Nationalism is probably the major story of World War I. Nationalism was a relatively new concept in Europe in the early Twentieth Century. People started to believe that they should be governed by people of similar ethnicity and heritage. A wave of strong patriotic feeling followed. Nationalism also caused nation-states to look out for their own national interests first. In this way, they expanded their empires in Africa and formed alliances with other countries to protect themselves. They also turned to militarism to demonstrate their power. All of these actions are considered underlying causes of World War I and were rooted in nationalism.
Nationalism was also the immediate cause of World War I in the Balkans. Many ethnic groups grew tired of the royal family of the Austria-Hungarian Empire. They sought their own nations for their own ethnic groups. From one such group, the Serbians, an individual assassinated the archduke of the royal family. This sparked a chain of events that led to World War I.
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