Institutional Cause Of World War 1 Essay

421 Words2 Pages

James Woojoong Kim
Poli 142K Midterm
A12454512
05/06/2016
Explain the institutional cause of World War I On June 28, 1914, Franz Ferdinand who was a Royal prince of Austria-Hungary was assassinated by a terrorist group called the “Black Hand” that started World War I. Franz Ferdinand was the oldest son of Emperor Archduke Karl Ludwig in Austro-Hungary and “was a member of the House of Hapsburg, rulers of the Holy Roman Empire, the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the Spanish Empire” (Biography Editors, n/a). Franz took interest in the power of the military at a young age because of the influence of his father for being an emperor. Years later, Franz became the major general at the age of 31. After the death of his father, he had inherited the throne …show more content…

Upon their arrival, as they were heading towards the city hall, the “Black Hand” member threw a hand grenade at the emperor’s car but missed and hit another car. On their way back to the palace, Gavrilo Princip, a young nationalist, triggered his gun that caused the death of Franz and Sophie. After the assassination of emperor Franz Ferdinand, other countries started to question the Serbian government for the incident and for the movements of the nationalist. Austria-Hungary declared war against Serbia to fight for their independence and with the alliance of Serbia with Russia, they declared war with the Hungarians and Germany declared war with Russia and lastly, Britain and France declared war against Hungary and Germany that started the World War I in 1914. During the 4 years of World War I, there was an estimate death of 17 million people and about 20 or more million wounded (pbs, n/a). World War I caused not only the war in Europe but it became a global conflict in 32 nations. It was a war against the Allied and the Central Powers that would eventually last a total of 4-year war. Allied groups included Britain, France, Russia, Italy, Serbia and the United States. While the Central Power groups included Germany, Austria-Hungary, Burgaria and the Ottoman