage for international conflict. Contributing to the war were the growing tensions in European affairs were the Balkan wars. Between 1912 and 1913, the states of the Balkan Peninsula-including Bulgaria, Greece, Montenegro, Serbia, and Romania fought two consecutive wars for possession of European territories held by the Ottoman Empire. This war strained European diplomatic relations and helped shape tense circumstances leading to the outbreak of World War One.
Imperialism
During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, European nations searched aggressively for new colonies or dependencies to bolster economic performance. In this rush to conquer and colonize the imperial powers often clashed around the glove. Britain and Russia faced off in Persia and Afghanistan. Britain and France in modern day Thailand and the Nile river valley, Britain and German in east and southwest Africa, and Germany and France in morocco and west Africa. The most intense competitions were between Britain and Germany and that between France and Germany. German imperial efforts were frustrated to find that the British and French had already carved up most of the world. This German-French antagonism and German-British rivalries went into shaping the international alliances contributing to the spread of the war after 1914.
Militarism
Germans and Britons convinced themselves that naval power was imperative to secure trade routes and protect merchant shipping. Military leaders and politicians saw powerful navies as a means of controlling the seas in times of war, a control they viewed as decisive in determining the outcome of any war. Germany's political and military leaders announced their program to build a fleet with many large battleships seemed to undermine British naval supremacy. The British government moved to meet the German threat through the construction of super battleships known as dreadnoughts. This didn't discourage the Germans but stimulated them to build their own fleet of dreadnoughts.
Alliance
National interest guided the search for allies, each nation viewed its fulfillment of treaty obligations as crucial to self-preservation. These alliances outline the circumstances under which countries would go to war to support one another . Intended to preserve peace, rival alliance systems created a framework whereby even a small international crisis could set off a chain reaction leading to a global war. Europe's major powers broke themselves off into two alliances. The Triple Alliance and The triple Entente. The triple alliance also known as the Central powers grew out of the close relationship between the leaders of Germany and Austria-Hungary. The governments at first formed the Dual alliance, a defensive pact that ensured reciprocal protection from a Russia attack and neutrality in case of an attack from any other power. Italy joined this alliance out of fear of France, transforming it into the triple alliance. However, Italy's bad relations with the Ottoman Empire versus German's good relations with the Turks strained the alliance.
The central powers sought to protect the political status quo in Europe, but the leaders of other nations viewed this conjunction of power with suspicion. This was true of the French leaders who neither forgotten or forgave the Franco-Prussian War. The French government was determined to curb the growing might of Germany. The tsarists regime was equal disturbed by this new alignment of power, especially by Germany's support of Austria, and British leaders were suspicious of any nation that seemed to threaten the balance of power on the continent. This resulted in the formation of the Triple Entente, a combination of nations known as the Allies.
The central powers sought to protect the political status quo in Europe, but the leaders of other nations viewed this conjunction of power with suspicion. This was true of the French leaders who neither forgotten or forgave the Franco-Prussian War. The French government was determined to curb the growing might of Germany. The tsarists regime was equal disturbed by this new alignment of power, especially by Germany's support of Austria, and British leaders were suspicious of any nation that seemed to threaten the balance of power on the continent. This resulted in the formation of the Triple Entente, a combination of nations known as the Allies.