The assassination of Archduke Francis Ferdinand ignited World War I. However, it wasn’t the main reason of World War I. There were other causes such as imperialism, militarism, nationalism, and a tangled system of alliances. Two kinds of nationalism contributed to World War I. The first was the tendency for country such as the great power to act in their own national interest. The second kind of nationalism occurred in countries with diverse ethnic populations those in central and eastern Europe.

Militarism involved aggressively building up a nation’s armed forces in preparation for war and giving the military more authority over the government and foreign policy. The great powers of Europe spent large sums of money on new weapons and warship for expending their armed forces. Their planning for war made war much more likely.

A system of alliances developed among the nations of Europe during the late nineteenth century. Germany and Austria-Hungary were linked by treaty, as were Russia and France. Great Britain and France shared a looser alliance called Entente. One week after the war started, all the great power of Europe had been drawn into it. The conflict divided them into two sides. Germany and Austria made up the Central Powers. Russia, France, Serbia, and Great Britain were called the Allies.

     The American government protested  the actions of both sides and tried to act as peacemaker.  American business leaders welcomed the proclamation of neutrality, but those who had strong commercial ties with Great Britain urged that United States get ready for war. They wanted their country to help Great Britain if necessary.  So United States had no other choice than to be prepared to go to war.