Was the Outbreak of General War in 1914 Inevitable After the Assassination of Arch Duke Franz Ferdinand?

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.

The first cause of World War One was due to militarism. World War One was the result of too much military power. Britain had a stronger military power (Royal Navy) because it had the highest per capita expenditures. The desire for military power was high because everyone was building their armies up to

By the 1st of August 1914, Germany had declared war on Russia, as well as threatening Belgium. At this point everyone was trying to protect their country and the countries of their alliances’. So we can see that another trigger to the war was threat, threat that their land would be taken, and that their military was not large enough. So again there was this thirst for land and a need to beat others, this formation of alliances is none other than another trigger to the First World War.

There were many reasons as to why World War I began. According to Document 2 the event that started World War I was the death of the Archduke of Austria-Hungarian, Franz Ferdinand and his wife in Bashia. The other main causes of World War I was militarism, alliances, imperialism, and nationalism. Militarism was the policy of aggressive preparedness, european nations began arming to protect their assets. Alliances is when European nations formed alliances to create a balance of power throughout Europe. The Triple Alliance was a secret agreement

The assassination of Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand played a key role in causing the war due to those involved. The archduke was assassinated by a Serbian nationalist named Gavrilo Princip on June 28, 1914. This assassination quickly set off a chain reaction of events culminating in the outbreak of World War I.

Many contributions lead to the spark of World War I. The three main causes included the assassination of Francis Ferdinand, alliance systems, and militarism. Although imperialism and nationalism are said to be contributing factors to the cause of World War I, the assassination of Francis Ferdinand, alliance systems, and militarism were three of the most important causes of The Great War. An immediate cause of World War I was the assassination of Austria-Hungary’s archduke, Francis Ferdinand.

From 1890 to 1914, there was a drastic increase in the amount of money nations began to spend on their navy and army advancements. In fact, as the war began to approach, Germany raised the amount they spent towards armaments from 30 million to 120 million pounds and the Triple Entente raised their total money spent to 225 million pounds in 1914 (Document C). The presence of more armaments created an environment ready for war. Their existence meant that the countries are more likely to use them, which only discouraged time to cool off. Additionally, as one country built up their armies more, the others felt they had to do the same which increased tensions. Britain who increased its colonial empire to the largest in the world since the Romans’, caused an arms race where the nations were competing only to have more armaments than the others. Being an island, they began spending more money on their navy, needing to defend its waters. On the opposing side, Germany did not want to get their own feet tramped by any foreign power, fearing to become the anvil rather than the hammer. Bernhard von Bülow, the German Chancellor, said the only way to “keep ourselves at the fore if we realize that there is no welfare for us without power, without a strong army and a strong fleet” (Document D). Using the idea of survival of the fittest, individual countries became stronger in the fear of being destroyed by the aggressors. Clearly, having arms was a

In the late 1800’s and early 1900’s Europe was becoming a tinder box for a possible great war. Every country was extremely determined on spreading their empires. Additionally they began to form alliances, France with England and Germany with Austria-Hungry. Then on June 28th 1914 a Bosnian-Serb nationalist assassinated the Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife practically igniting Europe and the world into a massive war. This assassination was viewed as an act of war and Russia came in to assist their ally Serbia. Germany naturally had to declare war on Russia to help Austria-Hungry. France and England then joined in to assist Russia.

While the recent assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand is what led to the war, there are multiple underlying factors that imitated the war. One of such factors is imperialism. In the past few decades, countries in Europe have been competing for land to expand their empire. This had led to various feuds igniting a hostility between countries. Nations did not trust each other and were cautious. Another factor is patriotism, people believe there country is the best and want their country above the rest. They like to promote their culture and beliefs to other nations. All the hidden factors meant the Great War was a war waiting to

The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo on 28th June, 1914 is often regarded as the event that triggered the First World War. This simple “cause and effect” formula does not do justice to what is a far more a complex story. While the assassination certainly helped to set in train a series of reactions by various governments that led to the outbreak of the war, the story neither begins or ends there. To try and figure out how the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand was significant to New Zealand we have to look in to the causes leading up to the event and the consequences of the actions made afterward.

Throughout history there has been competition for resources and domination. This competition has led to conflicts that have caused destruction, social disruptions and death. World War I was no exception to this competition. World War I was known as the war to end all wars and was caused by a combination of factors. Some causes of World War I was nationalism, imperialism, militarism, and the main cause which was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand by Gavrilo Princip of Serbia. While the United States attempted to remain neutral and stay out of the war, Germany choose actions that gave the U.S. no choice but to enter and help their Allies defeat the other powers.

Another reason why war was inevitable was Germany was mobilizing a massive army, stockpiling huge amounts of weapons, and building up its navy at the same time. At the same time Britain was building up a massive navy as well. Germany and Russia's government were increasingly becoming more militarized. Each country was trying to show dominance over the other one.

Before World War 1 began there were many conflicts between many countries, these conflicts are what eventually led to the war. Nationalism lead to World War 1 for reasons people believed they needed to fight for their country, many people who weren’t fighting wanted to support their soldiers, and many soldiers felt as if they couldn’t back out of the war. Militarism was a cause because each country was building up their weapons and ammunition, as well as building up their armies. Finally Kaiser Wilhelm II was a cause because he had a very strong hate towards Britain, he was a very aggressive leader and he wanted Germany to be the number one country. Nationalism, militarism and Kaiser Wilhelm II were the three main causes of World War 1.

To this day, this event is what is known for causing the start of the Great War. Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary was assassinated along with his wife on June 28, 1914. Franz Ferdinand (1863-1914) was born in Graz, Austria on December 18, 1863. He was the eldest son of Archduke Karl-Ludwig; Franz Ferdinand was third in line to the thrown of the Austria-Hungarian Empire. After his cousin Prince Rudolf committed suicide in 1889 and his father passes away in 1896, Franz Ferdinand became the heir of his uncle Emperor Franz Joseph. He began his military career at age twelve and was became a major general at age 31.

There are three main factors that would be considered as the cause of the outbreak of war in August 1914, these including; the nature of the Schlieffen Plan, Russian mobilisation and the arms race. The Schlieffen Plan was produced in order to defeat Germany’s allies without having to be in conflict with them all at once, this was extremely important for Germany as it was surrounded by it’s powerful allies, with both France Russia on its borders. The plan itself stated that Germany were to defeat France at its, moving quickly before Russia were able to mobilise, expecting the French to surrender within 6 weeks. Many have argued that the Schlieffen plan was the sole cause of the outbreak of war as whilst the mobilisation of other countries