Stoessinger states that humans make the choice to go to war based on fears. He admits that people were not, and are not, evil, but simply overwhelmed by destructive thoughts, and eventually become trapped in their own selfish delusions of how they personally wanted the world to be. To sum up Stoessinger’s basic theory, war is created and initiated, by fear. The start of World War I, in Stoessinger’s opinion, was when the German Kaiser wrote a blank check to Austria to help Austria attack Serbia. The reason Austria wanted to strike at Serbia is a result of Serbia assassinating Austrian crowned Prince Franz
Courtney LaBeau 3/5/13 DBQ 19: Causes of World War I There where many things that caused World War I. One of the main causes for the start of the war was the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand. The introduction of alliances turned fights into wars. Militarism and mobilization between the countries created tension for the war to begin. The assassination of Archduke Francis Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary was a huge cause to the start of World War I. Gavrilo Princip a Serb became part of a terrorist group called the Black Hand.
In June 1914, a Serbian nationalist 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. This assassination led to Austria-Hungary declaring war on Serbia. When Russia began to mobilize due to its alliance with Serbia, Germany declared war on Russia.
How did WWI start? The simplest answer is that the immediate cause was the assassination of Franz Ferdinand, the archduke of Austria-Hungary. His death at the hands of Gavrilo Princip – a Serbian nationalist with ties to the secretive military group known as the Black Hand – propelled the major European military powers towards war. The events that led up to the assassination are significantly more complicated, but most scholars agree that the gradual emergence of a group of alliances between major powers was partly to blame for the descent into war. By 1914, those alliances resulted in the six major powers of Europe coalescing into two broad groups: Britain, France and Russia formed the Triple Entente, while Germany, Austria-Hungary and
When Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated it set off the July Crisis, which were negotiation meetings to try to prevent war. Austria was outraged that their heir had been assassinated. Germany had promised their support to Austria if an event like this was to happen. Following the July Crisis, Austria delivered the July Ultimatum, which were 10 outrageous demands directed towards Serbia. When Serbia only met 8 of the 10 demands, Austria immediately declared war on Serbia.
Taylor wrote a book called “The Struggle for Mastery in Europe”, in this book A.J.P. Taylor claimed that German ambitions were the cause of the war. All of these views have merit; however, while imperialism was one of the causes of World War 1, the Alliance system and militarism in the pre-war period were definitely the major causes of the war. The Marxist historian, Eric Hobsbawn, came up with a theory, the "zero-sum game" theory. This theory was applicable to World War One because it was an "age of total war", therefore the war was "zero-sum game".
Massie states that Austria believes it’s fractured and disintegrated state will be cured by annihilating the source of all of its problems, Serbia. (Doc K). What caused the war between Serbia and Austria was no accident, it was the Seven Point Ultimatum passed 24 July 1914. The Seven Point Ultimatum was rejected and war outbroke due to the fact that the seven point ultimatum took away the sovereignty of Serbia by calling for the help of Austria’s forces to investigate for the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand within Serbia. The seventh point enraged Serbia and since the ultimatum was rejected Austria declared war on Serbia 28 July 1914, thus, the war began
The war between the two countries could not be contained to just them alone due to an alliance system that linked certain countries together by pledge to back each other in time of war. This caused a chain reaction forcing Russia, France, and Great Britain to go to war with Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy. During this time the United States remained neutral because they believed it was a European matter and we wanted to continue trading with those nations at war. The United States became less neutral in the war and more supportive of the allies side following several events with Germany. German U-boats sank British passenger liners killing Americans.
World War I began because of many obstacles that America would have to sustain in order for the war to diminish. On May 7, 1915, the German army sank a ship called the Lusitania. At this time, 1,198 people lost their lives and included 128 American people. This ship was carrying war shipments from the United States to England. The passengers on the ship knew there may be a possible attack on the ship but Woodrow Wilson condemned this attack as illegal and inhuman.
On April 6th 1917 the United States entered into WW1, which would be known as one of the worst wars in history. WW1 began in 1914 when a Serbian nationalist murdered Duke Franz Ferdinand, the heir to the Austria-Hungarian empire. At this point in time Europe was divided into two main alliances. The Triple entente, France, Britain, and Russia, and the Triple alliance of Germany, the Austria-Hungary Empire and Italy. After the attack on the archduke, Germany pledged to support the Austro-Hungarian government in its retaliation to the assassination.