Who Was Responsible for the Outbreak of Ww1

The nation responsible for the onset of World War I is Austria-Hungary because of the territorial and political stances with Serbia that provoked the assassination of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand. After Ferdinand's death, Austria-Hungary initiated a call for support to the Germans about the problems in the Balkans, resulting in Germany confirming their assistance by issuing a “Blank Check.” Austria later gave Serbia a list of ultimatums that consisted of extreme demands in hopes of Serbia rejecting it. Since Serbia is a country where Slavic nationalism was idealized, it refused the idea of Austria gaining the right to control the investigation of Franz Ferdinand's assassination and have authority over the state of Serbia and this did in

While they certainly both have a hefty part of the blame, and they did technically trigger the war, the other countries were just as willing to jump into the fray. They only needed an excuse which Austria-Hungary would readily able to provide. The fault laid with each and every European nation that participated in the WWI, as they attempted to use war as an excuse or cover up of the social and economic issues that plagued each nation and a complete lack of understanding of how war and technology had changed throughout the last century which led to the horrific slaughter of millions of men and women all over the

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

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.

Because of the archduke’s assassination and the fact that Serbia rejected some of the ultimatums given by Austria-Hungary in order to preserve its sovereignty, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia. After the takeover of Bosnia and Herzegovina by Austria-Hungary, Russia and Austria-Hungary’s allies were committed to supporting their respective allies more effectively in the event of another crisis. Therefore, since Russia was determined to fully support Serbia, Czar Nicholas II ordered partial mobilization, the process of assembling troops and supplies and making them ready for war, of the Russian army against Austria-Hungary. Today, mobilization would not necessarily be considered as an act of war; however, at

World War 1 was the introduction to a series of political, economical and social issues that involved almost every major super power in the world. The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo in 1914 was the primary source of struggle that triggered a series of events which lead to World War 1. Many nations, such as Germany, Britain and France were already armed and ready for a war before the assassination of Franz Ferdinand occurred due to political unrest at the time between the two countries.

At this time Slavic people wanted to be out of the control of Austria-Hungary and be a part of Serbia. It happened when the archduke and his wife were in Bosnia, the location of a protest arguing for that particular region not to be controlled by Austria-Hungary but by Serbia. Austria-Hungary then decided to “declare war”(1) on Serbia. This course of action then set the Russians into war because of an alliance between them and Serbia. It then began a domino effect of war on the other countries because of previous defense

Several important observations on the attitudes and beliefs of the ministers can be made from this meeting. Firstly, it was decided to issue an ultimatum to Serbia so harsh that it would be refused, giving Vienna an excuse to attack. This decision was made as it was felt that War Minister Krobatin and Chief of Staff Conrad von Hotzendorf’s call for a surprise attack on Serbia would isolate Vienna among other European governments, in other words it was an attempt to localise the conflict. Secondly, Russian intervention was deemed possible and military plans were made to this end, in conjunction with Conrad and Krobatin.

In this very moment World War One had begun. Austria-Hungary aligned with Germany would be fighting Serbia with their allies (Russia,France,Japan,Britain and her colonies, and later the United States). It already looked like Germany and Austria-Hungary had lost before the first battle had even started, but this was not the case.

World War 1 was the most destructive and devastating event to ever happen to our country. When World War 1 is brought up many people agree to disagree on who actually started the war, which leads to the question, Who is to Blame? The debate on who to blame is between Serbia, Austria-Hungary, and Germany. Although there is a disagreement on which of these countries were the potential cause for World War 1, Serbia, Austria-Hungary, and Germany were the main reasons for the outbreak of World War 1.

“The outbreak of the war was the culmination of the chains of decisions made by political actors with conscious objectives, who were capable of a degree of self- reflection , acknowledged a range of options and formed the best judgements they could on the basis of the best information they had to hand.” The leaders made the decisions to Imperialize or create certain allies which essentially is the main cause for why world war 1 occurred. The men in power including Luigi Cadorna, Douglas Haig, Djemal Pasha, Conrad Von Hotzendorf, Radomir Putnik, John J Pershing, Louis Franchet D’Esperey, King Ferdinand 1, and Grand Duke Nicholas Nikdaerich of Russia all participated in making decisions that would eventually lead to the war. For Example the German Kaiser did not believe that the Russians would come to Serbians help because they were behind militarily and technologically and in addition, they assumed that they would not help anyone who murdered a royalty which made the Kaiser believe that it was going to be an easy and small war. The Kaiser promised their help for the Austrian-Hungarians which gave the Austrians the belief that it would be a war where they would end up winning. “Germany, and especially its leaders, had been responsible; the Austrians too, as accomplices, in lesser degree.” In addition, The German Kaiser also believed that the British would stay

Russia supported Serbia because the people of Serbia weren’t being treated equally by Austria-Hungary and they were known as Bosnian-Serbs, not Serbians. On the 23rd of July Austria-Hungary threatens war against Serbia, if Serbia fails to agree to a long list of demands within 24 hours. Austria – Hungary blamed Serbia for the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, and on July 28 declared

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." ).

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