what started World War 1?

Answer 1

assasination of Archduke Ferdinand

Answer 2

The murder of Franz Ferdinand, but in that time the countries of Europe was just waiting for something to start the war and the murder of Ferdinand was the perfect moment for Germany make colonies in Asia and in Africa, because they get unified later than the other countries and the whole world was colonized already by the England and France. But the french people also wanted an war with Germany to take back part of it's frontier with Germany lost in the French-Prussian war in 1870.

Answer 3

WW1 started when Austria invaded Serbia as a response to the assassination of the heir to the Austrian throne - Archduke Franz Ferdinand. Austria believed - correctly - that the assassination had been planned by Serbian terrorists with connections to high levels of the Serbian Govt. Russia, as the long term protector of Serbia - Serbians being fellow Slavs - declared war on Austria to try and save Serbia. Germany, being a long term ally of Austri declared war on Russia, and also on Russia's ally France in the expectation that France would join in anyway. Britain - not being involved win any military alliance with a Great European power hesitated - but Britain did have treaty obligations to Belgium. When the Germans invaded Belgium in order to out-flank the French army Britain declared war on Germany (not Austria for quite some time). Soon Japan, which was allied to Britain joined in, as did Turkey, which had an alliance with Germany. Portugal and Brazil joined in shortly afterwards. In 1917 the USA declared war on Germany as a response to German U-boat actions in the Atlantic which were designed to blockade Britain and cut off her food supplies. That made the war fully global.

Answer 4

- Naval race between Britain and Germany
- Balance of power issues in Europe
- Treaties, secret treaties, cross-treaties treaties...
- Mistrust among the European powers
- 1870 when France lost Alsace-Lorraine to Germany
- Lust for war - not many living in Europe at the time had experienced war, couldn't remember what it was like and had no idea of the killing power of modern weaponry. The thought that a short war would be good for nationalism and the economy.

There's really no definitive answer to this question... there were so many causes. Just wrong place, wrong time for this war!

Answer 5

On June 28, 1914, Gavrilo Princip shot and killed Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the heir to the Austrian throne, and his wife, in Sarajevo after purchasing a sandwich. Princip was a member of Young Bosnia, a group whose aims included the unification of the South Slavs and independence from Austria-Hungary (see also: the Black Hand). The assassination in Sarajevo set into motion a series of fast-moving events that escalated into a full-scale war. However, the ultimate causes of the conflict were multiple and complex.

Arms races
The naval arms race that developed between Britain and Germany was intensified by the 1906 launch of HMS Dreadnought, a revolutionary warship that rendered all previous battleships obsolete. (Britain maintained a large lead over Germany in all categories of warship.) Paul Kennedy has pointed out that both nations believed in Alfred Thayer Mahan's thesis that command of the sea was vital to a great nation.

David Stevenson described the armaments race as "a self-reinforcing cycle of heightened military preparedness", while David Herrman viewed the shipbuilding rivalry as part of a general movement towards war. However, Niall Ferguson argues that Britain’s ability to maintain an overall advantage signifies that change within this realm was insignificant and therefore not a factor in the movement towards war.

Plans, distrust and mobilization
Closely related is the thesis adopted by many political scientists that the war plans of Germany, France and Russia automatically escalated the conflict. Fritz Fischer and his followers have emphasized the inherently aggressive nature of the Schlieffen Plan, which outlined German strategy if at war with both France and Russia. Conflict on two fronts meant Germany had to eliminate one opponent quickly before taking on the other, relying on a strict timetable. It called for a strong right flank attack, to seize Belgium and cripple the French army by preempting its mobilization.

After the attack, the German army would then rush to the eastern front by railroad and quickly destroy the more slowly mobilizing military of Russia.

In a greater context, France's own Plan XVII called for an offensive thrust into Germany’s industrial Ruhr Valley which would cripple Germany’s ability to wage war.

Russia’s revised Plan XIX implied a mobilization of its armies against both Austria-Hungary and Germany.

All three created an atmosphere where generals and planning staffs were anxious to take the initiative and seize decisive victories. Elaborate mobilization plans with precise timetables had been prepared. Once the mobilization orders were issued, it was understood by both generals and statesmen alike that there was little or no possibility of turning back or a key advantage would be sacrificed. Furthermore, the problem of communications in 1914 should not be underestimated; all nations still used telegraphy and ambassadors as the main form of communication, which resulted in delays from hours to even days.

Militarism and autocracy
President of the United States Woodrow Wilson and other observers blamed the war on militarism.[2] The idea was that aristocrats and military elites had too much control over Germany, Russia and Austria, and the war was a consequence of their desire for military power and disdain for democracy. This was a theme that figured prominently in anti-German propaganda, which cast Kaiser Wilhelm II and Prussian military tradition in a negative light. Consequently, supporters of this theory called for the abdication of such rulers, the end of the aristocratic system and the end of militarism — all of which justified American entry into the war once Czarist Russia dropped out of the Allied camp.

Wilson hoped the League of Nations and universal disarmament would secure a lasting peace. He also acknowledged variations of militarism that, in his opinion, existed within the British and French political systems.

Economic imperialism
Vladimir Lenin asserted that the worldwide system of imperialism was responsible for the war. In this, he drew upon the economic theories of Karl Marx and English economist John A. Hobson, who had earlier predicted the outcome of economic imperialism, or unlimited competition for expanding markets, would lead to a global military conflict.[3] This argument proved popular in the immediate wake of the war and assisted in the rise of Marxism and Communism. Lenin argued that large banking interests in the various capitalist-imperialist powers had pulled the strings in the various governments and led them into the war.[4]

Trade barriers
Cordell Hull believed that trade barriers were the root cause of both World War I and World War II, and designed the Bretton Woods Agreements to reduce trade barriers, and thus eliminate what he saw as the root cause of the two world wars.

International bond and financial markets entered severe crises in late July and early August; this reflected worry about the financial consequences of war.

Culmination of European history
A localized war between Austria-Hungary and Serbia was considered inevitable due to Austria-Hungary’s deteriorating world position and the Pan-Slavic separatist movement in the Balkans. The expansion of such ethnic sentiments coincided with the growth of Serbia and the decline of the Ottoman Empire, as the latter had formerly held sway over much of the region. Imperial Russia also supported the Pan-Slavic movement, motivated by ethnic loyalties, dissatisfaction with Austria (dating back to the Crimean War) and a century-old dream of a warm water port.[5] For Germany, their location in the center of Europe led to the decision for an active defense, culminating in the Schlieffen Plan.

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Answer 6

because Germany sinked 3 american merchant u boats