Luo 1
Ricky Luo
Mr.Laufer
Canadian History CHC2D1-02
16 September 2014
	Out of the given four causes of World War 1, Nationalism, Alliances, Militarism, and
Imperialism; nationalism is the most responsible long term cause of World War 1. Nationalism is
a nations belief and pride for their country. Without nationalism, the assassination of Archduke
Franz Ferdinand would not have had a big impact on Austria-Hungary as they wouldn't care for
it as much as if they didn't have nationalism. Therefore Austria-Hungary wouldn't have caused
such a ruckus with the Bosnians as they did with the ultimatum of handing over all of the "Black
Hand" members to Austria-Hungary, a written apology and Bosnias permission of allowing their
troops on Bosnias land to watch over them. Another thing is that nationalism is what led to the
other given causes of World War 1. Nationalism is what leads a country into militarism and
imperialism when it comes to war. It is also the reason why countries have alliances such as the
"Triple Entente" which consists of the Russian empire, French Third Republic and United
Kingdom of Great Britain. In addition to this, there is also the "Triple Alliance" which consists of
Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy. Thus, there would not have been a World War or a
conflict at all if there was not any kind of nationalism. Therefore, it seems clear that nationalism
is indeed the most responsible long term cause of World War 1 out of the 4 causes.