Why did world war one start? ?

Question

I know that the German's shot the Austrian president... but why?

Answer 1

The first world war began in August 1914. It was directly triggered by the assassination of the Austrian archduke, Franz Ferdinand and his wife, on 28th June 1914 by Bosnian revolutionary, Gavrilo Princip.

This event was, however, simply the trigger that set off declarations of war. The actual causes of the war are more complicated and are still debated by historians today.

Alliances

An alliance is an agreement made between two or more countries to give each other help if it is needed. When an alliance is signed, those countries become known as Allies.

A number of alliances had been signed by countries between the years 1879 and 1914. These were important because they meant that some countries had no option but to declare war if one of their allies. declared war first.

Imperialism

Imperialism is when a country takes over new lands or countries and makes them subject to their rule. By 1900 the British Empire extended over five continents and France had control of large areas of Africa. With the rise of industrialism countries needed new markets. The amount of lands 'owned' by Britain and France increased the rivalry with Germany who had entered the scramble to acquire colonies late and only had small areas of Africa.

Militarism

Militarism means that the army and military forces are given a high profile by the government. The growing European divide had led to an arms race between the main countries. The armies of both France and Germany had more than doubled between 1870 and 1914 and there was fierce competition between Britain and Germany for mastery of the seas. The British had introduced the 'Dreadnought', an effective battleship, in 1906. The Germans soon followed suit introducing their own battleships. The German, Von Schlieffen also drew up a plan of action that involved attacking France through Belgium if Russia made an attack on Germany.

Nationalism

Nationalism means being a strong supporter of the rights and interests of one's country. The Congress of Vienna, held after Napoleon's exile to Elba, aimed to sort out problems in Europe. Delegates from Britain, Austria, Prussia and Russia (the winning allies) decided upon a new Europe that left both Germany and Italy as divided states. Strong nationalist elements led to the re-unification of Italy in 1861 and Germany in 1871. The settlement at the end of the Franco-Prussian war left France angry at the loss of Alsace-Lorraine to Germany and keen to regain their lost territory. Large areas of both Austria-Hungary and Serbia were home to differing nationalist groups, all of whom wanted freedom from the states in which they lived.

Moroccan Crisis

In 1904 Morocco had been given to France by Britain, but the Moroccans wanted their independence. In 1905, Germany announced her support for Moroccan independence. War was narrowly avoided by a conference which allowed France to retain possession of Morocco. However, in 1911, the Germans were again protesting against French possession of Morocco. Britain supported France and Germany was persuaded to back down for part of French Congo.

Bosnian Crisis

In 1908, Austria-Hungary took over the former Turkish province of Bosnia. This angered Serbians who felt the province should be theirs. Serbia threatened Austria-Hungary with war, Russia, allied to Serbia, mobilised its forces. Germany, allied to Austria-Hungary mobilised its forces and prepared to threaten Russia. War was avoided when Russia backed down. There was, however, war in the Balkans between 1911 and 1912 when the Balkan states drove Turkey out of the area. The states then fought each other over which area should belong to which state. Austria-Hungary then intervened and forced Serbia to give up some of its acquisitions. Tension between Serbia and Austria-Hungary was high.

Answer 2

It wasn't the Germans doing the shooting and it wasn't the Austrian president. Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary, was shot in Sarajevo along with his wife, Sophie, by Bosnian Serb and Yugoslav Nationalist  Gavrilo Prinip. The Archduke's uncle was Franz Joseph, the Emperor of Austria and King of Hungary, which made him the leader of Austria-Hungary (Franz Ferdinand's father, the Archdike Karl Ludwig, had briefly been the heir to his brother's throne but renounced his position after having it only a few days).

Prior to the assassination of the archduke and his wife, Europe was a powder keg waiting for a spark. You had age old animosities between countries which in the past had gone to war with each other numerous times. And it wasn't just Nation against nation, it was ethnic groups against nations as well. Austria-Hungary was a large empire, which included not only Austria and Hungary, but Croatia-Slovonia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bohemia, Moravia, Dalmatia, Tyrol, Salzburg, Galicia, Bucovina, Transylvania, Carinthia, Carniola, Vorarlberg, and Istria. Today these are either their own countries or part of other countries including Italy, Germany, Romania, Poland, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and the Ukraine. But at that time, Austia-Hungary included very many different ethnic groups, all under the leadership of Franz Joseph. And some of them were bristtling at this. They had more incommon with Russia than Austria-Hungary, and were friendlier with Russia.

In 1903 the Serbian military had taken control of Serbia and began a new dynasty. Over the next decade they'd concur Macedonia and Kosovo and clash at times with Austia-Hungary. Serbs living within Austria-Hungary had tried killing political officals in Croatia-Slovonia and which recieved very little in the way of support from Serbia. This eventually lead to the assassination of Franz Ferdinand.

Austria-Hungary threated to invade Serbia, believing they had had something to do with the assassination of their heir to the throne. Serbia turned to her ally, Russia, to back her up should Austria-Hungary attack. Knowing this, Austria-Hungary went to her ally, Germany, for aid in the coming war. Russia was a part of the Triple Entente, her Triple Entente allies were the British Empire and France. So to counter Germany's entering the war Britian and France came to the aid of their ally Russia.

Answer 3

Actually it wasn't Germany, but a Serbian who shot the Austrian Archduke. The Serbian was part of a nationalist terrorist group. Basically, the Austrian-Hungarian Empire annexed Bosnia-Herzegovina, which is right next to Serbia, and Serbia didn't like this, especially Serbian radicals. So when the Archduke was visiting Sarajevo in Bosnia, he was assassinated by a terrorist group called the Black Hand. Austria-Hungary soon declared war on Serbia and Russia came to its protection, then the rest of the alliance system kicked in, bringing Germany in with Austria-Hungary, and the French and British in with Russia. So it kind of spiraled out of control from the conflict with Serbia, but there were underlying factors that led to the war as well, though this was the direct cause.

Answer 4

The First World War was started by a sandwich, a wrong turn, and a bungled gear change.

Sounds flippant, but it's absolutely true.

Answer 5

First of all, a Serbian-sponsored terrorist shot the Archduke, who was heir to the Austrian Throne.  World War I was a chain reaction based on entangling alliances.  Give or take a few, the steps were as follows:

Austria, suspecting that Serbia to blame, sent Serbian an ultimatum.  When Serbia failed to comply, Austria declared war on Serbia.

Serbia then appealed to its ally, the Russian czar, who began to mobilize his troops.  At this point, Austria sought assistance from Germany.  Whenever Germany starts to mobilize, France goes nuts, and they mobilized too.  Germany then invaded France, passing through Belgium, which got the English all excited, who declared on Germany.

First thing you know, the whole %$#$# continent is at war.

But nothing in the foregoing indicates that the United States had any interest in the conflict.  Unfortunately, we were governed by a Southern-born wife-cheating, pompous, arrogant, Anglophile, sanctimonious racist, who was determined to get us in the war on Britain's side, and he did.  Wilson then bungled the peace treaty and the League of Nations.  He is our very worst President, at least until Dubya came along.

Answer 6

A Serbian, (really a bosnian) who was a member of a terrorist organization known as the Black Hand assassinated Arch Duke Ferdinand.  The story of his assasination was interesting in that there were multiple people in on it.  To make a long story short, Austria blamed Serbia for harboring terrorists (sounds familiar huh?)

Germany gave Austria-Hungary the "Blank cheque" which is that Germany will suport Austria-Hungary unconditionally.  Austria invades Serbia because Serbia refuses a harsh ultimatum which involves the demilitarization of its armed forces and Austria overseeing of its Sovereignty.  Russia who is an ally of Serbia begins a Full Scale Mobilization which triggers Germany's mobilization.  (during this time there was coorespondance declaring each others interest in peace, haha we only want peace as we prepare the armies.  Russia needed to fully mobilize because their country's sheer  expanse and poor logistics was the only way to get its armies fielded.   So Germany invades France... WHAT?!  See Germany has been preparing for war since the early 1910's and was able to fully build its army before the allies had.  In 1914 its plans for war was known as the Schliffen Plan which involved a quick action to defeat France in a single blow and then hurry its troops to the Eastern Front to finish Russia.  France was seen as a bigger threat than Russia.  Russia was historically backwards in industry and technology as opposed to Europe.    Things did not go to plan with Englands entry into the fighting because Germany violated Belgiums Neutrality, despite International treaty.  So England was in on the war, also Germany's army bogged down in the Flanking Manuever, so France was not defeated in a timely event.  The worst situation is they deviated from the plan to send troops to defend against Russia.

Feel free to throw the pretense of everybody's nationalism into the mix.  Everybody's country thought theirs was the best.

The system of alliances were also vague, see the loyalty behind it was dubious and people only sought to serve their own interests.  Austria wanted the Balkan territory.  Italy who was Germany's ally actually sided with the Allies because Britain promised them the Adriatic territory of old Rome to Italy, so Italy Backstabbed the central powers and got involved in a costly stalemate against Austria.  The sickman of Europe, Ottoman Empire was interested in fighting for control of England and France's colonies so they of course hopped in for a good old fight.  U.S. cant stay out of anything with profit, so they shipped war materials despite Germany's protest to England.  Germany torpedoed the Lusitania, a British passenger liner (which was carrying explosives and small arms to Britain.)  This killed a hundred or so Americans, So U.S. jumped on board.  (hey everybody was doing it)

In a short, but hopefully hilarious attempt this covers why World War I started.