The Causes of War in 1914
There were many causes for the war in 1914, some of which were long
term causes, and one that was a short term cause. In this essay I will
explain some of the factors that contributed to the start of the First
World War.
The immediate cause and the trigger of war was the assassination of
the heir to the Austrian throne, Archduke Franz Ferdinand. On June 28th
1914, Franz Ferdinand was visiting the city of Sarajevo in Bosnia.
Many Serbians lived in Bosnia and did not like being ruled by Austria.
As a protest against Austrian rule, a group of Serbians decided to
assassinate the Archduke. As he was driving around Sarajevo in his
car, a young Serbian student shot him dead from point blank range.
Austria then blamed Serbia for the killing and declared war on Serbia.
Austria may have merely been looking for an excuse for a preventive
war, a war to help their country survive, as there were many tensions
between Austria and Serbia. Serbia was becoming very powerful and
wanted to unite all Serbs including those living in Austria. However
there were many nationalities of people living in Austria and if the
Serbs living there gained independence then other nationalities would
also demand independence. The Austrian empire was in danger of
collapsing and many Austrians were in favour of a preventive war
against Serbia to destroy them before they became strong enough to
destroy Austria-Hungary.
Quickly other countries became involved and the smaller conflict
between Austria and Serbia grew. Serbia asked her friend and protector
Russia to help and they began to get their troops ready. Germany then
sent a message to tell Russia to leave Austria and Serbia to fight
alone. Russia ignored Germany’s message so Germany then declared war
on Russia. Germany knew that France was allied to Russia and that they
would intervene with their conflict, so Germany then declared war on
France. Germany attacked France through neutral Belgium, so Britain
tells Germany to leave Belgium.
It may seem like wars start abruptly, with little cause, but usually there is a bigger story. New policies, lack of equality, military influence, and too much government involvement usually stir up the peace initially. These turn the country or area into a ‘powder keg’, ready to explode into war at the smallest spark. Although the assassination of Archduke Francis Ferdinand was the spark of World War I, policies at the time like nationalism and militarism were the underlying causes of the war.
In short term, the road to war began in Sarajevo 28 June 1914 when the
World War One or ‘The First World War’ as it became known, occurred due to many causes including the assassination of the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, and ideologies such as nationalism and militarism. The most obvious trigger for the war was the assassination of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie on June 28, 1914. The assassination took place during the Archduke’s visit to Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Archduke was targeted due to an ill feeling amongst Serbians that, once appointed to the throne, Ferdinand would continue the persecution of Serbs living within the borders of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Just moments after the couple had been shot; authorities arrested the triggerman, Gavrilo Princip, a Serbian student, who was believed to have been linked to the Serbian terrorist organization, The Black Hand.
The underlying cause of World War I was the build up of Nationalism, Imperialism, and Militarism in the 1800s. The “three isms” caused this great war due to the outcry in which they caused within the countries and their citizens including military build up, severe nationalism, patriotism, and extending a country 's power and influence through diplomacy or military force.
The assassination of Franz Ferdinand, Austrian Archduke, is often cited as the direct cause of WWI. While it was a significant catalyst to the war, the circumstances surrounding WWI were actually more complicated. The first great world war was caused by a variety of factors including: tensions between countries due to a threatening system of alliances, stockpiling of weaponry, and nationalism.
World War One is one of the deadliest wars in world history and with any war there will always be fear and same can be say true in earlier America/today with a fresh mind of superiority and anxiety too. When the Allies fought in WWI, the U.S. stayed neutral during the war and respected the Germans, until the sinking of many merchant ships by German u boats, did the U.S. declared war on Germany and confiscate their rights. In early America many Americans feared a lot of things that was perfectly understandable during that time with it being the addition of new peoples- African Americans, Asians, and Europeans. The same can be said for today views where we still have grudges against minorities, especially Muslims
¬¬World War One, called The Great War at the time, was a global war centered in Europe that began on July 28, 1914 and ended on November 11, 1918. The war was fought between two major powers, the Allies and the Central powers. The Allied powers, based on the triple Entente, consisted of the United Kingdom, the Russian Empire, France, Italy, Britain, and the United States, while the Central powers consisted of Austria-Hungary, Germany, and the Ottoman Empire. World War One was one of the bloodiest events in human history, with over sixteen million casualties and twenty million people wounded over the four years that it was fought. There are many underlying reasons for this bloodshed but some of the biggest, most significant ones include alliances, nationalism, and imperialism.
"THE ROLE OF ALLIANCES IN THE ORIGIN AND EXPANSION OF THE WAR IN 1914 HAS BEEN GREATLY EXAGGERATED"
During the period of July 1914 to November 1918 was when the world took a turn of events, and had an everlasting effect on the world including the people in it. Yet, the main focus was Europe and the United States. The causes of World War 1 also known as the Great War included both short, and long term occurrences. Some of the reasons for these occurrences included a multipolar power in Europe, Imperialism, the alliance system, nationalism, imperial rivalries in Africa / Asia, and a sudden assassination. However, this was based on what the public thought, and was some of the reoccurring things the public seen as the main reasons. In my opinion, I feel the main causes for the Great War starting off was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand which led up to nationalism, imperialism, militarism, and alliances. I say this because I seen all these as a cause and effect thing, opposed from everyone
As it's well known, the world has been totally changed after the first world war. New countries have been created, and other countries have dismissed. What do you think was the reason of that war to be started? Why do people call this war " world war"? What happened when this war had been ended? In particularly, this war caused several losses and profits at the same time.
In August of 1914, a war today known as World War I began. The World War 1 began as a war locally between Austria-Hungary and Serbia. It eventually grew into a war involving thirty-two different countries. The allies involved in World War 1 included Britain, France, Russia, Italy and the United States. These countries fought against Germany, Ottoman Empire, Austria-Hungary, and Bulgaria. A question frequently asked by many people is, what really caused World War 1 to happen. There are several different causes people believe that started World War I. Three causes mostly believed to be what started World War I are imperialism, nationalism, and militarism.
Great War, also known as The First World War, lasted for four year (1914 to 1918). It brought a huge development of war technics and weapons. More number of countries had been involved in the Great War than any previous war. It involved the mobilization of the whole nations, not just an enormous army that turned the war into a “total war”. (Clare 6) However, historians are still arguing about the major cause of the World War I. The major cause will be one of the four long-term causes of WWI, which are Militarism, Alliance, Imperialism, and Nationalism. In my opinion, the two major causes would be Alliance and Nationalism. Alliance is an association between two or more countries for mutual benefits that formed with different treaties, while Nationalism is feeling and principles of patriotic.
World War I was a conflict that claimed over 10 million peoples’ lives, ravaged all of Europe and engineered modern warfare, as it is know today. The Great War has been scrutinized and examined through many complex theories in order to understand how such a conflict escalated to one of the most epic wars in history. This essay, like many works before it, looks to examine WWI and determine its causes through two distinct levels of analysis, individual and systemic. The individual level of analysis locates the cause of conflicts in individual leaders or decision makers within a particular country, focusing on the characteristics of human decision-making. The systemic level of analysis explains the causation of a conflict from a system wide level that includes all states, taking in to account the distribution of power and the interaction of states in the international system.
World War I was one of the bloodiest wars that the world has ever seen. The question remains today, what was the reason for World War I to occur? If you were to look back at World War I, you would see that there were direct and indirect causes to the war. The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand was a direct immediate cause. That was not the only cause of the war. Four underlying causes broke the general peace and balance of power in early 20th century Europe. World War I undeniably was caused by militaristic attitudes, entangled alliances, imperialistic movements and nationalistic behaviors.
Throughout history, there have been several conflicts that have disturbed the peace in various areas. One of these gruesome events happens to be World War I, which was evoked by many different causes. The most significant and immediate causes of this catastrophe was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife, Sophie. Numerous nations were involved in this war, and two examples of opposing forces are Germany and Russia. World War I was resolved to an extent with the Treaty of Versailles, but it was not entirely settled. This is clear because World War II was a result of World War I.