World War I, also known as "The Great War" and "The First Modern War", was a large-scale war lasting more than four years, involving nations from all over the world and ultimately killing more than twenty million people. The cause of this war cannot be attributed to a single event but rather to the assassination of a nation's leader and many political philosophies including militarism, nationalism, imperialism, and alliance formation. On Sunday 28 June 1914 in Sarajevo Bosnia the Archduke of Austria-Hungary, Francis Ferdinand, was shot dead by an eighteen-year-old Bosnian Serb nationalist named Gavrilo Princip. Principal is said to have been a member of a secret terrorist society whose main goal was to dissolve the bond between Bosnia and Serbia by liberating Austrian rule over Bosnia. War had to be declared. Militarism; “The tendency to regard military efficiency as the supreme ideal of the state and to subordinate all other interests to military ones” (“militarism”) played an important role in the overall effect on war. Each nation strived to be the best, so once one nation developed a new piece of technology, all the others had to match it and thus create something with more use and more power. This has led to great advancements in technology and is also why this war is called “The First Modern War”. Nationalism; “the belief that nations will benefit from acting independently rather than collectively, emphasizing national rather than international goals,” (“nationalism”). This feeling of patriotism leads countries to want to be superior or better than all surrounding nations. The role of propaganda was very helpful in making people in their own country feel patriotic and join the war efforts themselves.... middle of paper... lpful. They destroyed the boats without being seen and controlled the ocean. Works Cited Duffy, Michael. "The Causes of the First World War". World War I Saturday 22 August 2009. Web. 12 November 2009. "imperialism". Dictionary.com Unabridged. Random House, Inc. February 7, 2010. “militarism.” Dictionary.com Unabridged. Random House, Inc. February 7, 2010. “nationalism.” American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Houghton Mifflin Company, 2004. February 7, 2010. “World War I Timeline.” History online. Network. November 16 2009..