World War 1 Cause And Effect Essay

Luz Hernandez
Cause and Effects
World War 1 was one of the most historic battle in history. It had happened mostly in Europe. There were three major events that lead up to the World War. The first event that was the start of World War 1 was the use of an unauthorized U boat by Germany, that torpedoed a british owned ocean liner that killed 1,959 passengers and, 128 were Americans. Another event that lead up World War 1 was the Zimmerman note. Another event that contributed to the war was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand at Sarajevo on 28 June 1914.
The first event was the unauthorized use of German U-boats a.k.a submarines. “The germans announced the use of unrestricted submarine warfare in the Atlantic in 1917” (History.com). It consisted of torpedoed armed submarines ready to attack any and all ships, even civilian passenger carriers, that were said to be sighted in war-zone waters. There were Several U.S. ships that traveled to Britain and were damaged or sunk by German mines. In February 1915, once germany announced unrestricted warfare against all ships, “Germany announced that a German cruiser had sunk the William P. Frye, a private American merchant vessel that was transporting grain to England when it disappeared. President Wilson was outraged, but the

German government apologized, calling the attack an unfortunate mistake.” (History.com). Then in early May, the Lusitania was torpedoed without warning and 1,959 passengers were killed and of them 128 were american.
Another event was the Zimmerman note.

The Zimmerman was a telegram that was intercepted by british cryptographer that was sent to to Mexico. The telegram said that Germany would help Mexico gain back some of its land it lost to the U.S. If Mexico joined the german cause. That message was soon informed to the United States and that drew the United States closer to war. This information was not presented to the United States right away; The British waited until February 24 to present this information to President Wilson. Later on the American press published the news of the telegram. “On April 6, 1917, the United States Congress formally declared war on Germany and its allies”

(archives.gov).
Finally was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand at Sarajevo on 28 June 1914. Archduke Franz Ferdinand was the nephew of Emperor Franz Josef and to their Austro-Hungarian Empire. In the southern portion of Austria-Hungary was a region called Bosnia. The Bosnians were not very happy so they wanted to be their own free country. They did not want be under the rule of Austria-Hungary. “When Archduke Ferdinand announced his trip to Sarajevo, Bosnian nationalists saw their opportunity to strike at the Austrian Empire. With help from the neighboring country of Serbia, assassins were recruited and trained to kill the Archduke as he traveled through the streets of Sarajevo” (ducksters.com). On June 28, 1914 Franz Ferdinand and his wife were traveling through Sarajevo to the Town Hall. There were assassins positioned along the route they were going. One there way to the town hall there were many assassination attempts but failed. One their way back from the town hall they assassinations didn’t stop. Archduke Ferdinand and his wife were shot and both died shortly. Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia and then a few days later, Germany declared war on Russia to help its ally Austria-Hungary.
These events were the major ones that exposed the U.S to war. The unauthorized use of U-boats, the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand and the Zimmerman note. It was the the beginning of these little conflicts that led to World War 1