Germany felt threatened by the loose alignment between France and Britain. Twice, Berlin came up with the scheme of deliberately provoking a crisis by challenging the growing French influence in Morocco, hoping to humiliate France and force it to break off its association with Britain. Both times, the plan backfired - ties between France and Britain were strengthened, and Germany was left more isolated than ever. Although war was narrowly avoided in 1905-1906 and in 1911, both of the Moroccan Crises sharply ratcheted up European tensions and helped bring on the First World War.
The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand signalled the rapid slide into world war, but this wasn't the only cause. There were underlying causes in the run-up to the First World War.
In the 1930s, historians argued that there were four underlying long-term causes of the First World War:
• Nationalism - the belief that your country is better than others. This made nations assertive and aggressive.
• Imperialism - the desire to conquer colonies, especially in Africa. This brought the powers into conflict - Germany wanted an empire. France and Britain already had empires.
• Militarism (Arms Race) - the attempt to build up a strong army and navy gave nations the means and will to make war.
• Alliances - in 1882, Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy formed the Triple Alliance. This alarmed, France, Britain and Russia. By 1907, they had all joined the Triple Entente. Europe was divided into two