Dbq 1 In 1914 Essay

World War I, also known as the first World War, or the Great War, was a global war originating in Europe the began on the 28th of July 1914 and lasted until the 11th of November 1918. World War I was a war that was fought between two sides with a few of the World’s greatest Nations of that time. The two sides were Triple Entente which included Britain, France, and Russia, and the Triple Alliance which was consisted of the countries Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy. World War I left a mark on history as we know it, what could have possibly led to that war?, What were the underlying causes of World War I?. The major causes of “The Great War” or WWI consist of four long-term causes and one short-term cause. The common acronym that’s used for the four long-term causes to help students remember the causes of WWI is M.A.I.N; the acronym stands for Militarism, Alliances, Imperialism, and Nationalism,and the short-term cause The Assassination of the ArchDuke Franz Ferdinand at Sarajevo on the 28th of June 1914. To put all of this in a simpler way the five major causes of WWI was Militarism, Alliances, Imperialism, Nationalism, and the assassination of the ArchDuke Franz Ferdinand. Each of topics played a significant role in the reasons why WWI would begin.

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.

During the 1914’s a great event known as WWI took place and it had several impacts on the U.S. This event happened because of imperialism by Serbia. They wanted to expand their land so that they could create Greater Serbia or Yugoslavia. They needed land they did not have so they asked Austria-Hungary for a portion of land. Austria-Hungary said no to this. A terrorist group known as the Black Hand were not happy with Austria-Hungary’s response so their leader Gavrilo Princip organized a plan to kill their Archduke and family. After the dead of the Archduke, Austria-Hungary blamed Serbia for the dead of the Archduke so the declared war (Document 4). Serbia had an alliance with Russia so that if they ever entered a war Russia would have their back. Latter on other countries joined the war such as France, Italy, and Britain to aid Serbia and Russia (Document 2), they were known as the allies. Germany, Turkey, and Bulgaria also joined the war to help Austria-Hungary, they were known as the Central Powers.

World War I was known as the “war to end all wars,” and led to mass devastation throughout Europe. The four years of war all started with tension forming between Austria-Hungary and Serbia. After taking over Bosnia and Herzegovina, two regions Serbia wanted, Serbia vowed to take them away while Austria-Hungary vowed to destroy any effort made. Soon after, the nationalistic Black Hand who wanted to rid Bosnia of the Austrian control, shot Austria’s heir, Archduke Franz Ferdinand. Afterwards, Austria wanted to punish Serbia and declared war on them. The assassination seemed to be what sparked the war, but rather there were much greater causes hidden beneath the surface. Instead, the underlying causes of World War I was

Document 1 is a chart showing “the increasing amounts of money spent on armaments from 1870 through 1914.” In the chart it is shown that Great Britain, France, Russia, Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy were spending an increased amount of money on weapons. With better weapons, countries are more prepared and even eager to fight. In addition with so many built up militaries, European countries are now nervous and built up their own military. These nervous countries may anticipate an attack from another country and would be more ready to attack in order to “defend” themselves in situations that are not very serious.

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

Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria was the nephew of Emperor Franz Josef and heir to the throne of Austria and Hungary. The assassination was planned by a Serbian terrorist group, called, “The Black Hand”. The man who shot Franz Ferdinand and his wife was a Bosnian revolutionary named Gavrilo Princip. Gavrilo Princip wanted the Austro-Hungarian Empire out of Bosnia. To me, the cause of the war was mainly nationalism and alliances. While Archduke Franz Ferdinand’s murder was the immediate cause for the declarations of war, a patchwork of mutual defence alliances were made throughout Europe meaning, if one country was attacked, another was likely to defend them. The allies included Britain, France, Russia, Italy and the United States. These countries fought against the Central Powers which included Germany, Austria-Hungary, Ottoman Empire, and

Militarism created an environment of fighting and military based. Many countries spent millions on their navy and army protection, and stocking large numbers of weapons such as, tanks, submarines, rifles, and airplane warfare. Throughout the start of the war Germany, Russia, and Great Britain spent more than 70 million euros in expenditure on their navy and army, (Document C). Countless countries used militarism force to solve political problems that were occurring. Militarism was simply a byproduct of Nationalism and other factors. Therefore, there are other more important causes of the war, besides each country’s desire to be the best, resulting in militarism. Conclusively, militarism would not have existed without nationalism, alliances, imperialism, or the three main causes that started the abrupt

World War I, or the Great War, was one of the largest widespread wars in all of world history. However, it set the path for World War II when other countries came to blame Germany and thus crushing their government and economy, and amassed large destruction over multiple countries in Europe, such as Britain, France, and Germany, especially. It is important to understand how these wars came to be. During a dispute between Austria-Hungary and Serbia,which led to the assassination of the Austria-Hungarian leader Archduke Franz Ferdinand, years of separate alliances, bad international relations, and growth of arms all brought up the then inevitable outbreak of World War I.

As the world entered the 20th century, an arms race had begun. By 1914, Germany had the greatest increase in military buildup. Great Britain and Germany both greatly increased their navies in this time period. Further, in Germany and Russia particularly, the military establishment began to have a greater influence on public policy. This increase in militarism helped push the countries involved to 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

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.

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.

While there is never just a single event that has led to the start of a world war, or any other serious war, there is often one thing that triggers long lived tensions and thus war ensues. Such was the case in WWI with the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. There were many tensions that existed prior to his assassination, but it was his assassination which triggered the war, his assassination that served as an excuse, and perhaps the last straw, so to speak, which led to the First World War. The following paper examines the assassination of Franz Ferdinand and its relationship to the start of WWI.

In this essay I will be outlining the key points in why the First World War broke out in 19 14. Many people tend to say "Because Archduke Ferdinand got shot." Still others have blamed it on the increased independence and Imperialism in Hungary to Russia’s growing military. If I had to answer the question myself, the answer would be all of the above, and more. The events from June of 1914 through August of 1914 can be described as one thing leading to another.