Long Term Causes Of The First World War Essay

Nationalism was strong during the 19th century. The Slavic peoples in Bosnia and Herzegovinia no longer wanted to be a part of the Austria Hungary nation, but a part of Serbia. All the

World War I, a war that started out locally in Europe between Austria-Hungary and Serbia that later ended up including thirty two different nations. This war has been around for almost a century and yet the causes of it are still being debated. There are many different scenarios that have been considered. Some of the key reasons that were believed to have instigated WWI were nationalism, imperialism, militarism, and an arrangement of treaties. Also the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand was believed to be one of the immediate causes.

The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo, Bosnia, on June 28, 1914 (Brook-Shepherd 250), gave the Austro-Hungarians the justification needed to attack the Pan-Slavic threat. All that was known at the time was that the assassins were Slavs (Kohn 255) and that they had committed the crime in the hotbed of Pan-Slavic attention in Bosnia. It was later revealed that the murderer was associated with the afore-mentioned “Black Hand” group that advocated unification of all Slavs at whatever the cost (MacKenzie 61) The immediate significance of the murder was that it gave Austria-Hungary a pretext for suppressing the Pan-Slavic

Great War, also known as The First World War, lasted for four year (1914 to 1918). It brought a huge development of war technics and weapons. More number of countries had been involved in the Great War than any previous war. It involved the mobilization of the whole nations, not just an enormous army that turned the war into a “total war”. (Clare 6) However, historians are still arguing about the major cause of the World War I. The major cause will be one of the four long-term causes of WWI, which are Militarism, Alliance, Imperialism, and Nationalism. In my opinion, the two major causes would be Alliance and Nationalism. Alliance is an association between two or more countries for mutual benefits that formed with different treaties, while

Nationalism: is a strong feeling of pride in one’s country and believing that one’s country is better than other country and this aggressive nationalism in the early 1900’s was a source of tension in Europe, which fueled the war. Nationalism was very strong in France and Germany; it unified the Germans, as they were proud of their growing military and industrial strength. While, France wanted to regain its position as a leading European power. Similarly, Russia had encouraged a form of nationalism in Eastern Europe called Pan Slavism. It drew all Slavic people and Russia was the largest Slavic country ready to defend small Serbia. Multinational Austria Hungary opposed Slavic national movements. After Napoleon’s exile to Elba congress of Vienna was held and it tried to solve the problem in Europe. Delegates of Britain, Austria, Russia, and Prussia agreed upon a new Europe whereas Germany and Italy were left as divided states. So there

In the middle of all that, Bulgaria and Serbia are allied with Russia, Ottoman Empire, and Austria-Hungary, this was called The Web of alliances. In 1914 there weren’t really any “big” conflicts, Africa becoming fully claimed by the European nations. Imperialism and competition for the worlds resources could have played a big role in the start of World War I.

However, there had to be certain event that started all of it. That event happened in June 1914, when Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary, was visiting Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia. This visit angered members of the Black Hand, a Serbian terrorist group, who wanted Bosnia to break away from Austria-Hungary and join Serbia.

In the early 1900’s, the entirety of Europe was divided into various alliances and powers, most notably the Triple Alliance (Germany, Astro-Hungarian Empire, and Italy) and the Triple Entente (France, Russia, and the United Kingdom), which ultimately fell into a hellish firestorm of mustard gas and trench warfare in 1914 that left 18 million dead and Europe’s economies and production decimated manyfold (DBQ Project, Various – Document D). The destruction of the turn-of-the-century nations and Empires that slaughtered over people stems from a chronological progression of ambitious Imperialism, extreme Nationalism, and rapid Militarism.

As the wars between these smaller countries unfolded, Archduke Franz Ferdinand heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, and Kaiser Wilhelm II emperor of Germany and the archduke’s ally, hoped these conflicts would weaken Serbia, whose violent policies in the region interfered with the larger empire’s economic growth plans. ( "Franz Ferdinand, Archduke of Austria”). On June 28, a group of seven Serbian national terrorists assassinated Franz Ferdinand, the archduke of Austria, and his wife, while they were visiting Sarajevo, Bosnia. This assassination was led by Gavrilo Princip.

Ferdinand and his wife had arranged to tour Bosnia. As the couple rode through Sarajevo, the capital of Austro-Hungarian, on June 28, 1914, a man by the name of Gavrilo Princip jumped on their car and fired two shots, killing Ferdinand and his wife. Gavrilo Princip, was linked to a Serbian terrorist group called the Black hand("World War I History." ).

On June 28, 1914, the assassination in Sarajevo of Archduke Ferdinand, heir to Austria-Hungary throne, by Gavrilo Princip as part of a terrorist organization known as the Black Hand, a terrorist group out to create a better Serbia, took place. Some members of the Black Hand were high-ranking government officials that were involved in the assassination. This proves that the government was somehow involved with the terrorist attack. Additionally, The government call Princip a hero and gave him a statue, making them look like they were pro the assassination. When Austria-Hungary gave them an ultimatum, they accepted all terms except one- that Austria-Hungary could come into Serbia and find the terrorists. They said this it “would be a violation

World War One was one of the most disastrous wars that has ever taken place and it has left a permanent impact on society. Although there were many short term causes, the long term causes are what really started the war and what forced the major countries into joining the efforts. There were many long term causes of World War One; however, The Treaty of London signed in 1839, forced the war to reach an unforeseen level. By breaking the Treaty of London Germany forced Britain to enter the war; therefore, The Treaty of London is clearly the leading long term cause of World War One because of its effect on Great Britain and the events that quickly followed. Although the Franco-Prussian War had a large impact of the beginning of the war, Germany breaking the Treaty of London, clearly had the biggest impact of causing World War One.

Archduke Franz Ferdinand was the heir to the throne of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1896. He was a threat to the Black Hand Terrorist group, a group of radical Serbian nationalists. They pledged “to destabilize the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the Ottoman Empire in order to incorporate their Serb population into a greater Serbia” (CITE) However the Archduke’s goals were “strengthening the Austro-Hungarian Empire” (CITE) which was contrary to the Serbs' desires. They feared that if he came into power, he would continue to persecute the Serbs, henceforth the decision to assassinate him.

long term causes of world war 1 One of the long term causes was militarism. Also, nationalism was one of the long term causes too. Both of these were two long term causes of world war 1. Why were they long term causes? Because militarism rose the spending funds. And nationalism because people grouped together.

Does nationalism have a relationship with the causes of the wars between 1792 and 1914? This can be disputed through the events of the French Revolution, the Napoleonic Wars, the unification struggles of Germany and Italy in the late 1800’s, the Alliance systems of the late 1800’s and the assassination of the Austrian archduke before the outbreak of World War 1.