Hidemi Suganami recognized three focal causes of war: chance occurrences, war conduced mechanisms and key actions and inactions that were significant in bringing about conflict in August 1914. The three identified points fall into the category of “things that have happened” or “things that have been done” (Suganami, 2012, p. 194). The state system would be encompassed by key actions and inactions- agency- as both things that have happened and things that have been done.

Firstly, key actions and inactions, can be described as the decision to act or not act in regards to impending war, as war usually necessitates one party to make the decision to enforce the “choice of war or immediate surrender” against another, and the second party to engage in war or not to surrender demurely (Suganami, 2012, p. 197). Ways in which the state system is exemplified under the first kind of case can be illustrated by the alliance system and arms race; as well as seeking to gain protection through increasing the size of their armies, European countries also sought protection by forming “alliance against common undemocratic enemies” (Suganami, 2012, p. 193). The dual alliance between Germany and Austria-hungary, which became the Triple Alliance or the Central Powers when Italy joined in 1882 led to France, Russia and Great Britain becoming alarmed enough to form their own Triple Entente (Peaple, 2002, p. 49-50). The military plans each country then went on to devise, and the arms race, were structured to be in the strongest position to fulfil their plans (Peaple, 2002, p. 56). The arms race and military plans that were derived from the alliances led to many aspects contributing to conflict in 1914’s August. The Schlieffen Plan, Anglo-German naval race, Naval laws and Russian Plan are just some of the plans.

Secondly, Serbian nationalist, Princip’s 1914 assassination of the Austrian