Why Did World War 1 Happen
On June 28th of 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria was assassinated in the city Sarajevo by Gavrilo Princip, a member of the Serbian terrorist group the Black Hand. This sparked what would later become the First World War in August of 1914, a gruesome war that caused millions of casualties, the undoing of alliances and empires, and destruction. Not only was this war extremely damaging, but its origins have confused historians for years, and a conclusion is still yet to come. So, why exactly did World War One happen, and who or what is responsible? Though many historians have argued that the reason it came about was due to Balkan nationalism and German war plans to crush democracy and expand their territory, closer examination reveals …show more content…
After the death of Austria’s archduke, Serbia was blamed for his assassination. As Austria’s close ally, Germany decided to give their military a ‘blank check’, basically saying that whatever Austria needed to do to get revenge on Serbia, Germany would support. Germany’s intentions through this actions was not to encourage Austria into starting a wide conflict, but rather for them to defend themselves, however, Austria took it as their support in war: “Apparently the Austrians made no effort to explain what exactly they intended to do, or when… One indication among many that at this point the Germans did not regard the situation as being serious enough to require much thought or care.” This is a perfect example of miscommunication between European nations. Germany failed to clarify Austria’s intentions before impulsively granting full support: “Much depended on the “unspoken assumptions.”” Allies were too dependent on each other and expected that each need was common. Austria’s acceptance of this blank check and aggressive actions towards Serbia lead to series of offensive conflict, that eventually involved other major powers of Europe: “By giving Austria-Hungary a blank check against Serbia, Kaiser Wilhelm II and Bethmann Hollweg made a broader escalation of the Balkan crisis possible.” Though Germany’s intentions were just to support their ally Austria, this impulsive generosity lead to serious and widespread
How Did World War 1 Get Alliances Dbq
459 Words | 2 PagesThe Triple Entente banded together and all blamed Germany for starting the war. According to Document B, France, Great Britain, and Russia were all pointing the finger at Germany, blaming them for starting the war. Due to the alliance's, most of the European countries became involved, not just Austria and Serbia. As stated by Document B, Germany was standing in front of Austria trying to help defend them, however, that then gave the other European countries another reason to accuse Germany for the start of World War I. Each alliance managed to stay together with defending each other throughout the massive
All Quiet On The Western Front Literary Devices
1667 Words | 7 PagesBefore World War I, all of Europe in 1914, was tense and like a bomb or a fire was waiting to erupt. Europe had not seen a major war in years, but due to Militarism, Imperialism, Alliances, and Nationalism tensions grew high. Each country was competing to be the best by gaining more territory and growing in their military size and successful economies. World War 1 was waiting to happen and the assassination of the Archduke was the spark that lit Europe up. In All Quiet on the Western Front, by Erich Maria Remarque we see the effects of the assassination.
World War 1 Dbq Essay
1154 Words | 5 PagesThe outbreak of World War I occurred on June 28, 1914 where the Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austrian throne, was assassinated by Gavrilo Princip, a young serbian nationalist. This assassination caused Austria to immediately break relations with Serbia. Meanwhile Russia let the Austrians know that they were backing the Serbs, this then occurred throughout many other countries, and alliances formed starting World War I. 41 million casualties later and the Allies, consisting of the U.S, Britain, and France, were victorious leaving Germany and Austria-Hungary punished severely for this inhuman calamity. Overall the number of casualties and the punishment of Germany in World War I created political, social, and economical
World War 1 Dbq
800 Words | 4 PagesIn a newspaper two years before the war had even begun, the founder of an Serbian extremist group called the black hand says that the only way for Serbia to gain freedom and honor is threw war (Document 3). The newspaper states “This war must bring out the eternal freedom of Serbia.” Not only did Serbia want freedom from Austria-Hungary but hornor as well. Thinking that the war was the only way to gain the freedom and honor they wanted, Serbia looked to their only option for a band of extremists to kill the prince of Austria-Hungary. This is a extremely significant part of why World War I started because of an assassination of a leader in Austria-Hungary country.
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1110 Words | 5 PagesThey wanted war and with the urging of Germany they were going for it. “Thereafter, Dr. Naumann discussed the general political situation, dwelling on the great uneasiness felt in Berlin over Russian armaments and the test mobilization, recently fixed for the autumn, of considerable Russian forces.” [Doc 3: Hoyos’ Conversation with Victor Naumann, Vienna, 1 July, 1914] Germany had their own goals and reasoning behind a war with Serbia, Russia’s ally. Germany and Serbia had looked at all it options and felt it was a prime time to initiate a war. The powers of Europe were poised for conflict; Europe was divided into two armed camps by two rival alliances.
World War 1 Dbq
1117 Words | 5 PagesAccording to Count Brockdorff-Rantzau, leader of the German delegation to the Versailles Peace Conference, imperialism affected the relations between the European states which allowed this war to happen. The policies of relation and expansions and the disregard for the rights of people's choices to their destinies (Document 5). This shows that imperialism was one of the main reasons that started World War 1 because of the relations that were destroyed during the period of imperialism and the war may not have been affected as hard if the time of imperialism didn’t exist. Also, according to the ultimatum that Austria-Hungary sent to Serbia, the Serbian government didn’t do anything to repress the movements of disrespecting their people to Austria-Hungary (document 3). Imperialism impacted the war by damaging the relationships between countries which caused the rise of tension between them and caused mishaps that could have been avoided.
World War 1 Dbq
703 Words | 3 PagesThey planned to assassinate the Archduke of Austria when he came to visit Serbia, hoping that would lead to a rebellion that would lead to Serbian independence. Just the opposite happened. When they assassinated the archduke and his wife, more than a rebellion started. Things got out of control and soon all of Europe was at war. This caused World War
What Are The Causes Of The Great War
245 Words | 1 PagesAll the alliances were already preparing themselves for a massive war to take over eventually. Serbia, being in an alliance with Russia, was the first to challenge Austria. Serbia wanted to become their own country and not depend on another country but, Austria was not about to let that go easily. Serbia eventually grew this hate between the people of Austria and likewise with the Austrian people. Hate is what ultimately lead to the assassination and what became the beginning of the Great
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841 Words | 4 PagesLarge alliances formed, such as the triple entre (France, the UK, and Russia) and the central powers (Austria-Hungary, German Empire, and Italy) The alliances gave military support to each member, but would also drag all the countries in one alliance to war if war was only declared on one nation (http://europeanhistory.about.com/od/worldwar1/a/World-War-One-The-Major-Alliances.htm). During the July crisis, the Austria-Hungarian empire asked if Germany would help them in the war against Serbia. Germany replied back and said they’d give them full support. Austria started to mobilize their army against Serbia, and since Russia was allied with Serbia.
How Did Austria-Hungary Cause Ww1
872 Words | 4 PagesThe assassination was the spark that set off the domino effect of both alliances. The responsibility of the cause lies on Austria-Hungary because of their clear desire for the war and their lack of trying to prevent it. It shows how conscious Austria-Hungary was of the domino effect that would happen if they acted, but acted anyways. World War I could have been delayed or possibly even prevented without Austria-Hungary’s declaration of
Dbq Causes Of World War 1
1323 Words | 6 PagesAlliances had been put in place in order to balance power and prevent a world war to ever happen. Alas, the conflict between Austria-Hungary and Serbia was not prevented at all. The conflict was what pushed forward the war and caused countries to call for more alliances. This had gotten more and more nations involved in what started as a small conflict to a war. Countries started declaring war on eachother until it was, what some might call, a bar fight.
How Did Alliances Cause Ww1
667 Words | 3 PagesBecause of alliances, Russia came to aid Serbia and that led Germany to declare war on Russia. Eventually the other countries with alliances joined
Essay On Why Was World War 1 Inevitable
914 Words | 4 PagesDue to unfortunate circumstances, one of the assassins had the opportunity to shoot the Archduke since the driver had turned on the wrong road. Due to these nationalistic feelings between certain countries, World War I occurred since the collective consciousness among a nation’s people deeply impacted the rest of the world with its rebellion against a country. World War I was inevitable to occur since these people had seriously rebelled against a more powerful country and remained obstinate to continue their fight until they had achieved their desires. Eventually, other countries joined the conflict to side with either Austria-Hungary or the
How Did Archduke Franz Ferdinand Cause Ww1
614 Words | 3 PagesAfter Serbia appealed to Russia for help, the czar’s government began moving towards mobilization of its army, believing that Germany was using the crisis as an excuse to launch a preventive war in the Balkans. Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia on July 28. On August 1, after hearing news of Russia’s general mobilization, Germany declared war on Russia. The German army then launched its attack on Russia’s ally, France, through Belgium, violating Belgian neutrality and bringing Great Britain into the war as well.
The Assassination Of Archduke Franz Ferdinand In 1914
1093 Words | 5 PagesWorld War 1 was the first global conflict as it was a struggle between the leading world powers in Europe that had colonised the 19th century. The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Bosnia, heir to the Austrian-Hungary throne was a major trigger factor that led to the World War breaking out. It initially began as a European quarrel caused by the rivalry between nations which led to a series of mobilisations. In addition, there were many other vital factors to consider and these include Imperialism, Nationalism, Alliances and Militarism. This essay will explain how the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand in 1914 triggered a number of events that led to the outbreak of World War 1.
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