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The Causes and Blame for World War One

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The date June 24th 1914 is forever stained by the blood of the Archduke Francis Ferdinand and his wife the Duchess Sophie. Together their deaths sparked the beginnings of genocide, one of the worst in history with the number of casualties spiking as high as 37 million, both military and civilian. Francis Ferdinand and his wife’s were only the first in a rapidly growing line. The interesting thing about the war is that it could have been avoided, not many people cared too much about the Archduke, however his death was at the hand of a young Serbian terrorist by the name of Gavril Princip. Princip was a member of the Black Hand, an organization of nationalists who refused to be controlled by any foreign power. In 1908 Austria-Hungary was starting to worry about its future as a great power, as a result they proceeded to annex the twin Balkan Provinces of Bosnia-Herzegovina. This angered the independent Balkan nation of Serbia, who considered Bosnia a Serb homeland. In retaliation Serbia doubled its territory, both threatening and challenging Austria-Hungarian supremacy in that region. ¬¬¬During that time more trouble was stirring up, France and Russia had allied with each other against Germany for the aftermath of the Franco-Prussian war, their territory being annexed, and the threat of the growing German navy. Back in the Austria-Hungary territory, they were being pressed to maintain their credibility as a force in the Balkan region, the solution; ask Germany for help. With Germany at their back, Austria-Hungary sent the Serbian ambassador an ultimatum, “The Serbian government must take steps to wipe out terrorist organizations within its borders, suppress anti-Austrian propaganda and accept an independent investigation by the...

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