First World War Causes

The cause of WW1 wasn’t just one event, but multiple things that added up: classes, nationalism, and alliances between countries. As the war was about to start, the countries prepared for battle, although they didn’t know the outcome but they were ready to fight to the death. By 1914, the power key that was imperial alliances had been given a crucial spark; the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand triggered series of war declarations that would eventually grow into the most devastating war the world had ever experienced. Archduke Franz Ferdinand was nephew Emperor Franz Josef and heir to the Austro-Hungarian Empire. 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.

The Black Hand Society was a group of Serbian nationalists who wanted to assassinate Franz Ferdinand. Franz Ferdinand was the archduke of Austria-Hungary. The group assassinated the archduke because they wanted a unification of the Slavic people and hoped his death would cause a rebellion against the Austrian rule. If the Serbian Nationalists hadn’t killed the archduke, Austria-Hungary wouldn’t of declared war on Serbia. To conclude, in my opinion, this event is what sparked the war into action and without it the war wouldn’t of happened.

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

World War 1 was a conflict that stretched from 1914 to 1918, ending with the Armistice of Compiègne. The war was fought between the Central and Allied powers. The Central Powers consisted of Germany, Austria-Hungary, and the Ottoman Empire, whereas the Allied powers included France, Britain, Russia, and eventually the U.S. There were many long term causes of- World War 1 such as imperialism, the policy of extending a nation’s authority over other countries by means of economics or military, and militarism, defined as the development of armed forces and a tool of diplomacy. But, the most crucial event leading to the war was the assassination of Franz Ferdinand.

Instead of joining the Russians in the war, the Austrians remained neutral and supported the French and British because of the risks and their limited capabilities, a result of their recent rebellions. Before the war even started, Austria led attempts in Vienna to defuse the situation where a resolution called the Vienna Note was created that appeased all the powers. The Vienna Note restored the balance of power to what it was before the conflict while preserving all the nation’s honour. However, there was no actual enforcing of the note because of the distrust among them and the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire refused to accept it because he saw it has an opportunity to gain British and French support against his traditional enemy, Russia. When Russia occupied the Dardanelles, Austria reacted aggressively and threatened to join the war against Russia because the Russian occupation endangered Austrian security.

In 1914, the First World War commenced. The outbreak of war was a result of a number of factors, however, many historians argue that German policies were the main feature for the start of the war. Therefore, this essay will address the question: to what extent did German policies lead to WWI? Firstly, it is extremely unjust to state Germany as the only country to blame for the war and make it pay the harsh punishments the Treaty of Versailles forced them to. However, it is reasonable to say that Germany is obviously one of the nations who had the most impact on the War, if not the most.

World War 1 was a trench war that lasted four years and involved many nation states. The war started with a spark, the spark was when Franz Ferdinand an Archduke was assassinated by a Serbian terrorist group called Black Hand. The terrorist group set a plan to kill Franz Ferdinand but it failed when a member of the group forgot that the bomb he threw at Ferdinand had a delay and it did not kill him. When the other terrorist saw ferdinand coming down the road they were too shocked to do anything so there first plan failed. It was when Ferdinand and his wife were leaving that their driver made the wrong turn and was going by when Gavrilo Princip a member of the terrorist group them and killed Ferdinand and his Wife Sophia.

Once passing Belgium, they falsely assumed they were going to sweep in and destroy france in a single blow. Since the BEF (British Expeditionary Force) had shown up, that was made impossible. 10 days after Germany’s journey to Belgium, Russia had invaded Germany with her enormous army. This forced the Germans to dive the soldiers to both sides, This doomed Germany up until Russia had the revolution. So, although she could have won the war from the start, she lost in the Spring

There are five major causes to World War I, militarism, alliances, nationalism, imperialism, and the spark that ignited the war; the assassination of Franz Ferdinand. The European powers did not make any active effort for more internationalist/cooperative policy that would have been the antithesis for the growing causes of World War I. It would only be after World War II and to some extent the European Union that would encourage Europeans to work together instead of turning the continent into a wasteland every few decades. Firstly, I would argue nationalism is the starting point for World War I. During the Industrial revolution, nationalism became an important driving force in European countries to industrialize and make technological progress.

The 20th century was a time of change and conflict all around the world. It was a time of war, alliance, occupation, and fear. Throughout this century, millions died and discoveries were made that would change the world forever. Behind these huge, impactful events were the choices of individuals. These individuals were in the position to change the course of history and led to the problems as well as the solutions involved in this turbulent time.