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.
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 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.
This is why it is my most important reason. On the 20th June 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand was visiting Bosnia with his pregnant wife Sophie. A gang called the ‘black hand’ planned to kill the archduke as he drove by. All the members of the gang were dying of T.B so they thought they had nothing to lose, and to be certain they had snide to take. They smuggled weapons in from Serbia.
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.
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.
“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.
The country also felt threatened as its neighbouring country, Russia was part of the Triple Entente and was itself building up a vast army. Keeping a strong army was important to Germany because it helped to demonstrate to the rest of the world that they were a rising power. In addition, Germany was also in competition with Great Britain. At the time Britain had the largest navy; something Germany envied. Once Britain started introducing their new battleships, named the Dreadnoughts, Germany followed suit.
The war was caused by grudges countries had held against each other from previous wars. Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy were the Triple Alliance. Britain, France and Russia were the Triple Entente (friendly agreement). These agreements meant that if ever war broke out you would help the country you are in agreements with. Germany was 30-40 years old and wanted to have a bigger empire and navy than Britain, which had the biggest empire and biggest navy out of all of the countries.
“Militarism is the glorification of one’s military. Also the belief of a nation or its people to build and maintain a strong military, with the intention to use it whenever it is felt necessary.” In the early 1900 the two strongest countries, Germany and Great Britain, decided to create a Naval Race. Although Germany had stronger ground forces, Great Britain had the Dreadknought class battle ships for better naval protection. Because of the advantage Great Britain had with the Dreadknought class battleship, Germany decided to build the same class of battle ship for themselves (Wilde). While both countries were trying to outdo each other, by building more ships, tensions rose.