Task 2.1: What Caused the First
World War?
By Trevor Getz
.
Satirical drawing of a game of tug of war. German and Austria are on one side, while Belgium, Britain,
France, Yugoslavia, Japan, and Finland are on the other. Italy stands in the centre as the judge
The First World War feels almost like a murder mystery, with many suspected causes, and
complex motives. Millions of lives were lost in this confusing conflict that gripped the world.
World war why?
The First World War lasted more than four years and killed between 15 and 19 million
people around the planet. Each death was a human being, whether a soldier in the fight or a
civilian caught up in the chaos of this violent global conflict. The war also devastated the
global economy and contributed to massive disease outbreaks that killed millions more
people. So, it is well worth asking: why did this war happen?
Historians have generally taken three approaches to explaining the causes of the First World
War. The first is specific, neatly pointing to a single event—the assassination of the
Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo on June 28, 1914. The second looks for the deeper,
underlying causes of the conflict by closely studying global trends that had been building
, over many years. The third suggests that the world just sort of fell into war, almost by
mistake, through mismanagement of the crisis caused by Archduke Ferdinand's
assassination. Let's look at each of these theories in turn and ask whether the causes of this
deadly worldwide conflict were simple, complicated, or accidental.
One shot: The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand
You probably have already learned a bit about the assassination of Archduke Franz
Ferdinand of the Austro- Hungarian Empire. But its importance may not be obvious. This
empire, after all, is gone. It was one of the victims of the First World War, defeated and torn
apart by the end of the conflict. But in 1914, the Habsburg family had ruled this empire for
almost four centuries. It was a huge, multi-ethnic empire located in the middle of Europe.
Franz Ferdinand's uncle, the emperor, ruled over its many ethnic communities with
difficulty. First of all, nationalism was pushing many of them to pursue independence. It
didn't help that Russia and the Habsburg's other rivals were cheering them on in both subtle
and not-so-subtle ways.
The Serbs, one of those ethnic groups, had their own country of Serbia having achieved
independence from the Ottoman Empire. But many Serbs still lived in the Habsburg
province of Bosnia. Serbian nationalists, both in Serbia and Bosnia, plotted throughout the
early twentieth century to get the Habsburgs out of Bosnia. Russia was generally supportive
of these plots. The successful plot to assassinate Franz Ferdinand on 28 June 1914 was part
of a bigger plan. The plotters hoped that by killing Franz Ferdinand, they would provoke the
Austro-Hungarian Empire to declare war on Serbia. That is when their supportive friend
Russia, they hoped, would leap to the defence of Serbia, defeat the Habsburg armies, and
help the Bosnian Serbs win their independence.
To some degree, the plotters got their wish. Within two days of the assassination, the
Austro-Hungarian Empire had put a list of demands before the Serbians. Known as the July
Ultimatum, these unreasonable requirements would have violated Serbian national
sovereignty [1]. Serbia said thanks but no thanks, then turned to Russia for support. The
World War?
By Trevor Getz
.
Satirical drawing of a game of tug of war. German and Austria are on one side, while Belgium, Britain,
France, Yugoslavia, Japan, and Finland are on the other. Italy stands in the centre as the judge
The First World War feels almost like a murder mystery, with many suspected causes, and
complex motives. Millions of lives were lost in this confusing conflict that gripped the world.
World war why?
The First World War lasted more than four years and killed between 15 and 19 million
people around the planet. Each death was a human being, whether a soldier in the fight or a
civilian caught up in the chaos of this violent global conflict. The war also devastated the
global economy and contributed to massive disease outbreaks that killed millions more
people. So, it is well worth asking: why did this war happen?
Historians have generally taken three approaches to explaining the causes of the First World
War. The first is specific, neatly pointing to a single event—the assassination of the
Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo on June 28, 1914. The second looks for the deeper,
underlying causes of the conflict by closely studying global trends that had been building
, over many years. The third suggests that the world just sort of fell into war, almost by
mistake, through mismanagement of the crisis caused by Archduke Ferdinand's
assassination. Let's look at each of these theories in turn and ask whether the causes of this
deadly worldwide conflict were simple, complicated, or accidental.
One shot: The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand
You probably have already learned a bit about the assassination of Archduke Franz
Ferdinand of the Austro- Hungarian Empire. But its importance may not be obvious. This
empire, after all, is gone. It was one of the victims of the First World War, defeated and torn
apart by the end of the conflict. But in 1914, the Habsburg family had ruled this empire for
almost four centuries. It was a huge, multi-ethnic empire located in the middle of Europe.
Franz Ferdinand's uncle, the emperor, ruled over its many ethnic communities with
difficulty. First of all, nationalism was pushing many of them to pursue independence. It
didn't help that Russia and the Habsburg's other rivals were cheering them on in both subtle
and not-so-subtle ways.
The Serbs, one of those ethnic groups, had their own country of Serbia having achieved
independence from the Ottoman Empire. But many Serbs still lived in the Habsburg
province of Bosnia. Serbian nationalists, both in Serbia and Bosnia, plotted throughout the
early twentieth century to get the Habsburgs out of Bosnia. Russia was generally supportive
of these plots. The successful plot to assassinate Franz Ferdinand on 28 June 1914 was part
of a bigger plan. The plotters hoped that by killing Franz Ferdinand, they would provoke the
Austro-Hungarian Empire to declare war on Serbia. That is when their supportive friend
Russia, they hoped, would leap to the defence of Serbia, defeat the Habsburg armies, and
help the Bosnian Serbs win their independence.
To some degree, the plotters got their wish. Within two days of the assassination, the
Austro-Hungarian Empire had put a list of demands before the Serbians. Known as the July
Ultimatum, these unreasonable requirements would have violated Serbian national
sovereignty [1]. Serbia said thanks but no thanks, then turned to Russia for support. The
