The Assassination Of Archduke Franz Ferdinand

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During the onset of World War I, political strife and uneasy diplomacy made Europe into a tinderbox, waiting to be set off. While it’s often noted that the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir presumptive to Franz Joseph, may have ignited the powder keg in the Balkans, it certainly did not start it. The individual who most likely started this reaction was Kaiser Wilhelm II of the German Empire. Prior to the war, Wilhelm was a devout follower of militarism and was devoted to the Triple Alliance that binded Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy together in 1882. Initially viewed as a defensive pact, Wilhelm wanted to wield the bond into his favor by initiating provocative threats such as the Tangier Crisis between 1905-1906, which involved

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