Prelude to War
A Milestone Documents E-text
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Abstract

Many events conspired to lead Europe down the road to war in 1914. We can group some of the major background causes of the Great War into four categories: the Eastern Question, imperialism and nationalism, the arms race, and the alliance system. First, the declining Ottoman Empire, known among European diplomats as the “Sick Man of Europe,” created a serious problem for governments interested in maintaining the balance of power. Politicians called this persistent problem the “Eastern Question.” As the Ottomans lost control of their eastern European lands, the Russian and Austro-Hungarian Empires sought to fill the power vacuum.

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