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.
Under the rule at the time of the assassination, the old Austrio-Hungarian Empire was built by conquest and intrigues, by sales and treacheries (The Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand). Franz Ferdinand was a man who many believed would make this empire even more harsh and oppressive and these people fought against such an outcome. However, it has been noted by some that the changes Ferdinand wished to implement may have saved the nation, but while such radical reforms might have saved the empire, they were not popular among those with vested interests in the existing structure (Franz Ferdinand).
Clearly there were many who were opposed to the rule of Ferdinand and they took action. Seven conspirators joined the crowd lining the Archduke's route to City Hall and were successful in killing not only Franz but his wife Sofia, who was pregnant (Assassination of an Archduke, 1914). As one author notes, although the causes of WWI are very convoluted, it is safe to say that these two deaths in Sarajevo provided the spark that ignited the flames of that war (Pendleton).
Prior to the assassination of Ferdinand we can see that there was a great deal of political conflict between one European nation or another for many years, if not decades. One author notes that, it had been simmering for many years before it actually took place. Two countries would have a conflict, they’d have a conference, straightening it all out, and two more countries would be in a dispute over something totally different (Cox). In essence, Europe was in one conflict or another, conflicts that were never really resolved, from 1871 unti...
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...ared, if also economically spent.
It is quite obvious, as well as logical, that the assassination of Ferdinand did not cause the First World War. But, the tensions that had been growing suddenly exploded into action with the assassination. Many people were simply hoping tensions would go away, or that some action would take place so that they could go to war and find their own security and power.
WORKS CITED
The Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. Retrieved 20 February, 2005 from http://www.lib.byu.edu/~rdh/wwi/1914/ferddead.html
Cox, Kim. Causes Leading To WWI. Retrieved 20 February, 2005 from http://www.kimcox.org/causesww1.htm
EyeWitnesstoHistory.com. Assassination of an Archduke, 1914. Retrieved 20 February, 2005 from http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/duke.htm
Franz Ferdinand. Retrieved 20 February, 2005 from http://www.gwpda.org/bio/f/franzfrd.html
Pendleton, Anthony. Serbian chief leads secret terrorist organization. Retrieved 20 February, 2005 from http://aia.lackland.af.mil/homepages/pa/spokesman/Sep01/heritage.htm
What were the causes of WWI? Retrieved 20 February, 2005 from http://www.faqfarm.com/History/WWI/24509
World War I, which lasted from 1914 to 1918, and had a huge impact on the world throughout the twentieth century. This conflict is commonly referred to as the Great War and primarily involved Europeans. Although, other countries, particularly European colonial holdings, did participate. Before World War I began, no one expected such a destructive conflict, as many nations approached the idea of war with enthusiasm. Throughout the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, European nations began to expand their colonial holdings, strengthen their militaries, and in 1914 Archduke Franz Ferdinand was shot. The primary cause of World War I was nationalism, as European imperialism, militarism, and the assassination of Ferdinand are examples of nationalism
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On November 22, 1963, at 12:30 in the afternoon, President John F. Kennedy was shot at and killed while participating in a motorcade in Dallas, Texas. The most important question that arises from this incident is ‘Who killed President John F. Kennedy?’ This is an issue which has been debated by scholars, The Government, and even common people alike. Many people seem to feel that it was a conspiracy, some large cover-up within a cover-up.
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While researching the Kennedy assassination there were many articles, saying that the mob was involved in the shooting. The writers were convinced that there was more than one person involved when it came too killing John Kennedy, on that warm sunny day in downtown Dallas. However, while these authors were convinced that there was another party involved, so was the rest of America with eighty percent saying the report was false. The goal of this paper is to bring this topic into the spotlight once more, by connecting the shooting of the president with the mob, and Lee Harvey Oswald.
If you were to look back at WWI, you would see that there were direct and indirect causes to the war. The assassination of Archduke Ferdinand was an immediate cause. Gavrilo Princip, working with a Serbian anti-Austrian secret society called “The Black Hand” shot Archduke Ferdinand on June 28, 1914 in order to make way for a Slavic revolution. The assassination didn’t do as Princip hoped, and it was used as an excuse for Austria to take hostile action against Serbia. That was not the only cause of the war.
TThe Title “First World War for Dummies” is self-explanatory that it is about World War 1. The author of the book, Sean Lang describes the war in detail of how this war differs from others, whether the war was worth it till describing the best places to visit to learn more about World War 1. The countries’ leaders (especially in Europe) desire to be “Great Power” of the world is the main reason why the war started. But, “the Sarajevo assassination in 1914, however, was the spark that finally set off the First World War.” Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the Royal Highness of Austria, Hungary was assassinated by Colonel Dimitrijevic, also known as Apis to obtain power by obtaining a port on the Adriatic coast. Austria- Hungary asked German’s help
However, the assassination of Archduke Francis Ferdinand was the immediate cause of the global war. As displayed in Document 7, the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand caused existing conflicts to erupt into war. Imperialism destroyed relations with international colonies, and increased tension among each nation. Document 5 - "The 'Standard' of the 'Document'" European countries desired overseas expansion and strived to obtain markets for consumer goods.
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Tensions between the country and Serbia were already incredibly high due to previous conflicts (Mombauer 2), but for one of their citizens to assassinate the prized jewel of the country, especially in a time of incredible apprehension, was to enact a declaration of war, and that is exactly what transpired next. The country of Austria-Hungary took this opportunity of deceit to declare war on the neighboring country of Serbia. Despite the fact that it took 5 entire days to approve of the declaration (History.com Staff), the deed was done, and the first of many future conflicts came to light. These events would have never taken place if the Archduke had not been assassinated, nevertheless the outbreak of the first ever World War. This directly contradicts the notion that the Archduke’s death had a miniscule, if not any impact on the formation of the first World War. For the Archduke not to have been assassinated would lead to the lack of significant conflict, which would mean the need for any sort of declaration of conflict to prove useless. By this logic, his death would be needed to ignite the first fires of the Great War. It is made clear that the Archduke is the only cause of the Great War, as nothing could be quite as significant under these very special
... On 28 June, 1914, the assassination was successful and this was the action that triggered war. Austria-Hungary wanted revenge because their next ruler was killed so they declared war against Serbia. This is what caused the war. The Alliances ties in with these events as Austria-Hungary formed an alliance with Germany who also went to war with Serbia.