The spark of the great war happened because of the assassination of the Archduke of Austria Hungary. Serbian nationalists had turned their attention back to the idea of “liberating” the South Slavs of Austria-Hungary. Believing that the Serbs’ cause would be served by the death of the Austrian archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austrian emperor Franz Joseph, and learning that the Archduke was about to visit Bosnia on a tour of military inspection, Apis plotted the archduke’s assassination. The Serbian prime minister and an enemy of Apis heard of the plot and warned the Austrian government of it, but his message was too cautiously worded to be clearly
The goals for Austrias revolution was based on nationalist ideas such as the want for more independence and the splitting up of the Austrian Empire. Austria wanted to get rid of their leader, Metternich, because he was the one who had been working for years to hold the empire together. Some of Austrias revolution was caused by the revolutions in France at the time. In effort to force Metternich out of power, revolts were happening in Vienna. The fighting in Vienna was mainly between Austria and France.
In 1905 the German Kaiser Wilhelm the II traveled to the Moroccan city Tangier, while France was trying to take control of Morocco. The Kaiser made a speech about Moroccan Independence which outraged France. Another incident in 1911 happened when the French were trying to mitigate tension with the moroccan people. Germany sent a gunboat to the Moroccan port of Agadir without permission, or warning. This prompted a much greater response from France as well as brought Germany and France to the verge of war.
After all it had started when a Serbian shot an Austrian. It was felt that Germany had been simply made a scapegoat by the other countries for all that had happened. Looking back it is clear that the Treaty of Versailles created more problems than it actually solved. The treaty broke up empires and changed boundaries. The Germans lost territory and other countries tried to weaken Germany’s military potential and strengthen their own to compensate for the destruction of their lands caused by the Germans.
Some causes of the war were long-term whereas others were short term. There were a number of reasons why the world war broke out and this essay will examine the causes. Different things created the rising tensions in Europe between the great powers. First and foremost, the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand was the most important cause. Heir to the Austrian throne and his wife were killed while travelling in Bosnia.
The last straw was the assassination of Archduke of Austria Hungary Franz Ferdinand by Serbian assassins. Though the assassination initially caused a war just between the two countries, an intricate system of alliances led to the grand scale war we know now as World War 1. The alliances aligned the countries into two groups known as the allies and central powers. The countries under the name allied powers were: Great Britain, France, Serbia, Belgium, Russia, Romania, Greece, and Japan. The countries under the name Central powers were: Germany,
French foreign policy during the First World War The First World War emerged from a series of events mainly the first and second Moroccan crisis of 1906 and 1911 respectively. This tested the alliance of France, Britain and Russia also known as the triple entente. During the first phase France suffered major losses in the Battle of Verdun as well as the Trench War. The Van Schlieffen Plan would have been successful had it not been for the measures France took in changing its foreign policy in the international system. France made promises to both the Italians and Serb-Croats in regards to Dalmatia disregarding the Austro-Hungarian territory.
Gavrilo Princip a crazed member of a terrorist group “Black Hand” killed the Archduke as he hated Austria-Hungary and the Archduke. The Austria-Hungary Empire saw the assassination as an attack on their city and gave Serbia an ultimatum. They had to comply with a long list of demands or go to war with Austria-Hungary, which was bigger and more powerful. Serbia did not want war so they complied to all their demands. However, Austria-Hungary felt that this was not enough and declared war on Serbia.
Not only was this a sign that the world did not cooperate with each other, but it was also another sign that explained why the nations did not meet frequently at the World Court, which was made to solve arguments. There were many arguments between key European nations, such as Britain, France, Russia, Germany, and Austria-Hungary. They eventually split into two groups. Germany was a major threat to the world, especially when World War II broke out, but this is discussed later. With high tensions, a Serbian shot the Austrian Archduke, Ferdinand, the emperor’s nephew in July 1914.The goal was to get some Austrian Slavic land, but this just made Austria upset, so they attacked Serbia with Germany’s approval.
The Ottomans were defeated in several wars. These defeats resulted in significant losses of territory. With the Ottoman at risk of complete collapse, Europe’s imperial powers decided to secure territory or influence in the region . All main powers in Europe wanted to have land in the falling Ottoman Empire, thus causing tension between countries, because the countries wanted land to themselves. In conclusion Imperialism was a big cause of WW1, because with all countries fighting about capturing or colonizing land, they can’t come on an agreement that should get what.