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.
Soon after the assassination in Sarajevo, Austria-Hungary delivered a strict ultimatum to Serbia. Austria-Hungary already held an interest towards war with Serbia, so to ensure that war would follow, the terms of the ultimatum were so severe that rejection was all but guaranteed. One month after the assassination in Sarajevo, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia. Its severity towards causing war was substantial, being the first of numerous acts of war which contributed towards the global conflict. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assassination_of_Archduke_Franz_Ferdinand_of_Austria] The balance of power was between the major nations consisting of Austria-Hungary, Britain, France, Germany and Russia.
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.
1918 In 1917, Russia had been in political turmoil with support for the war and the Tsar dwindling. Under intense pressure Tsar Nicholas II abdicated in March and a provisional government formed under Alexander Kerensky, pledging to continue fighting the Germans on the Eastern Front. The Western allies had been shipping supplies to Russia since the beginning of the war, through the ports of Archangel, Murmansk and Vladivostok. Following the entry of the United States into World War I in 1917, the Americans also began providing support. Political and social unrest increased however, with the revolutionary Bolsheviks gaining widespread support.
28 July 1914. Austria declared war on Serbia. Russia had promised full support to Serbia and began full scale preparations for war. By August 3, Germany had declared war against both Russia and France. On August 4 German troops marched into Belgium to press on to France, and on the same day Britain declared war on Germany.
In Europe in 1014 it seemed very tense, this happened to spark off a war, this was then a result of millions killed. The war was fought between rival alliances of European powers: In 1878, Germany and Austria - Hungary formed an alliance9 the dual alliance) that gave them great strength in the centre of Europe. In 1892, the French and the Russians formed their own strong alliance (the dual entente) that meant Germany had an unfriendly power on each side. Soon afterwards, Germany’s most powerful soldier, general stiffen, drew up a plan that would allow Germany to beat France very quickly in any future war. This would then free most German troops to fight Russia in the east.
The major Allies include the United States of America, the British Empire, France, Poland, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, and China. While the major Axis powers were composed of Germany, Japan, and Italy. Furthermore, some of the key players during the war were Adolph Hitler of Germany, Hideki Tojo of Japan, Benito Mussolini of Italy, Joseph Stalin of the Soviet Union, Winston Churchill of Great Britain, and Franklin D. Roosevelt of America. When the Germans invaded Poland on September 1, 1939 the world went to war for the second time in 27 years. World War II had many devastating blows and attacks on numerous countries.
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.
Winston Churchill in early 1914 said Europe was an “exceptional tranquillity” the First World War was declared in 1914 when Germany and their ally Austria-Hungary announced war on; Belgium, France, Britain and Russia also known as the ‘Triple Entente’ drawing each respective empires from across the world against the ‘Central Powers’. Many people blame Germany for the outbreak of the war, but how accountable are they? This essay will investigate how far Germany can be blamed for the war spanning 4 years from 1914-1918 claiming approximately 10 million peoples lives and leaving long lasting bitterness in Europe for years to come. Germany could be blamed for the First World War, as it had ambition that out-weighed the capability of what the world could provide and the expectation of a brand new ruthless leader in Kaiser Wilhelm II. This in addition to the point that Germany had just been through an industrialisation stage and was trying establish itself as a world power lead to the First World War as this ambition lead to other countries becoming threatened.
In order to fight a world war, Britain had to proceed with a mobilization of its resources in order to win the war. There are important factors that should be considered during a total war. They were allied with the French and the Russians against the Germans which suffered a war on two fronts. Every belligerent therefore, saw the war coming which became inevitable at a certain point. This resulted in massive mobilization and extensive war planning from all countries.