World War I

Originally predicted to be only a four month war, World War I lasted for four years. Over 65 million soldiers fought in this war, with almost 30 million people killed or wounded and around 7.75 million captured or missing.

Now, what could have caused so much damage in so few years? Well, there were many factors involved, both long-term and short-term, but one in particular was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand.

Before Ferdinand was killed however, there had already been problems occurring in Europe for a while. Countries were making alliance systems with each other, hoping to gain more protection that way. In 1882, the Triple Alliance between Germany, Italy, and Austria-Hungary was formed and in 1907, the Triple Entente between Great Britain, France, and Russia with the United States joining in 1917. These alliances caused distrust and alarm among countries, resulting in several incidents, including Ferdinand’s assassination.

There had also been a great amount of competition between countries. Each country thought they were the best, that their customs and methods of doing things were the right way, and any other way was wrong. This belief, called nationalism, then led to imperialism, or empire building. Since each country thought they were best, they each thought they deserved the largest empire, which resulted in major competition for colonies. And if you have the number one country and the most extensive empire, then with that should come the best military. This is called militarism. With each country racing to have the most powerful army, there was a significant increase in military spending in several countries. This resulted in the ability to make new, more dangerous weapons which led to a more likely chance of winning. More winning promotes nationalism, which encourages imperialism, which then increases militarism, and it just keeps going.

Some more short-term causes of this war were the Balkan wars. The Balkans consisted of several nations and provinces and were important only because they sat right in between the Ottoman, Russian, and Austro-Hungarian Empires and they had access to many important waterways. They were ruled by the Ottoman Empire until the 1800s, when it started declining and many countries were able to get their independence. During the Balkan wars, these nations defeated the Ottoman Empire and Bulgaria, who had tried to attack them. Serbia, one of the Balkans, benefited greatly from these wars, as it was the victor both times, and its nation practically doubled in size. This increased Serbian nationalism greatly, causing many nationalist groups to form, but also threatened the security of Austria-Hungary.

With all these suspicions and competitions and threats going on, by 1914, tensions were extremely high in Europe. Then, on June 28, 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austria-Hungary throne, and his wife, Sophie, are shot and killed in Sarajevo by Gavrilo Princip, a Serbian nationalist. This is the final breaking point for Europe. It sets off a chain of events that will lead to the outbreak of World War I.

Austria-Hungary