Changes

==Nationalism==

Most pre-war Europeans believed in the ‘cultural, economic and military supremacy of their nation’. They believed that their nation was entitled to dominate others and to have special privileges within the international system.<ref>Hew Strachan (2004). <i>The First World War</i>. Viking Publishers: New York, p. 34.</ref> Nationalism was deliberately inflamed by newspapers and politicians. This was used to secure the allegiance of the population to the existing political elite. In many European countries, the traditional elites, such as landowners, the aristocracy and monarchies were able to stay in power by ‘harnessing the emotive power of nationalism’.<ref>Wehler, Hans-Ulrich (1985). <i>The German Empire, 1871–1918</i>, Berg Publishers, 1985.</ref> This was particularly the case in Imperial Germany. Here the conservative elite, including the army and the aristocracy used nationalism to prevent the Social Democratic Party from assuming power in the country. However, Nationalism also created a scenario where countries viewed each other as their rivals and enemies. This meant that they were willing to go to war with their neighbors when there was a crisis in international relations in August 1914. <ref>Tuchman, Barbara, <i>The Guns of August</i>, New York. The Macmillan Company, 1962</ref>

==Immediate Causes of World War I==

On 28 June 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir presumptive to the Austro-Hungarian throne, and his wife, were shot dead in Sarajevo by a Serbian terrorist group. Austria demanded reparations from Serbia. Germany backed its ally Austro-Hungary. Austria threatened war with Serbia, but because that country was allied with Russia, it consulted Berlin.<ref>Tuchman, <i>Guns of August</i>, p. 89.</ref>