How Did a European War Turn into a World War So Easily?’

World War I is widely known and remembered across the world, however many people forget where it originated and do not realise that it merely began as a minor European war concerning two countries. The war originated as a dispute between two countries, both of which countries had numerous alliances that were all wiling to step up and fight alongside these two countries. As these alliances came into play, the war spread to other countries like wildfire, bringing on the horror of 16 million deaths with it. Many people however do believe that it was not a war that should have involved people and soldiers on a worldwide scale, and by studying the war’s origin it becomes clear that the cause of the war was indeed taken out of proportion. This war could have easily been prevented from rising to a world scale if people had of thought their actions through more calmly and without the influence and pressure of other countries and their alliances.

Although World War I is thought of by many as the Great War, the triggering event was far from great or noble and was extremely too trivial for the whole world to become involved. The beginning of the war was marked by the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, next in line to the Austrian throne, and his wife while they were visiting Serbia. In Austria’s eyes this was a great felony and provided much reason to go to war against Serbia. This was extremely unjustified, as it was merely a man from a group of six Serbian assassins and not Serbia as a nation who planned the assassination. However, both of these countries had alliances with other countries, which both came into play soon after this event. Austria’s allies, who are known as the Triple Alliance, consisted of Germany and Italy, w...

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...o kill the enemy. The war did not begin over an issue affecting the whole world, but rather caused many deaths, sadness and horror.

Many people look back upon World War I as a noble and valiant war, however very few people know what countries were fighting for, which in reality was only to protect alliances and mother countries. These same alliances were the very cause of the initially small war’s large expansion and the high number of courageous lives that were lost. Bad judgement, protection and fear are just some of the reasons contributing to the wars hideous expansion. The war should never have spun so out of control.

Works Cited

http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/timeline_of_world_war_one.htm http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_I_casualties http://www.mapsofworld.com/world-war-i/countries-involved.html

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