Participants in the First World War. What were the motives for the parties to the conflict to start fighting?

The First World War - the largest military conflict of its time. Confrontation arose on the basis of a crisis of relations between European countries. All participants of the First World War had their own motives. There were two poles - the Entente and the Triple Alliance - at the time of the commencement of hostilities.

Formation of coalitions

Participants in the First World War are practically all European countries. During the course of events, they joined one of the sides of the confrontation. Neutral remained Switzerland, the Netherlands, Sweden, Norway, Spain, Denmark.

One of the parties to the conflict was the Entente - a coalition created by Russia, Britain and France. A characteristic feature of the agreement was that there was no single agreement, the participants limited themselves to bilateral agreements. One was signed in 1904, between Great Britain and France, the second - in 1907, the parties were Britain and Russia. On the side of the Entente fought Romania, Italy (since 1915), Greece and other countries of the Balkans. Even before the end of hostilities, because of the crisis in the country, Russia left the war.

Why did the Entente countries come into conflict?

All participants in the First World War had their own reasons for participating in the confrontation:

• Russia sought to expand the sphere of influence in Europe - to become a leader among the Slavic countries. Especially interested in the access to the Mediterranean. In addition, there were obvious aggressive attacks from Germany towards Russia.
• France since the days of the Franco-Prussian War has harbored evil in Germany and wanted revenge. At the same time, there was a fear of losing colonies in Africa. By the beginning of the twentieth century, France has ceased to withstand competition in the market, so it wanted by eliminating the most powerful enemy to regain its significance.
• Great Britain also had a number of reasons to fight with Germany. First, England sought to prevent German penetration into the British colonies in Africa. Between countries for a long time was a trade war. Secondly, I wanted revenge Germany for the fact that the latter supported the opponents of Britain in the Anglo-Boer War.
• Serbia was not the founder of the Entente, but also had reasons to enter into conflict. The state was very young, it lacked influence - participation in such a confrontation could turn it into a leader of the Balkan countries. Serbia secretly fought against Austria-Hungary.

Lists of participants in the First World War say that the conflict has touched the whole Europe in a certain way.

Block of opponents - Triple Alliance

The military-political association of Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy was formed at the end of the XIX century. The first agreement was signed in 1879. The founders were Austria-Hungary and Germany, after 3 years Italy joined them.

On the side of the Triple Alliance, Turkey and Bulgaria fought. Italy withdrew from the coalition in 1915. Germany, Austria-Hungary, Turkey (Ottoman Empire) and Bulgaria became known as the Quadruple Union.

There were strong countries in its composition. Germany was a leader in economic and political relations, successfully conducted colonial policy in Africa. The powerful state was Austria-Hungary. It was on its territory that an incident occurred that became the main reason for the beginning of hostilities - the murder of the heir to the throne of Franz Ferdinand.

Why did the countries of the Triple Alliance want war?

The opportunity to deal with political and economic opponents was the First World War. The participating countries that were part of the Tripartite Agreement had a number of motives for starting hostilities:

• Germany aspired to unquestionable leadership in Europe. I tried to destroy the influence of Russia and France. An important motive was the desire to get more colonies in Africa.
• Austria-Hungary wanted to preserve its existing territories and add new ones. I aspired, like Russia, to become the leader of all Slavs.

After the end of the conflict, the participants of the First World War received a weakened economy and state instability. After this confrontation, all the empires that existed at that time collapsed.