Answer:
The four causes of the great war (world war one) can be remembered as the MAINS acronym.
Militarism was a long term cause of WW1. Militaristsbelieved that their country should be well armed and that military methodsshould be used to gain nationalists needs. During the decades before the battlein 1914, Europeans idolised the idea of military power as never before in theirhistory. The superpower nations of Europe such as Britain and Germany competedin what became known as the arms race, the strengthening of their armed forcesand the accumulation of supplies of weapons. In 1905 England had four dreadnought battleships while Germany had noneand by 1913, one year before the war started England had four dreadnoughtbattleships while Germany had three. From this evidence it can be seen thatalthough, in 1905 England had the strongest naval base, by 1913 Germany hadsignificantly improved their naval base of battleships as a result of masstechnological innovation.
The Alliances made between nations, in particularly, twoalliance systems, was another long term cause of the First World War. This wasbecause it divided Europe into two armed camps with the triple alliance ofGermany, Austria and Italy on one side and the triple entente, France, Russiaand Britain on the other. The two sides became extremely hostile towards eachother and as a result the repercussion was increased tension, fear andsuspicion among the nations of Europe.
Furthermore, imperialism was another long term cause of theFirst World War. It was the desire of nations to conquer colonies and form anempire. From 1870 on, there had been a competition between the European nationsto take over areas of the world they had not considered worth colonizing. Inthe fight to gain colonies, Britain, France and Germany almost went to war overclashes in Northern Africa. Italy resented France because it prevented themsetting up colonies of their own. The British and Russians clashed over whoshould have influence in Persia, modern day Iran while at the same time bothwere worried that Germany would take over the majority of territory in theMiddle East. Therefore it can be seen, as each European country gainedcolonies, these colonies became committed to helping Europe as a whole in theevent of the First World War.
In addition, Nationalism was another long term cause ofWorld War One. Nationalism was a strong feeling of support for one's nation.Many nationalists strongly believed that the needs of their nation were vastlymore important than the needs of other nations. Therefore, as a result those strong feelings made nationalistsaggressive toward other nations and unforgiving if their nation had beenoffended for e.g. someone criticised their country because they military wasn’tsuperior to the next nation.
Significant individuals were a major cause of World War onebecause the consequences of their actions caused the First World War. Forexample Kaiser Wilhelm II who was responsible for Germany’s navy uprising from1905 to 1913 he said ‘’ “Germany must have its place in the sun”“The world belongs to the strong’’, strong meaning Germany.Another significant individual was Gavrilo Princip, a member of the Black Hand.He was responsible for shooting Archduke, Franz Ferdinand and wife. After thisAustria sends an ultimatum to Serbia. Serbia rejects ultimatum. Austria Hungarydeclares war on Serbia. Germany declares war on Russia. Germany declares war onFrance. Germany invades Belgium as part of the Schlieffen plan, which violatesBelgian neutrality. Britain declares war on Germany. Austria Hungary declareswar on Russia. As a result, this causes a domino effect through Europe and therest of the world.