Summary of The Great War and The Treaty of Versailles

World War I was a tragic episode in European history. As with most wars, there were some causes that led to this event. A few of these causes were militarism, alliances, and imperialism. The first spark of the war was on June 28, 1914 when the Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife were assassinated by a Serbian nationalist group called the Black Hand. The Austrian leaders demanded an apology from Serbia, they got upset and Russia said they would help Serbia. With no apology and the threat of Russia, on June 28 Austria-Hungary declared war on them; Russia in return declared war on Austria-Hungary. Germany declared war on Russia, France on both Germany and Austria-Hungary. Finally Britain had joined France and Russia, then all of Europe was at war.

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

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

After taking action against Serbia, Austria-Hungary gained German support, and from there, the first alliance began. Within a week, major European powers like Russia, France, and Great Britain became involved, and more alliances were formed. Germany, Italy, and Austria-Hungary were the members of the Triple Alliance, while Great Britain, France, and Russia were the members of the Triple Entente. If a country in one of these alliances declared war, the conflict would quickly escalate due to all of the countries that would essentially need to become

World War I consisted of two different alliances, the Triple Entente and the Triple Alliance. The Triple Entente included Great Britain, France and Russia who was allied with Serbia. Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy were part of the Triple Alliance (Document 2). Germany also signed a treaty with the Ottoman Empire and Great Britain grew close with Japan creating other alliances (455). Alliance systems meant that war between two countries meant war between all.

The alliances of the Triple Entente and the Triple Alliance brought about the main stage of the global war. The Triple Entente, made up of England, France, and Russia surrounded the Triple Alliance made up of Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy geographically (Document 3). This led to the build up of armies on both sides (Document 7). When Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia, a neutral country friendly with the allies, over the Serbian nationalist group assassination of Archduke Ferdinand, Germany backed it up which created a domino effect of the alliance countries joining the war (OI).

The first cause of World War One were alliances, the actual agreement between two nations; meaning work together. To start off, the United Kingdom, Russia, and France were apart of the Allies alliance. Germany, Austria-Hungary, and the Ottoman Empire were members of the Central Powers alliance. Some countries chose to

(Fred Fierch)” “Among those alliances were the Triple Alliance and the Triple Entente.(Also Fred Fierch)” The Triple Alliance, also known as the Allied Powers, consisted of Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy, and the Ottoman Empire (Doc 7), and the Triple Entente consisted of France, Russia, and Great Britain (Doc 7). The formation of the Triple Entente, also known as the Central Powers, unified the UK and the French and “marked the end of almost a thousand years of intermittent conflict between two states (Doc 5)”. As a token of pride in my Italian heritage, I am proud to state that Italy later on switches from the Triple Entente to the Triple Alliance, because it was the victorious group of alliances.

Britain and France had created, “an alliance which claimed it was defensive in nature” to counter the threat of Germany’s massive army (Document 7). Germany saw itself encircled and formed the Triple Alliance. The alliances formed increased tensions because when one country formed an alliance with another, surrounding nations felt threatened and therefore, formed their own alliances. Europe was divided into two major alliances: the Triple Alliance made up of Germany, Austria-Hungary, Italy and the Triple Entente established between Britain, France, Russia on the eve of World War I (Document 2). Russia also had close ties with Serbia because of their common Slavic heritage.

All of these countries were well-off, Britain especially, with the Industrial Revolution increasing exports and Imperialism producing resources needed to keep their economy superior to other countries. In the middle of this alliance, there lay another. It consisted of Germany, Italy, and Austria-Hungary. The Balkans to the south were considered neutral territory in 1914 (Document A), but the peoples of these lands were vastly unhappy. One such people were the Serbians. Now, the Serbians were not happy with how their lives were, and dreamed of revolution. So, a group known as The Black Hand devised a plan that they believed would bring the change they wanted to Serbia; killing the Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand. Now when this happened, Austria-Hungary responded by declaring war on Serbia. However, when this did this, they alerted the Triple Entente. Russia, which was tied to the Triple Entente, was on good terms with Serbia. And so Russia declares war on Austria-Hungary, which causes Germany to join in, and invade Belgium. And so Britain, who was a friend of Belgium, declared war on Germany, and then France joined because England joined. So, in effect, because of one assassination, because of one death, all of Europe bursted into a long, bloody engagement in which ten million people

The assassination of the Austro-Hungarian Archduke Franz Ferdinand by a Serbian nationalist is probably the most immediate cause of World War 1. When Ferdinand was assassinated, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia, who had an alliance with Russia. When Russia began to mobilize its troops to protect Serbia from Austria-Hungary, Germany, (who was allied with Austria-Hungary) declared war on Russia. In turn, France, allied with Russia, joined the war against Germany. When Germany attacked France through Belgium, it drew Britain, allied with France and Belgium, into the war against Germany. After a while, other countries

In 1914, the First World War started. Franz Ferdinand murdered causes a chain reaction of events which in all ends in a world war. Russia decided to side with Serbia saying they had nothing to do with the assassination, Austria-Hungary didn't believe them and declared war on Serbia. When Russia began to mobilize, Germany declared war on Russia and France. Britain siding with France and declaring war on Germany.

The Triple Alliance was a military alliance between Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy formed on March 20th 1882. Each country promised support in the event of attack.

Austria declared war with Serbia, and Russia responded by declaring mobilisation. Russia tried to negotiate terms with Austria, but they wouldn’t comply. On August 1 of 1914, Austria declared war on Russia. Germany declared mobilisation on the same day as Russia did, and they already had a plan known as the Schlieffen plan, which was to invade France and then turn and invade Russia. They decided that with their mobilisation they would try to attack France. France disagreed to military pressure made by Germany and on August 3rd, 1914, Germany declared war on France.

The First World War was triggered due to the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in the hands of Gavrilo Princip, a Yugoslav nationalist. Austro-Hungarians did not take this lightly and evoked all alliances formed decades ago and declared war on Serbia. According