The Origins of the Great War

In WW1, the terrorist attack of a Serbian nationalist caused the ignition of flames that were set across Europe. 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.

How had this happened? There are many reasons that contributed to the outbreak of War. There were long and short term causes. These included rivalry between Germany and Britain, tension in Austria-Hungary and Franco Prussian Empire. The assassination at Sarajevo of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife, Countess Sophie, heir to Austria-Hungarian Throne by a Bosnian Serb was just one cause - the spark that set alight the tensions of Europe at the beginning of the 20th Century.

The Great War , or as it is known now, World War One was a global conflict fought between the Allied Powers ; Great Britain, France, Russia, and the United States along will other smaller nations and the Central Powers ; Germany, Austria – Hungary, Turkey/Ottoman Empire and other small nations from 1914 to 1918. World War One began from a series of tumultuous events, that in turn affected the balance of alliances that had been made between countries at that time in the world. The ignition, or rather start of these events occurred on June 28th, 1914, when the Archduke of Austria – Hungary, Frances Ferdinand and his wife, were assassinated by a young Serbian militant, Gavrilo Princep. Austria – Hungary was ensured of support from the German government if the declared war against Yugoslavia, who had a defensive treaty with Russia. On July 25th, Austria – Hungary extended a ten point ultimatum to the Serbian government, along with a forty – eight hour deadline to enforce the ultimatum.

The Cause of World War I There is not just one reason alone why the WWI started, one moment two countries would be fighting and then straight after another country could be fighting. Europe was pretty much at each others throats from 1871 until the war started in 1914. The many long term causes were building lots of tension between the complex alliances and eventually the tension would grow so big and would only need one thing to spark off a world war. In this essay I will discuss the main long and short term causes of The Great War and what effect they had. The 'Triple Alliance' and 'Triple Entente' First of all, the main powers in Europe were Great Britain, France, Germany, Austria-Hungary and Russia.

World War I was caused in part by the two opposing alliances developed after the Franco-Prussian War. In order to diplomatically cut off ... ... middle of paper ... ...rbia on July 28, 1914. On July 29, Russia ordered a partial mobilization only against Austria-Hungary in support of Serbia, which escalated into a full mobilization. The Germans threatened war on July 31 if the Russians did not demobilize. Upon being asked by Germany what it would do in the event of a war between Russia and Germany, Francereplies that it would act in its own interests and mobilized.

Both allies swore to help their allies if their countries were attacked. When a Serbian Nationalist assassinated the Archduke of Austria-Hungary, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia. Germany remembered their treaty with Austria-Hungary, declared war on Russia. They also declared war on France and invaded Belgium using the Schlieffen Plan. Afterwards Britain declared war on Germany and Austria-Hungary because of their alliance with Belgium, France and Russia.

Finally, we will identify and conclude immediate and long term effects of the war from the U.S in terms of material, civilian life, strategy, finance, and so forth. Just as pre-revolutionary governments hint at subtleties before creating a climax within itself, wars start from their own. After the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, the July Crisis of 1914 followed suit. This was the diplomatic conflict that stemmed from the major powers of Europe that led to war. Primarily, Austria-Hungarian sent and ultimatum to Serbia stating that the “Serbian government would have to accept an Austro-Hungarian inquiry into the assassination” and “Suppress all anti-Austrian propaganda and take steps to root out and eliminate terrorist organizations within its borders” ("Austria-Hungary issues ultimatum to Serbia."

This made other European powers such as Britain, France and Russia threatened. Whilst all of this his made some tension, the tension built greatly when Germany made a triple alliance with Italy and Austria-Hungary in 1882. Germany did this because they felt threated by France, Russia and Britain who were surrounding Germany. Whilst Germany had a reason for this alliance, the other power house countries such as Britain, France and Russia saw this ... ... middle of paper ... ...ilst Archduke Franz Ferdinand was on a Royal visit in Bosnia, a group of pro independent terrorists called The Black Hand Group assassinated the Archduke. They made the attack because Bosnia was recently annexed by Austria and Franz Ferdinand was next in line to the throne.

Serbia couldn't take the blame for the whole of assassination but neither could it allow Austria to inspect it, they therefore didn't comply with the full 10 demands of the ultimatum. Austria then had to declare war on Serbia and bomb Belgrade. Serbia's champion Russia contained Pan Slavs like herself and so she had to become involved. She mobilised in order to get Austria to back down; this was obviously a war of Slavdom versus Germandom. Germany asked Russia to immobilise but Russia couldn't because she was such a big country it would take ages, Germany had to then declare war on Russia, and soon after on France because of the Schlieffen plan.

In my opinion, Alliances and Ententes was to blame for war to break out in 1914. The main reason for this is that after Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the heir to the Austro-Hungarian Empire was shot by a Bosnian Serb nationalist. Therefore, Austria-Hungary issued Serbia an ultimatum, which they had chose to ignore, and as a result Germany, who was their ally persuaded Austria-Hungary to declare war on Serbia. Russia, who supported Serbia, began to mobilise. This began to escalate and France, Germany and Britain consequently got involved because of their alliances or ententes.