Was the Assassination at Sarajevo the Most Important Cause of World War 1?
Was the Assassination at Sarajevo the most important cause of World War 1?
WW1 was announced on 28th July 1914, it was one of the most devastating wars ever to take place with over 16 million deaths. But how could a group of 7 young men known as the Black Hand, cause a war that effected millions of people around the globe. My aim is to find if there are any more causes that may have been overlooked, and in order to do that I must start at the very beginning…
The world in the early 1900s was dominated by European powers. From the start of the 18th century European country began to build empires. They did this in order to appear to have greater powers and were in control of more trading paths, not only in Europe but around the world. Many conflicts began due to the ‘scramble for colonies’ – particularly in Africa. A fierce rivalry developed between the European nations. The British Empire was the largest empire held by a European country. It included Canada, India and Australia. The newly formed (in 1871) Germany had ambitions to be as big and as powerful as Britain, they wanted to have an imperialistic empire. Imperialism is a belief that to be a strong country, you need to have a large empire and this will give great profit to your nation. Also in 1871, Germany defeated France in war. The Germans made the French pay 200 million francs in compensations and give the border territories of Alsace and Lorraine to Germany.
The Germans knew that France would look for revenge as soon as possible. To prevent this, Otto von Bismarck (the chancellor and leader) made agreements with other countries so that France would have no allies with which to fight against Germany in the future. In 1882 Germany signed an agreement with Austria-Hungary and Italy, known as the triple alliance. These became nationalist alliances: the belief that loyalty to a person's nation and its political and economic goals comes before any other public loyalty. Nationalism took hold among people
WW1 was announced on 28th July 1914, it was one of the most devastating wars ever to take place with over 16 million deaths. But how could a group of 7 young men known as the Black Hand, cause a war that effected millions of people around the globe. My aim is to find if there are any more causes that may have been overlooked, and in order to do that I must start at the very beginning…
The world in the early 1900s was dominated by European powers. From the start of the 18th century European country began to build empires. They did this in order to appear to have greater powers and were in control of more trading paths, not only in Europe but around the world. Many conflicts began due to the ‘scramble for colonies’ – particularly in Africa. A fierce rivalry developed between the European nations. The British Empire was the largest empire held by a European country. It included Canada, India and Australia. The newly formed (in 1871) Germany had ambitions to be as big and as powerful as Britain, they wanted to have an imperialistic empire. Imperialism is a belief that to be a strong country, you need to have a large empire and this will give great profit to your nation. Also in 1871, Germany defeated France in war. The Germans made the French pay 200 million francs in compensations and give the border territories of Alsace and Lorraine to Germany.
The Germans knew that France would look for revenge as soon as possible. To prevent this, Otto von Bismarck (the chancellor and leader) made agreements with other countries so that France would have no allies with which to fight against Germany in the future. In 1882 Germany signed an agreement with Austria-Hungary and Italy, known as the triple alliance. These became nationalist alliances: the belief that loyalty to a person's nation and its political and economic goals comes before any other public loyalty. Nationalism took hold among people