ipl-logo

Was The Great War Inevitable Essay

1308 Words6 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Short and long term causes of the great war

“War is organized murder, and nothing else.” This quote was once said by Mr. Harry Patch, the last surviving soldier from World War One. World War One. Known back then as “The Great War” and “The war to end all wars.” This massive battle killed over 15 million people, left over 20 million injured and resulted in many cities, such as Paris, France in ruins. With all of this devastation, it raises the question, was this bloodshed avoidable? If Archduke Franz Ferdinand had not been killed by Gavrilo Princip, would the world have known peace?
Historians have argued over this for years; some like Dr. Heather Jones believe that through the aggression of a few Austrian-Hungarian leaders, an Austrian-Hungarian-Serbian war was indeed certain but only because of Germany’s “blank check” did the world become involved; therefore only through the mistakes of the leaders at that time did the Great war occur. Another historian, Professor Margaret MacMillan states that it was the mindsets of the leaders at the time …show more content…

Almost every country was nationalistic at the time and constantly trying to prove themselves. Wishing to own land in Africa like Italy and Japan respectively; trying to have the most powerful military like Germany or even trying to redeem their reputation after an embarrassing loss like Russia, each country was determined to prove they were the best. So when a nation such as Serbia, is being told that it must let foreigners take some of its people for trial or else, it is no wonder they got angry. In fact, the very reason that the Black Hand attacked the Austrian-Hungarians was because of the Austrians taking Bosnia from the Ottoman Empire. This angered Serbia because they had wished to form a new independent state with Bosnia. Franz Ferdinand was shot in protest against the Austrian-Hungarian rule. He was shot because some people wanted to be independent and rule their own

Show More
Related
803 Words | 4 Pages

The Actual cause of World War 1 People ask what was the cause of WW1? There are the general assumptions but lets dig a bit deeper and find the true underlying causes of WW1. You can't fully understand the war without knowing how both sides were affected. The Triple Entente lost around 6 million soldiers while Germany and Austria-Hungary lost around 4 million just in troops. The war started when the Archduke of Austria was assassinated by Serbian assassins.

Read More
872 Words | 4 Pages

This assassination, known as the “spark”, angered Austria-Hungary enough to plan out a war.

Read More
1667 Words | 7 Pages

Before World War I, all of Europe in 1914, was tense and like a bomb or a fire was waiting to erupt. Europe had not seen a major war in years, but due to Militarism, Imperialism, Alliances, and Nationalism tensions grew high. Each country was competing to be the best by gaining more territory and growing in their military size and successful economies. World War 1 was waiting to happen and the assassination of the Archduke was the spark that lit Europe up. In All Quiet on the Western Front, by Erich Maria Remarque we see the effects of the assassination.

Read More
492 Words | 2 Pages

Archduke came to them and he didn’t know that the black hand had planned to assassinate him on his visit. Ferdinand was assassinated by a group of people who didn’t quite like how he ruled the country the group was called black hand “fired two shots at the archduke from point-blank range, piercing him the neck and also striking sophie's abdomen.” (History.com) Ferdinand received a lot of warnings from multiple people to cancel the trip for him and his wife but he wouldn't budge.

Read More
667 Words | 3 Pages

The June 1914 assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand by the Serbian Black Hand Group, caused Austria-Hungary to declare war on Serbia. As their allies got involved this conflict grew into World War I (WWI). This event wasn’t the real cause of the war, it was just the spark that started it. Most people would say the causes were imperialism, nationalism, alliances and militarism.

Read More
497 Words | 2 Pages

This rise in nationalism created tension between the different cultural groups in Europe who all wanted their own political body. This nationalism made Serbs desire a “Pan-Serbia” where all the Serbs would be united. This yearning caused different nationalist groups to arise, such as the Black Hand, which used violence to achieve their goals. One action the Black Hand took in order to try to achieve their goals was assassinating Arch Duke Franz-Ferdinand. The assassination of this important political figure caused Austria-Hungry to send a list of demands to Serbia, and when these demands were denied, the war started.

Read More
99 Words | 1 Pages

Archduke Francis Ferdinand (December 18, 1863 - June 28, 1914) was an Archduke of Austria-Este, Austro-Hungarian and Royal Prince of Hungary and of Bohemia. In June 1914, he and his wife were assassinated by the Serbian nationalist Gavrilo Princip in Sarajevo, Bosnia and a month later, Austria-Hungary declared war against Serbia. This caused the Central Powers including Germany and Austria-Hungary and Serbia 's allies to declare war on each other and sparked the beginning of World War I. Archduke Francis Ferdinand was significant because his assassination created a series of events that led to the outbreak of the Great War.

Read More
1413 Words | 6 Pages

Mainly, Ferdinand was viewed as a threat by the Black Hand and jeopardized any chance for a coalition between Bosnia-Herzegovina and Serbia. The killing of Ferdinand gave Austria-Hungary the excuse to declare war against Serbia. A domino effect began with Russia declaring war on Austria-Hungary; Germany declared war on Russia; France and Britain declared war on Germany and Austria-Hungary. The date was July 1914 and the first world war had begun.

Read More
780 Words | 4 Pages

However, the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand was unjustified because his death led to the killing of over 35 million people in World War One, Ferdinand wanted to extend civil rights to all ethnic groups in the empire and his death sparked the worst conflict in human history which paved the way for dictators, such as Adolf Hitler and the spread of Communism which led to the Cold war. Franz Ferdinand assassination was unjustified because it led to World War One. Due to many secret alliances in Europe, Austria wanted Germany’s support in case war broke out, before Austria retaliated against Serbia. Austria’s delay in acting to punish Serbia immediately led to

Read More
502 Words | 3 Pages

Did you know that just the death of two people started a war where over 17 million people ended up dying? Archduke Franz Ferdinand’s wife Sophie and himself were assassinated by Gavrilo Princip. Gavrilo Princip was from Austria-Hungary and from a ethnical group called the “serbs”. The serbs mostly consisted of Serbians and Bosnians. About a month later Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia.

Read More
450 Words | 2 Pages

Though Serbia accepted all but two of the ultimatum’s terms, and Russia declared its intention to back Serbia in the case of such a conflict, Austria-Hungary went ahead with its war declaration against Serbia on July 28, one month after the assassinations. June 28 was Franz Ferdinand’s wedding anniversary, but now we know it as the last straw that allowed WWI to occur. His beloved wife, Sophie, a former lady-in-waiting, was denied royal status in Austria due to her birth as a poor Czech aristocrat In Bosnia, however, due to its limbo status as an annexed territory, Sophie could appear beside him at official proceedings. On June 28, 1914, then, Franz Ferdinand and Sophie were touring Sarajevo in an open car, with minanume little security, when Serbian nationalist Nedjelko Cabrinovic threw a bomb at their car; it rolled off the back of the vehicle and wounded an officer and some bystanders. Later that day, on the way to visit the injured officer, the archduke’s procession took a wrong turn where one of Cabrinovic’s cohorts, 19-year-old Gavrilo Princip, happened to be

Read More
914 Words | 4 Pages

There were many minority nations that wanted to establish independence and separate themselves from the mainstream, dominant society. This collective identity and unity that the nations have established caused them to form extreme nationalist ideas and revolt against the more influential people they were controlled by. The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand happened due to the severe nationalistic feelings of the Serbs. The Serbs had always wanted to achieve sovereignty and independence from Austria-Hungary. When Franz Ferdinand announced that he will be leaving to Sarajevo to greet the townspeople on June 28, 1914, a terrorist organization called the ‘Black Hand’ had meticulously arranged an attack against Franz Ferdinand.

Read More
1683 Words | 7 Pages

Serbian nationalism was the most significant contributing factor in the Balkans to the outbreak of the First World War. Nationalist Serbs wanted the unity of Serbdom and to create a Greater Serbia that included the provinces Bosnia and Herzegovina. The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand triggered the First World War and was prompted by the nationalism of the Serbs against Hapsburg control. If this trigger did not take place it would have been another event. But it is not surprising that it occurred in the Balkans; a volatile region, as Bismarck had predicted decades before; “ If there is ever another war in Europe, it will come out of some damned silly thin in the Balkans”.

Read More
484 Words | 2 Pages

Because the Austro-Hungarian Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated by Serbian citizen Gavrilo Princip, a war between the two countries broke out and a chain reaction occurred as allies of both countries joined the fight; the war’s compromise (the Treaty of Versailles) caused Germany’s great humiliation and cleared a path for Hitler to incite World War II. The conflict known as World War I began on July 28, 1914, after Gavrilo Princip assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand, inciting war between Austria-Hungary and Serbia. Allies of each side joined the fight, and eventually kindled global conflict. After 365 days, the war was in full swing and two alliances had formed.

Read More
915 Words | 4 Pages

The assassination of Franz-Ferdinand and Sophie caused a rapid chain of events, one of which Austria-Hungary, along with many others around the world, blamed the Serbian government for the attack. They hoped to use the incident as the justification of Slav nationalism (unify

Read More

More about Was The Great War Inevitable Essay

Related Topics

Open Document