Reasons For The Murder Of Franz-Ferdinand And Sophie

Relations between the French and Germans were additionally beset, while France and Russia likewise had their disparities. The leaders of Austria-Hungary considered Serbia in charge of Archduke Francis Ferdinand 's demise in a terrorist assault in 1914. Leaders of Austria-Hungary wanted to rally the people of their vanishing empire going to war against the minuscule Serbia, trusting a

Serbia was upset of Bosnia being placed under Austrian rule because of their devotion to Slavic nationalism, and Austria was aware of their disappointment and unhappiness. Austria suggested eliminating Pan-Slavism because they were worried about the idea of Serbian terrorists in their country because of Serbia's aggression towards them. Austria was aware that Bosnia favored Slavic nationalism just like Serbia. Austria-Hungary could have avoided intervening in the social and political ideas of getting rid of Slavic nationalism and being oppressive to the Serbian people. By sending an Austrian political figure to Serbia during the turmoil was an unintelligent action for Austria to make because it was a fact that the Archduke's life would be put in danger and that he would most likely be killed. The Austrian government even expressed how the atmosphere created by the malicious agitation in Serbia sprang up a series of murderous attacks on high functionaries of the Monarchy, which ended in the execrable crime against the exalted person of the heir to the throne, the Archduke Franz Ferdinand, which had been carefully prepared in Serbia(The Austro-Hungarian Red Book). Austria knew that Serbia

This leads to the conclusion that the European powers were ready for war in 1914. It is important to realize that since the European powers made alliances with each other, small arguments concerning one power might lead to a war involving all the powers. In the case of the assassination of Franz Ferdinand, this situation created a serious misunderstanding between Austria-Hungary and Serbia and as a result, the other nations in Europe involved in alliances with either 2 countries were obligated to support them. Alliances were originally created strictly for defensive purposes but by 1910, many of the alliances had changed their character like the Austro-German alliance. Germany promised to give military aid to Austria-Hungary to invade Serbia and on the other hand, Russia provided Serbia with military assistance. As alliances had become instruments of national aggression, the chances of war doubled. The probability of Austria-Hungary to declare war on Serbia due to the death of their heir increased because Austria-Hungary could rely on the support of Germany to help achieve its goal. In addition, this fragile interlock of alliances relied on the leaders of the European countries to act reasonably however, this was not the case in the situation of World War 1. The Kaiser of Germany felt his country was being denied the chance to unleash its full potential by Britain so the power hungry ruler was determined to

A young generation was emerging within Serbia and Bosnia whose experience of national and social struggles had taught them the effectiveness of violence as a means to achieve goals (as seen in the Balkan Wars 1912-13). It was a generation that demanded action and sacrifice instead of words and political wisdom (Cirkovic 246). Russia repeatedly assured their Slav brethren that they only had to wait (MacKenzie 58). Serbian agitation against Austria-Hungary was increased and the more the Austro-Hungarians attempted to subvert it, the more violent and fanatical it became. The fearlessness that was born from the support of Russia led those seeking Slavic unity to assassinate Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the Heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, thereby triggering the cascade that began WWI.

Once Franz Ferdinand of Austria was assassinated, it gave the countries a reason to declare war on each other. Document A shows the alliances between European countries at the start of WWI in 1914. France, Britain, and Russia were an alliance. France and Britain were the most powerful out of imperialist Europe, so they made an alliance to combine that strength. Russia owned no colonies, so it would make sense they would want an alliance with what seemed like the strongest colony owners. Germany owned the third most colonies, but they were scared of Britain and France taking over (look at the analysis of Document D). Austria-Hungary was in a place similar to Russia in that they needed an alliance with a stronger country, Germany fit the type of alliance Austria-Hungary was looking for because Germany had a strong military and was already united to Austria-Hungary by common fear of Russia and Russia’s alliances. Germany allied with Austria-Hungary because they believed Russia wouldn’t wage war against two empires. This led Russia to ally with France and

The huge national investment in military helped the countries to prepare for the war. In actuality, all the countries had known that the war was unavoidable. (Doc 9) French writer Emile Zola thinks that “The world can live only by eating and being eaten. And it is only the warlike nations that have prospered; a nation dies when it disarms.” (Doc 2) Countries made meticulous plan to defend themselves by increasing militarism. The expenditures of the great powers on armaments of the European countries increased dramatically. (Doc 10) However, the political leaders did not make efforts to prevent the war. Instead, they increased the mobilization of their armies for war. (Doc 11) Countries were aware of that the world war must bring out, the only thing was a trigger, the assassination of Ferdinand. The relationship between Austria-Hungary and Serbia was terrible before the assassination. In the ultimatum sent to Serbia on July 23, 1914, Austria-Hungary condemned the movement against the Monarchy and asked for collarboration against these subversions. (Doc 8) However, the tensions became uncontrollable when on July 28, Ferdinand was assassinated by a a nationalist Serbian young

This concept leads to the assassination of Austria’s archduke, Franz Ferdinand. This single event is known as the spark of World War I. Serbia wanted independence and freedom from Austria-Hungary. A Serbian nationalist by the name of Gavrilo Princep assassinated the archduke and his wife as they drove by him in a car. The Black Hand, a Serbian nationalist group, orchestrated the attack, causing Austria to declare war on Serbia who was backed by the Russians. Russia, who secretly wanted to have control over Serbia, claimed be motivated by Pan Slavism. Pan Slavism is essentially Slavic nationalism, or the belief that all Slavs should support each other. According to Document 3, Austria-Hungary then made many demands for Serbia to comply with. Serbia accepted almost all demands, but this was not acceptable to Austria-Hungry, who declared war on Serbia soon after. The rest of the European Powers followed due to the Alliance system. Another event, called the Moroccan crisis, also lead to the outbreak of World War I. Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany publicly declared his support for Morocco, angering of France and Britain. The visit was intended to serve as a demonstration that Germany would back Morocco against French expansion. Great Britain and France were extremely angry over what they considered to be their business. Germany had to take most of the blame for World War I as a condition of the Versailles Treaty. According to Document 4, the Treaty forced Germany to pay all reparations for the war and limit it’s boundaries and military size. Germany resented the Treaty and the countries involved. This would eventually lead to the Second World War. Russia left World War I to focus more on internal conflict (revolution). As Russia left the conflict, the United States was pulled into it. The Zimmerman telegram was a secret telegram sent from Germany asking Mexico to enter the war to weaken

Jean-Jacques Becker and Gerd Krumeich state that the attack on the Archduke would provide Austria-Hungary’s “political and military leaders with a convenient reason for dealing conclusively with the Serbian threat.” It was Austria-Hungary whom sent an ultimatum that they knew Serbia would not agree to. They did this knowingly, counting on Serbia to reject the ultimatum. Austria-Hungary took Serbia’s one reservation to the ultimatum as a declaration of war. Additionally, they are the reason why Germany became involved in the conflict. Although Germany provided Austria-Hungary a blank check, it was Austria-Hungary who decided that they would begin a conflict with Serbia. Austria-Hungary is ultimately whom should be held responsible for initiating World War I.

The Serbian nationalists were the main cause of Franz Ferdinand’s assassination and aided in the start of World War I. After the Austria-Hungary Empire annexed Bosnia-Herzegovina, the country of Serbia encouraged Serbians living there to rebel “against Austria-Hungarian rule in frequent protests and civil disturbances” (Pendergast 16). The Serbians began to fight for independence against rule of Austria-Hungary which led to the assassination of the Archduke of the Austria-Hungary Empire, Franz Ferdinand. The Black Hand was the terrorist group that murdered Franz Ferdinand and his wife, Sophie. Not only was it “led by Colonel Dragutin Dimitrijevic, the head of Serbian military intelligence” but Austria’s Serbian ambassador is said to have known about the assassination beforehand (Pendergast 21). Serbian’s were sick of being ruled in an empire, so “militant groups like the Black Hand, wanted to untie the Slavic people in an independent pan-Slavic state” (Pendergast 45). They were determined to put all the Slavic people together as a separate nationality and destroyed people who got in their way, including Franz Ferdinand, the Archduke of the Austria-Hungary Empire. With Franz Ferdinand being the heir to the Austria-Hungarian throne, the Austria-Hungarian Empire began to call for a war against the Serbians but needed allies in order to have a chance of winning.

World War I was built up by many things; however the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, in Sarajevo June 1914 was what started the war. Austria-Hungary's reaction to the death of their heir was in the works for about three weeks. The Austro-Hungarians took this as an opportunity to exercise its authority upon the Serbians, wanting to crush any nationalist movement there. This was also an effort in cementing Austria-Hungary's influence in the Balkans. It did so by declaring an ultimatum to Serbia which, the extent of the demands was that the assassins be brought to justice. Sir Edward Grey, the British Secretary, commented that he had "never before seen one State address to another independent State a document of so formidable a character." Austria-Hungary expected that Serbia would reject the terms of the ultimatum, thereby giving them a reason for launching a war against Serbia.

The actions before the United States took part of War World I, were led by chronological events. It started on 1914, when Archduke-Franz Ferdinand of Austria was assassinated by a Serbian nationalist in Sarajevo, Bosnia. Which caused a rapid chain of events of accusations and threats followed by the incident that had occurred. Many countries around the world like Austria-Hungary, accused the Serbian government of the assassination attack and hoping to have used the incident as a justification of settling the question of Slavic nationalism once and for all. Nerveless, Russia supported Serbia while Austria waited for the declaration of war until its leaders had received assurance from German leaders Kaiser Wilhelm ll, if whether Germany would support Austria if there were

The circumstances leading to Franz Ferdinand’s death are far more complex than just a Serbian man shooting an Archduke; there were many other components that contributed to this. There were tensions so great that they were almost

The assassination gave Austria-Hungary a good reason to form a plan against Serbia, but Austria-Hungary first got Germany’s promise to support them in any action they took against Serbia. Then Austria-Hungary sent Serbia a list of demands on July 23. Serbia accepted most of the demands and offered to have the rest settled by an international conference. Austria-Hungary rejected the offer and declared war on Serbia on July 28 1914("World War I History." ).

The alliance system, which at that time was used to prevent any war, has caused this huge war when Austro-Hungarian Empire declared war on Serbia, and making it ineluctable. This proves that the blank cheque that was given to Austria was reasonable, for Austria was Germany’s ally, and as allies, they should support each other. The same was done with Russia with countries in the Balkans. As Austro-Hungarian Empire declares war on Serbia, Russia mobilizes her army and prepares her troops to help the Serbs to protect themselves from the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Germany,

One of the reasons led to World War One was the assassination of Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary by a Serbian (Fromkin 121). Although multiple reasons have been affiliated to his assassination, most of those reasons revolve around upholding Serbia’s power. On the one hand, Austria-Hungary had planned to attack Serbia since it was at its weakest point due to the adverse effects of the Balkan War they had just undergone (Fromkin 122). On the other hand, Serbia was making an effort to regain control over Bosnia-Herzegovina, which was under the control of Austria-Hungary (Fromkin 122). Before the assassination of Franz, the Bosnia-Herzegovina crisis had heightened to a point where Austria intended to invade Serbia (Fromkin 74). It was evident that Serbia, through the assassination of Franz, was seeking to retain its independence and protect its regions from Austria-Hungary’s influence by intimidating