The Murder of Franz Ferdinand and the Outbreak of a Major European War It's the early 19th century and problems are erupting all over Europe. France has just finished a war with Prussia in which it was defeated and tempers are running high. Germany has taken a piece of Eastern France named Alsace Lorraine and France wants revenge. France has been very humiliated and is now building up its alliances. The first of these was the Dual entente; an agreement between France and Russia signed in 1894. Next the French built an alliance with Britian, this was named the entente cordiale, and Together France and its allies formed the Triple Entente. France was secure, in the event of another war it would be backed up by its allies. By this time Germany was seen as a huge threat throughout Europe. Kaiser Wilhelm II has come to the throne of Germany. Germany has only just become a united country and Kaiser Wilhelm II believes that he has a lot to prove. Kaiser Willhelm II had been slightly disabled since birth and his main ambition is to make himself and Germany look all-powerful. During the years of 1880- 1914 Germany started to build up its armed forces and Navy. Britian was starting to feel very threatened, even more so when Germany started trying to occupying colonies in Africa and Asia. Lots of these colonies were neighbouring British colonies. Kaiser Willhelm II was hugely Jealous of all Britains Colonies and once famously said "Germany must have its place in the sun" and "the world belongs to the strong". This began a huge amount of Colonial rivalry. France and Britian had agreed that Britian would be free to control Egypt if Britian helped France to control Morocco. Kaiser Willhelm II tried to split up the Entente cordiale by famously making his 'Tangier' Speech. Germany tried to split up France and Britian and invade Morocco. This didn't work and Germany was humiliated, Germany wanted revenge because of this. Like France, Russia had been humiliated by being defeated in war.
Imagine four years of justing trying to capture the other teams trench, how dreadfully boring. World war one a great war of powers, invoked first by serbia’s overwhelming feeling to be their own people separate from Austria-hungary which thus lead to the assassination of the archduke Ferdinand of the Austrian-hungarian empire, which then lead to all the countries allied with Austria-hungary to support Austria in it’s attack on serbia, then all the countries allied with serbia to bring up arms on Austria, and Austria’s allies. This in terms of alliances had come upon through imperialism that lead to germany already against Austria in terms of expansion.
Nearing the end of his life, Otto von Bismarck said, “One day the great European War will come out of some damned foolish thing in the Balkans,” (History.com Staff 1). As it so happens, Mr. von Bismarck was correct. The first World War was triggered by the unmerited assassination of the Austro-Hungarian Archduke. The day Ferdinand was killed, was his and his wife’s wedding anniversary (History.com Staff 1). The couple was visiting Sarajevo in a open car, a rarity at the time (Ben Cosgrove 1). Unfortunately, this city held threatening nationalists and terrorists. Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated by a young man named Gavrilo Princip. Princip had been trained in terrorism by the Black Hand, a Serbian secret society (The Editors of Encyclopedia
Bosnia and Herzegovina were provinces just south of Austria, which had, until 1878, been governed by the Turks. The Treaty of Berlin, in 1878, settled the disposition of lands lost by the Turks following their disastrous war with Russia. Austria was granted the power to administer the two provinces indefinitely. Many Bosnian-Serbs felt a strong nationalistic desire to have their province joined with that of their Serb brothers across the river in Serbia. Many in Serbia openly shared that desire.
Extreme nationalism was one of the causes of World War I because of the unification of Germany and Italy. Nationalism led European nations to compete for the largest army and navy, or the greatest industrial development. It also gave groups of subject peoples the idea of forming independent nations of their own. Germany wanted to match the British navy superiority during the reign of Kaiser William II. The nationalistic Italians who had just unified were also willing to fight alongside the Germans in order to prove themselves. Serbian nationalists however, were directly involved with the cause of WW I. On June 28, 1914, the young Princip assassinated Archduke Francis Ferdinand and thus brought about the ultimatum of Austria-Hungary. Encouraged by the ‘brotherhood’, the Germans willingly watched over its brother and fortified the Anshluss, another case of nationalism. The entanglement of alliances would bring about the war.
The Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary led to the July Crisis. A crisis in which, Austria sent an Ultimatum to Serbia, with requirement to be followed. Serbia accepted most but not all of Austria’s demands. Serbia’s decline of the Ultimatum led to Austria-Hungary declaring war on the Serbs. Another key event in the July Crisis was Austria-Hungary sending a “blank cheque” to Germany. This cheque meant to ask if Germany would help Austria-Hungary if they went to war. Germany agreed to the “blank cheque”. As Austria-Hungary went to war against Serbia; Serbia had alliances with France, Russia, Italy, and the Ottoman Empire to join the war on their side. Germany knowing that Russia was mobilizing its army, Kaiser Wilhelm II, sent a letter to Russia’s leader. Tsar Nicholas II ignored the letter and kept on mobilizing its army. Therefore, Germany put forth the Schlieffen plan, written in 1904 by Alfred von Schlieffen. This plan’s principle was getting German troops through Belgium and then the troops into France....
Not only this, but militar tension was also very evident between the European countries and each country thought that their own military was better than the rest. This was a nationalist thought that definitely played a factor in leading to the start of the war. The big event that ignited the fighting between the countries was the assassination of the Archduke of Austria, Franz Ferdinand. The assassination happened when a Serbian Black Hand member killed Ferdinand and his wife while they were in their car visiting Sarajevo, a city that was then occupied by Austria. The Black Hand of Serbia resisted the occupation of Sarajevo by Austria, which lead to the Archduke’s assassination. In retaliation to the murder of their Archduke, Austria declared war on Serbia, who at the time had an alliance with Russia. Russia decided to honor the treaty with Serbia and declared war on Austria who had an alliance with Germany who declared war on Russia. The confusion does notend there though, Russia also had an alliance with Great Britain and France, who then declared war on Germany. These webs of alliances is also a big factor in the initiation of the
One underlying cause of World War I was the alliances that were being formed. On July 28th 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophia were assassinated by a serbian member of the blackhand. Austria played Serbia as puppets and no longer wanted to compromise and wished to declare war. Alliances were formed to benefit their own country and to keep peace with the Great Powers and Europe. Many alliances split amongst Europe and made each country enemies. The Triple Entente military alliance between Great Britain, France & Russia in the years preceding World War I (Chapter 13 Section 1).
Assess how far the outbreak of the First World War was the responsibility of Germany and Austria
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.
The nation responsible for the onset of World War I is Austria-Hungary because of the territorial and political stances with Serbia that provoked the assassination of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand. After Ferdinand's death, Austria-Hungary initiated a call for support to the Germans about the problems in the Balkans, resulting in Germany confirming their assistance by issuing a “Blank Check.” Austria later gave Serbia a list of ultimatums that consisted of extreme demands in hopes of Serbia rejecting it. Since Serbia is a country where Slavic nationalism was idealized, it refused the idea of Austria gaining the right to control the investigation of Franz Ferdinand's assassination and have authority over the state of Serbia and this did in fact compel Serbia to reject the ultimatums. Austria knew that Serbia would not accept this list of ultimatums and therefore sent it as a rational motive to declare a war. Not long after, Austria declared war on Serbia, and Germany, Austria's ally, declared war on Russia, an ally of Serbia.
On Sunday June 28, 1914, a member of the terrorist group The Black Hand, assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand. Many historians say that this event was the cause of World War I. There is also a theory that the assassination of the Archduke was only a trigger and that the war itself was caused by numerous other historical events and developments including imperialism, militarism, and alliances. Militarism was the leading factor in the outbreak of war. Militarism is the philosophy that a country’s significance is shown through its military might. Such a violent ideal promotes a unnecessarily strong military force and an aggressive demeanor while negotiating national interests. Without it the World War I would not happen on such a grand scale, if it would have happened at all.
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
Following the assassination, Austria- Hungary was ready to declare war on Serbia, whom they believed was responsible for the death of Ferdinand. Without the support of Germany, Austria- Hungary probably would not have attacked ...
Two of the most important events in European History are the unifications of Italy and Germany. Both were unified around the same time, and in ways that were both similar and different. The leaders of the two countries were the reason they were unified differently. Count Camillo Benso di Cavour, with the help of Guiseppe Garibaldi, brought about the unification of Italy. Otto von Bismarck is credited with finally uniting Germany. Cavour of Italy and Bismarck of Germany used more similar methods than different methods to unify their countries. These methods included different military tactics, their common use of nationalism as a manipulation tool, and their similar diplomacy in political situations.
While there is never just a single event that has led to the start of a world war, or any other serious war, there is often one thing that triggers long lived tensions and thus war ensues. Such was the case in WWI with the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. There were many tensions that existed prior to his assassination, but it was his assassination which triggered the war, his assassination that served as an excuse, and perhaps the last straw, so to speak, which led to the First World War. The following paper examines the assassination of Franz Ferdinand and its relationship to the start of WWI.