What Was The Causes Of World War 1 Essay

The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, (heir presumptive to the Austro-Hungarian throne) was one of the main reasons that WW1 was put into place. His wife Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg, was also shot during his assassination. This occurred on 28 June 1914 in Sarajevo, they were both shot dead by Gavrilo Princip. Gavrilo Princip was a Serbian nationalist who became the catalyst for World War I. Nationalism is an extreme form of patriotism and loyalty to one’s country.

In 1914 a war that brought the world together, sparked by the assassination of Austria-Hungary’s heir to the throne, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, by an assassin from Serbia. Austria-Hungary coming to a point where they blamed Serbia for being behind the assassination requests that Germans back them up when they declare war on Serbia. But there was more to the cause of the World War 1 than what meets the eye. The competition between countries with who was more superior, the alliances that were made between many countries, imperialism that helped the countries obtain the resources they need for war, and their proud belief of nationalism that brought them the people the courage to go to war. Militarism was one of the 4 M.A.I.N causes to World

Serbian nationalism was the most significant contributing factor in the Balkans to the outbreak of the First World War. Nationalist Serbs wanted the unity of Serbdom and to create a Greater Serbia that included the provinces Bosnia and Herzegovina. The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand triggered the First World War and was prompted by the nationalism of the Serbs against Hapsburg control. If this trigger did not take place it would have been another event. But it is not surprising that it occurred in the Balkans; a volatile region, as Bismarck had predicted decades before; “ If there is ever another war in Europe, it will come out of some damned silly thin in the Balkans”.

If the U.S. was truly neutral, they would not have interfered in war with the accomodations relating to their connections with Britain. The Zimmerman Note, large amounts of exports and loans to the allied powers, and Woodrow Wilson’s War Message, all present evidence surrounding the United States not acting like the neutral country they claimed to be, ultimately leading to the United States being forced to enter World War I.

In June 1914, a Serbian-nationalist terrorist group called the Black Hand sent groups to assassinate the Archduke. Their first attempt failed when a driver avoided a grenade thrown at their car. However, later that day a Serbian nationalist named Gavrilo Princip assassinated him and his wife while they were in Sarajevo, Bosnia which was part of Austria-Hungary. This was in protest to Austria-Hungary having control of this region. Serbia wanted to take over Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Their size, skill, and experience out weighed the Continental army by a landslide. George Washington himself believed he was going to lose the war at some moments. Guerilla warfare changed the direction of the war. Even though there was close calls the tactics used worked by slowly chiseling away at their massive army although there were a lot of other major battles these tactics won them the war. This implement of skills was crucial to their success.

The type of peace, temporary or more permanent, depends on how long it will last as conflict is a part of human nature, leading to the conclusion peace can lead to war. A temporary peace can be compared to putting a band-aid over a bullet hole; it might hold and stop the blood on the surface but there’s much more damage in the inside. The Treaty of Versailles was a band-aid to the other world problems after WW1. First when the treaty was being written the US, Britain and France could not agree to which degree the terms against Germany should be. The US wanted “peace without victory”, France wanted to cripple Germany and gain security from the treaty and Britain wanted middle ground of wat the US and Germany wanted (Treaty of Versailles: How America, France & Britain Benefited.).

WW1 was a terrible war between the central powers; Germany, Austria-Hungary and Ottoman Empire against the allied powers; Great Britain, France, Russia and later joined by the U.S. and Italy. The main reason why all the countries got irate at each other was because of the death of Archduke Franz Ferdinand the heir to Austria’s throne. But overall the main causes of WW1 were either Militarism, Alliances, Imperialism or Nationalism. I strongly believe that the cause that had the biggest impact on WW1 was Imperialism. My first reason on why Imperialism was the main cause of WW1 was because of geographic purposes.

In the late 19th century, the leaders of European thought that creating a balance of power would prevent this occurrence. The real causes of World War I had to do with the formation of alliances, the large amount of money spent and colonization. Before World War I, alliances were made, which had divided the world’s countries. Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy were all united and had been allies to reach each other’s benefits (European Alliances, 1914 Map). “Germany worried about one day having to fight a war on two fronts or two different bodies” (European Alliances, 1914).

This belief created many groups one being the ‘Black Hand’. The nationalism seen in the Slavic people was a negative force in unifying people. “These groups hoped to drive Austria-Hungary from the Balkans and establish a ‘Greater Serbia’, a unified state for all Slavic people. It was this pan-Slavic nationalism that inspired the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo in June 1914.” (@Alphahistory Paragraph 8) “An aggressive, often hysterical Serb nationalism was certainly a major ingredient in the breakdown of relations, since Austria-Hungary (as it was called after 1867) ” (Armour Paragraph 1). Here, the reader can see that Serb nationalism also known as Pan-Slavism was surely a negative force in unifying people.