Though many believe Germany and the Dual Monarchy were to blame for the First World War, there was not a single belligerent obligating other countries to take a military stand, as seen during the Second World War. Instead, the war was a product of underlying causes and effects set off by the July Crisis. The immediate cause, and what triggered the war, was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of the Dual Monarchy.
The Serbian terrorist group, Black Hand, was behind the assassination of The Archduke Franz Ferdinand, which took place in Sarajevo, Bosnia. The reason for the assassination was later found to be the control the Dual Monarchy had over the region, a region which Serbia wanted control of. Soon after, war was declared on Serbia, which due to the alliance between Russia and Serbia made prior to the war, meant that Russia got involved to defend Serbia. There was a system of alliances developed between 1870 and 1914, that existed within Europe: Russia and Serbia, Germany and Austria-Hungary, France and Russia, Britain and France and Belgium, and Japan and Britain. Seeing as The Dual Monarchy had huge national resources, but lacked military resources, they soon found themselves asking Germany to step in and help them. Germany wanted to be one of the major players on the international stage, therefore they wanted to assert
…show more content…
The war was also due to the tensions that had been building up in Europe and in the rest of the world. The five great nations of Europe did not go to war for any specific territorial gain, but rather it was a contest between them to determine their power in the world. On Britain’s part, it was a preventive war. They were not directly threatened by Germany at the time, but had Germany been able to gain the mastery of continental Europe, they would become a threat. This imperial instability was one of many contributors to the tension in