Hakimi Fairus Benjamin Yeo World History 10 April 20th 2016 Why did WW1 occur? In 1914, a mass war begun, that resulted in the loss of an unfathomable amount of lives and money that would go on to destroy the economy, and further severe ties between countries over the course of the 4 year war (History.net). The war was known at the time as the War to End Wars, only to later occur again in the 1930s and 40s, which dubbed it the first World War (History.net). There are plenty reasons behind WW, but all of them fall underneath the result of the ripple effect in which events lead to countries being rapidly dragged in through alliances. The war can be perceived to have three main causes for the major conflict and those include the assassination …show more content…
(History.com). Austria-Hungary used the assassination of their archduke as an excuse to create conflict with Bosnia by being difficult with their response of the murder (History.com). In addition, the assassination destabilized an already tense Europe due to many European powers claiming new colonies and amplifying their militaries since everyone wanted new land, resources, and more power (History.com). These Euorpean powers included Germany and Austria-Hungary, who were allies, and Britain, France, and Russia, who were the opposing allies (History.com). This event has triggered the ripple effect which added to the tension already happening between the European countries …show more content…
When Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia, Germany was dragged in and became obliged to be involved in the war since Germany was an Ally to Austria-Hungary. (Quora). Russia, on the other hand, was in alliance with Serbia which led to Russia being dragged into the war as well (Quora). Russia was also in an alliance with France which means that Germany had to go into a war against both Russia and Germany at the same time and that caused Germany to execute the Schlieffen Plan which was a plan that was prepared prior to the war incase this situation were to happen (BBC Bitesize). England was also an ally of France but only joined the war in defense of belgium who was a neutral country being invaded by Germany for land (Quora). These chain of events caused the war to expand due to even more countries being obliged to enter in defense of their allied country and caused the ripple effect of wars that is seen as World War