Essay Question: ‘To what extent was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand the cause of the first

World War?’

World War One occurred from 1914-1918 and it was fought between The Allied (Britain, France, Serbia, Romania, Italy, Russia, Canada,
Japan & United States) and The Central Powers (Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria, Ottoman Empire). These alliances were the
foundation of the war and part of the reason for its occurrence. The war was won by the allied powers but leads us to believe what started
the war within the first place. The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his Wife Sophie was not the key reason for the cause of
WW1 but was rather the spark that ignited a fiery chain of events that would result in the extremity of the war.

On the 28th of June 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand who was the current heir the Austrian Throne, travelled with his wife Sophie to
Sarajevo. Franz was a supposed threat to Serbian independence, due to the fact that he had annexed armed forces in Bosnia & Herzegovina,
that Serbian individuals believed should be a part of their land. The Black Hand was a secret Serbian organisation that had a hand in the
murder of Franz. Four individuals were involved in his death by namely one had the last bullet: Gavrilo Princip. Gavrilo and 3 other men
apart of the organization, organised bomb weaponry that they threw under his passing car, causing it to explode underneath the vehicle. On
the way to the hospital, Gavrilo shot both Franz and his wife. Due to his murder, it provided Austria-Hungary with the reason to open fire on
Serbia and thus catapulted nations into war. As previously stated, although this played a role in the war, it was not the major cause for the
war.

WW1 was not caused by a single event, but rather a group of mini events that played a part in the war. These included the race for arms,
competition for power/control, and the ideology of Nationalism and its increase throughout Europe.

The ideology of Nationalism was one of the most central causes for the first world war. Many countries of the ‘great power,’ (Britain,
France, Germany) adapted the ideology that one’s nation is superior to others. From this, nations developed this sense of pride and
overconfidence in their military, economic and government ability. Because of this, they then wanted more. Without owning more land,
having better military defence & economic status, how were they the best? How would they achieve this? Start a war of course. Not only
would they be able to better themselves of land and control, but they would also be able to prove they were the best by taking that land and
control away from another country who had this same superiority complex as in some ways, most countries had some sort of sense of
superiority against other countries. In turn, nationalism played a central role in exacerbating the fire that was World War one.

Behind Nationalism, the wandering dogs of Imperialism and Militarism closely follow as they are directly related to nationalism.
Nationalism is more of the state of mind in which countries placed themselves within in which their inflated ego existed, whilst imperialism
was the actions that followed these thoughts. Imperialism is also a brutalizing cause for WW1 as the expansion of countries like Britain and
France, caused more European countries to become worried and stressed and therefore resorted to war to seek what was there. More
specifically, as Britain and France were growing together, they would later become the allied powers whilst the opposition, Germany,
Austria & Ottoman Empire, would become the Central powers.

Within militarism, the race for arms that occurred between 1909-1914, prompted militarism amongst European countries and increased
rising tensions within countries for outbreak of war and competition. The race for arms was a naval race against Great Britain and Germany.
Great Britain had always believed in a desire for a strong navy for a wide variety of reasons. These included the fact that Britain had
colonies all around the world, and without a strong navy, they would not be able to maintain these, and would lose them to rival countries.
Not only this, but Britain heavily relied on trade and imports, which the British navy would defend. Germany’s desire for a navy however
was rather useful as they had little to no colonies and were a landlocked country. But Kaiser Wilhelm, the current German emperor, still
imposed that a strong navy would turn the German Empire into an industrialized world power. The lead up to the actual race for arms first
began well before the actions were put into place with Germany devising plans in as early as 1897. Between 1897-1909, Germany built
naval laws that they imposed to further enhance their naval abilities. These naval laws introduced tighter naval protocols that caused a
rousing discomfort within Britain. Germany began inducing more dreadnoughts, worrying Britain, and within the coming years, both
countries began to rapidly improve their navies, creating more dreadnoughts and heavier naval protocols. At the end of 1914, both countries
had so much new weaponry and naval capability, they could start a war! Which they eventually did.

The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his Wife Sophie was not the main cause of World War one but was the spark that
ignited nations into a fiery war of despair and revenge. Within the years leading up to the war, different mini events and movements
occurred that resulted in the war and its extremity. From 1897-1909, Germany and Great Britain were in a constant feud that was known as
the race for arms, which caused their naval capabilities to increase rapidly, the ideology of nationalism took over various nations and caused
them to have an inflated confidence within their nation’s abilities within their navies, economics, and government. A few bumbling egos is
all that it took to start a world war that would lead to the deaths of millions of soldiers and civilians. Not to mention the consistent expansion
of countries that would create rising tensions around Europe, France, and Britain as they continued to dominate the colonies. Overall, the
assassination was not the main cause for WW1, but triggered a serious of events that would result in the war’s horrible aftermath.
Bibliography

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