Three Triggering Factors of World War I

World War I was one of the world's largest battles amongst the greatest world leaders. This was a fight among the allies, the yellow coats, and central powers, the red coats. Although there were many different causes of World War I, a few distinctly were the main motivation of the Great War. Three of these triggering factors to the Great War were the assassination of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, nationalism, and the system of alliances.

Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria was the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne and a prince in Bohemia and Hungary. Ferdinand’s wife Sophie Chotek was pregnant when the two were assassinated on June 28, 1914 in Sarajevo. The murderer in this incident was Gavrilo Princip, a member of the terrorist

One of the most important alliances in World War I was the Triple Alliance. The Triple Alliance was an alliance amongst Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy. The treaty signed stated that Germany and Austria-Hungary would provide Italy with troops if France were to ever declare war. In return, Italy would assist Germany in any French attacks. The only downside was that if Austria-Hungary were to go to war with Russia, Italy would remain neutral and not help Austria-Hungary. The Triple Entente was an alliance between Italy, Austria-Hungary, and Germany. This alliance was considered a friendship and a coming to mutual agreement of terms. It understood how each region had their own ruling power, and constituted a powerful equilibrium for the Triple Alliance. These alliances were a cause of war due to the fact that if a country they were allies with had war declared on them, they were obligated to assist them.

World War I ended in a brutal bloodshed of 17 million soldiers and civilian deaths. In total there was 38 million either wounded or killed. The war was fairly unnecessary, and could have definitely been avoided. The Great War ended after four years of back and forth endless fighting. After the war, many countries rushed to build themselves back to their mighty power that had been crushed thinking that the great battle of the world was officially over and everyone would back down from their post. Sadly, only a few years later, a new war would bleed throughout the