Archduke Franz Ferdinand was the heir to the throne of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1896. He was a threat to the Black Hand Terrorist group, a group of radical Serbian nationalists. They pledged “to destabilize the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the Ottoman Empire in order to incorporate their Serb population into a greater Serbia” (CITE) However the Archduke’s goals were “strengthening the Austro-Hungarian Empire” (CITE) which was contrary to the Serbs' desires. They feared that if he came into power, he would continue to persecute the Serbs, henceforth the decision to assassinate him.
On June 28, 1914, Franz Ferdinand and his wife were visiting Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia, to inspect the army. At the same time, seven young Bosnian Serbs, part of a terrorist group known as the Black Hand, were putting their plan to assassinate Franz Ferdinand, into action. Franz Ferdinand and his wife were in the motorcade when one of the members threw a grenade at it. It missed and instead it it the car behind them. At this point, Franz Ferdinand decided to abandon the visit and return home via another route. However, no one informed the chauffeur and he ended up taking the wrong turn. He drove by Gavrilo Princip, one of the conspirators, who was at the time returning home thinking he had failed. When he saw the motorcade, he realized he still had a chance. Princip pulled out his revolver and shot at both Franz Ferdinand and his wife. They were dead within minutes. The Austrian government was looking for a reason to to send ultimatum to Serbia and they finally had a chance. Serbia refused to comply and Austria declared war. Europe's “long-smoldering feuds” had finally erupted into war.
At this particular time, Europe was suffering from ma...
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...Hungary, did not entirely trust it, so Italy made a secret treaty with France after it joined the Triple Alliance. “A conflict involving any one of the Triple Alliance countries could, by the terms of the treaty, bring in the other two. Rather than acting as a deterrent, the Treaty could be used as a bullying tactic” (BBC.) Therefore, a local conflict could easily become a general war. When the war began, the Triple Entente became known as the Allied Powers and the Triple Alliance became known as the Central Powers. So along with building up a large fighting force, The great European powers were also building up their military strength.
Along with all the tensions on the rise, the Great European powers further expanded their armies and navies. The expansion of the armies and navies led to an arms race that increased suspicion and made the war even more likely.
The group the black hands is often and quite accurately called responsible for the assassination of archduke ferdinand, though the group had been influenced by Nationalism. The members of this said terrorist group, had been influenced by nationalism through policy that had been inflicted on them by the Austrian-Hungarian empire. The assassination was why Austrian-Hungarian had to go to war against Serbia because it’s an act of breaking their treaty of 1990 with the Austrian-Hungarian empire, but first Austria-Hungary had given them an ultimatum. Which was basically a statement of demands made to Serbia, that if they didn’t abae then Austria-Hungary would attack them. Then all the allied countries with either side joined in as to prove how willing they were to die for their countries, this was true for them a few weeks or so after the beginning of the war when it actually had become more than just allies to either Serbia or Austria-Hungary. Altogether the Nationalism was the cause for the Black hands to essentially commit their crime, and later on to keep the war ongoing....
He felt that several forces of opposing countries took part in fighting each battle and ultimately believed that global opposition caused the Great War. Similarly, in the Balkan Region, several ethnic minorities desired independence from Austria-Hungary. As shown in Document 3, the Austro-Hungarian government demanded that action be taken regarding propaganda against Austria-Hungary. This ultimatum was a result of the assassination of Archduke Francis Ferdinand, who was killed by a Serbian nationalist. Russia, a large Slavic nation, has close ties with Serbia.
Nearing the end of his life, Otto von Bismarck said, “One day the great European War will come out of some damned foolish thing in the Balkans,” (History.com Staff 1). As it so happens, Mr. von Bismarck was correct. The first World War was triggered by the unmerited assassination of the Austro-Hungarian Archduke. The day Ferdinand was killed, was his and his wife’s wedding anniversary (History.com Staff 1). The couple was visiting Sarajevo in a open car, a rarity at the time (Ben Cosgrove 1). Unfortunately, this city held threatening nationalists and terrorists. Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated by a young man named Gavrilo Princip. Princip had been trained in terrorism by the Black Hand, a Serbian secret society (The Editors of Encyclopedia
Italy was jealous of French and English colonies in Africa. Ottoman Empire struggled to survive in a hostile climate. Germany signed a secret alliance with Austria-Hungray and Italy, thus creating a Triple Alliance. France and Russia signed an Entente agreement which was later signed by Britain, thus creating Triple Entante. Then Europe was divided into hostile camps.
The Triple Alliance was made up of Germany, Italy, and Austria-Hungary while the Triple Entente included France, Great Britain, and Russia which is shown in Document 2. To have an alliance does not simply mean that you’re associated without discontent, it also implies that when one of the nations within your alliance needs some type of aid, rather it be resources or soldiers, you supply it. When the Archduke of Austria-Hungary was assassinated by a nationalist of Serbia, Germany rushed to Austria’s aid and Russia to Serbia’s. Rather than allowing the dispute between Austria and Serbia to be simply a “summer war,” the alliances caused further tensions and
Alliances between European nations can also be considered an underlying cause of World War I. As a result of the Triple Alliance consisting of Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy, the Triple Entente (understanding) was formed between France, Britain, and Russia. Although France and Britain were natural enemies, their fear of Germany united them together with Russia. These alliances set the final stage for the beginning of World War I. Each country in each alliance would help each other during warfare. For example, if Germany attacked France, Britain and Russia would help France, and Italy and Austria would help Germany, dragging Europe into a state of chaos and violence.
When their driver found out that they were going the wrong way, they had to stop and push the car backwards since the car did not have reverse. This made them reroute back to where the assassins were located (different areas around the city) and gave them yet another chance to assassinate the royal motorcade. When they stopped in front of Gavrilo Princip, one of the assassins located in Sarajevo, he took his chance and shot both the Archduke and his wife (Sophia in the abdomen and Franz near his heart {Eyewitness, para. 10}). Sophia died instantly (she was an expectant mother) and Franz only uttered “Sofia-” before he, too, met his demise. (para. 10) Before he could escape, Princip was attacked by police who, according to EyeWitness.com, “knocked him down, they kicked him, scraped the skin from his neck with the edges of their swords, tortured him, all but killed him.” Count Franz von Harrach, who was an eyewitness to the assassination, wrote an account of the events that took place, saying that “"As the car quickly reversed, a thin stream of blood spurted from His Highness's mouth onto my right check. As I was pulling out my handkerchief to wipe the blood away from his mouth, the Duchess cried out to him, 'In Heaven's name, what has happened to you?' At that she slid off the seat and lay on the floor of the car, with her face between his knees. I had no idea that she too was hit and thought she had simply fainted with fright. Then I heard His Imperial Highness say, 'Sopherl, Sopherl, don't die. Stay alive for the children!' At that, I seized the Archduke by the collar of his uniform, to stop his head dropping forward and asked him if he was in great pain. He answered me quite distinctly, 'It's nothing!' His face began to twist somewhat but he went on repeating, six or seven times, ever more faintly as he gradually lost
On June 28, 1914 while riding in a open car through Sarajevo, Archduke and his wife were killed by Gavrila Princip a member of the “Black Hand”. His nephew’s death brought great sadness the Austrian emperor Francis Joseph with most people in Austria Hungary feeling that this was their chance to crush to Serbian resistance for good. The Austrians set a set of demands to the people of Serbia demanding the Serbia end all aggression towards Austria and that all of the “Black Hands” be rounded up and killed for their role in the murder plot of Archduke Ferdinand. The Austria’s said that the Serbians had two choices either meet the demands or Austria would declare war in Serbia. The demands of Austria were not met and on July 28, 1914 Austria declared war on Serbia starting on the conflict that would become as World War 1. From Capital to Capital the conflict between Austria and Serbia could have stayed small matter if not for the fact that all over Europe the major powers like Germany and France began deciding which side to support and eventually which side to join in battle. (Chapter 14 Notes Section 2)
One of the assassins, thought to be Gavrilo Princip, right, is captured by police after shooting Ferdinand and Sophie in their car
The supreme present of militarism, "a policy of aggressive military preparedness" , in this period of time gave all countries great reason to feel the heavy weight of an oncoming war. Great Britain's naval policy (to always be twice as big as the next two largest navies put together), along with the predominate feeling of war provided countries with a strong reason to try and create an incredibly strong military force. This led to an arms race, which made the impending war seem inevitable. The military planning in some countries also caused an increased fear of war. Since military machines were being developed, each country was appointing a general staff of experts. The greatest problem with this was that there was a fear that "some chief of staff, in order to maintain the schedule on his 'timetable', might force an order of mobilization and thus precipitate war." These two factors also led, in part, to the alliance system. If two or more countries are allied with each other then they have a better chance of defeating their common enemy if war is declared.
The Alliances not only contributed to war breaking out; it made the war last longer and become on a much larger scale; major political disputes would inevitably cause a large conflict. The alliances caused suspicion, fear, and tension among nations. The two camps were the Triple Entente (Britain, France and Russia) and the Triple Alliance (Germany, Italy and Austria-Hungary). When countries formed alliances with each other it gave them protection, if a country was threatened or under attack then the alliance would come to that country’s aid. Countries made an alliance when they both needed protection from a stronger country. When Austria-Hungary had heard about the assassination of Franz Ferdinand they went to war with Serbia which resulted in a chain reaction of countries going to war with one another, and when countries teamed up to support their attacked friends when war came, it meant that a number of nations would fight, not only the two involved in a dispute. The division of...
Speculations of war held everyone in a state of paranoia. No one wanted to be attacked alone and without anyone to defend them. As a result, they joined with one another as an attempt to gain some protection. The Dual Alliance formed in 1879, was a military alliance between Germany and Austria-Hungary, that required each to support the other if one was attacked by Russia. The Triple Alliance created in 1882, was a anti-French and anti-Russian sentiment between Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy.
After years of hostility and aggression between the European superpowers and large states, the balance of power began to be challenged. The Serbians in 1914 assassinated the Arch-duke, Franz Ferdinand, of Austria-Hungary. The country counteracted and “issued an ultimatum to Serbia, which would bring the assassins to justice. And with that action Serbia’s sovereignty was nullified” (Duffy Michael, 2009). Since Serbia did not succumb to the harsh demands of Austria-Hungary, “preventative” war was declared on Serbia on July 28,...
The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand is one of the most well-known events in history. It was the trigger that catapulted countries across Europe into the infamous World War I. And yet, even with the murder’s fame, most people do not think about the fact that it was unnecessary. Archduke Ferdinand was unjustly killed by Gavrilo Princip because the assassin was part of a terrorist group that favored a union between Bosnia-and-Herzegovina and Serbia instead of Austria-Hungary. However, some Bosnian-and-Herzegovinians believed that by assassinating the archduke, they would be able to get others to fight against the Habsburg ruler.
On June 28, 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary, and his wife were shot and killed. The attack was perpetrated by a Serbian Nationalist in Sarajevo, Bosnia. The Bosnian student acted alone, but the events sparked debate as to whether the assassinations were a political conspiracy involving the Serbian government. Austria-Hungary’s government regarded the slightest chance of political conspiracy as a reason for action. The assassinations and the response it conjured became the most significant event in the path to the war to end all wars.