The long-term factors that would have built tension and rivalries throughout Europe are the alliance systems and the arms race, whereas the short term factors would be the mismanaged crisis, the assassination of Franz Ferdinand, which was ultimately the trigger of total war. The Balkan crisis 1908 -12 both increased the likelihood of war. As there had been tensions growing since 1912 between the Serbians and the Austro- Hungarians after their attempt to secure control. These tensions were inevitably going to cause a war; as in the words of Otto Von Bisamrck, quoted at the time, a war was going to brake out due to “some damn fool in the Balkans.” The first Balkan crisis of 1912 didn’t break out into war, however it left tensions high. As Serbia’s confidence was now at its peak, as there sized had doubled, and the army had increased to 400,000, so if the were now confronted by the Austro- Hungarians they were now willing to fight.
On 28th June 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, the heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary, was assassinated by a man named Gavrilo Princip (a member of ‘The Black Hand’ – a secretive society formed by members of the Serbian army). This event caused a wave of diplomatic distress. Following this was a period which came to be known as the July Crisis. The July Crisis was a diplomatic juncture between the European powers through July 1914. Soon after the assassination in Sarajevo, Austria-Hungary delivered a strict ultimatum to Serbia.
archduke franz Ferdinand The Most Important Cause of WWI was the Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. Do you Agree? World war 1 was a controversial war, which was also said to be the war to stop all wars. Germany, a powerful empire in the early years of the twentieth century, fought the First World War (1914-1918) alongside the Austrian empire and against the Allies (England, France and Russia.). The murder of Archduke Franz Ferdinand was just a prominent cause for the outbreak of the war; yet, there were other causes as well.
The Austrians blamed the Serbs for the deaths and issued them with a set of irrational demands and threatened to invade if they were ignored. Serbia’s ally Russia didn’t want the Austrians expanding, Serbia and Russia spoke a similar language and religion, so Russia supported them and if Austria-Hungary attacked Serbia, Russia would attack Austria-Hungary. In 1870s Austria-Hungary made alliance with Germany and in 1882 Italy joined (this was the Triple Alliance) Germany supported Austria- Hungary no matter what would happen. In 1894 the dual entente between France and Russia was made (France made allies with Russia) and if Germany attacked Russia, France would charge straight through Germany to Champagne (that was the French army’s plan called plan 17) they never went through with the plan though. The German army had a plan on how they would defeat France before the Russian army were ready to fight, (this was called the Schlieffen Plan), instead of entering France the most predicted way, through the French borderline, they would go through Belgium a neutral country (and taking it), then they would defeat France in 6 weeks, then they would deal with Russia.
Why did World War 1 break out in 1914? In this essay I will discuss the causes for the First World War. I will explain; how one incident started the brawls, the relationships between different countries and how the countries tried to take over other countries. All of these explanations will then lead to the main cause of World War I. The war was caused by grudges countries had held against each other from previous wars.
Then the Romanians and Turks attacked the Bulgarians. By the time both Balkan wars had ended, Serbia had added lots of captured territory to it's empire and this made Austria-Hungary even more concerned. On June 28, 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated. For some unknown reason, Austria-Hungary believed that Serbia was involved in the killing. Some historians believe that Austria-Hungary was just looking for an excuse to start a war.
Why did the Bosnian crisis of 1908-1909 + the Balkan wars of 1912-1913 not develop into a general European conflict, whereas the assassination of archduke Franz Ferdinand in 1914 did? Xanthe de Groot On October 5, 1908 Austria-Hungary annexes Bosnia. Since 1878 the area was already controlled by Austria-Hungary, but was threatened by the crooked relations within Europe. The annexation led to what we call the Bosnian crisis. It contributed to the tensions between the great powers in Europe.
There are also arguments for the plan as a means of defence, suggested by Russian mobilisation and fear of encirclement. In source one, A.J.P. Taylor explains, ‘One essential part of the Schlieffen plan was to go through Belgium’. When this part of the plan is highlighted it suggests that the nature of the plan was highly aggressive and caused reaction from the rest of Europe. The invasion of Belgium broke the treaty of London, meaning the European powers who had signed the treaty were immediately forced in to action.
HIS 105: Factors Contributing to World War I There were many factors that led to World War I, some detailed below: The assassination of Austria’s Archduke Franz Ferdinand (heir to the Austro-Hungarian Empire) was a major contribution. He and his wife Sofia were shot while on a visit to Sarajevo on 28 June 1914, by Gavrilo Princip (a member of the Serbian nationalist group called the Black Hand). The Black Hand had a primary objective of forcing the Austro-Hungarians out of Serbia. The assassination caused ricocheting consequences among Europe’s military alliances. Austria declared war on Serbia, which provoked Russia to help the Serbians, which led to Germany declaring war on Russia and France, which triggered England to declare war on Germany.
“The outbreak of war in Europe in 1914 was due to an aggressive foreign policy which had been waged since c.1900”. How far do you agree with this opinion? Explain your answer using sources V, W and X and your own knowledge relating to the controversy. The implication that Germany’s use of an aggressive foreign policy led to the outbreak of the First World War is an extremely controversial topic, and has ultimately caused great debates amongst historians. Fischer, the provoker of this controversy, expresses this concept of German aggression by stating that since c.1900 Germany planned, and then was able to execute a war, due to their aggressive weltpolitik; based purely on expansionism.