Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferninand of Austria

On June 28, 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria visited the Bosnian capital, Sarajevo. A group of six assassins, supplied by a Bosnian based terrorist group the Black Hand, had gathered on the streets where the Archduke's motorcade would pass. Some attempted to kill the Archduke, including one who attempted to throw a grenade at the car but missed. Others failed to act as the car drove past them. Later on the route through the city, the motorcade took a wrong turn onto a previously designated street. Gavrilo Princip, a Black Hand assassin, stood waiting with a pistol. Princip shot and killed Archduke Ferdinand and his wife Sophie. However, the assassination received almost disregard back in Austria. Yet, the death of the Archduke and his wife would be the beginning of an all out war in Europe as Austria-Hungary would declare war on Serbia. This declaration would bring in Germany on the side of Austria-Hungarian empire and Russia aiding the Serbians. By joining sides this would convey in France, Great Britain and during the later part of the war, Italy, Japan and the United States. Official war began on July 28, 1914.

In the beginning of the war the United States, lead by President Woodrow Wilson, took the clear stance of neutrality. Yet there has been long standing debates as to why the United States entered World War 1 after claiming neutrality for so long. Some argue that it was directly affected by the discovery of the Zimmermann Telegram in January of 1917. While others debate it was an extensive string of events that lead to a declaration of war against Germany in April of the same year, yet the debates find a common ground on the lack of true neutrality on the part of the United States.

At the outbreak of the war, th...

... middle of paper ...

... system of so many people as well as the President. Those these books and articles show that Wilson and his administration were putting on two faces. One that claimed absolute neutrality and another that, behind closed doors, showed one of a great favoritism to the Allied forces. There was no doubt to any of these authors that the U.S would have entered the war on any other side than that of Great Britain and France. Woodrow Wilson held pro-English sentiments that would affect his decisions when it came to war. Whether it was ignoring every international law broken by the British and yet condemning the Germans for breaking those same rules. Or allowing a blockade to continue when it broke several of those rules that the United States had promised to uphold. The United States of America may have claimed neutrality during World War 1, but it was short lived and wrong.