What started the First World War?

Question

Please can you give me a detailed description of what started the first world war?

Thank you guys

Please can you give me a little more detail?Franz Ferdinand was murdered .But what does that have to do with the beginning of one of the greatest wars in history?

Answer 1

1914 : First World War erupts in Europe

On August 1, 1914, four days after Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia, two more great European powers—Russia and Germany—declare war on each other; the same day, France orders a general mobilization. The so-called "Great War" that ensued would be one of unprecedented destruction and loss of life, resulting in the deaths of some 20 million soldiers and civilians and the physical devastation of much of the European continent.




The event that was widely acknowledged to have sparked the outbreak of World War I occurred on July 28, 1914, when Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austro-Hungarian Empire, was shot to death with his wife by the Bosnian Serb nationalist Gavrilo Princip in Sarajevo. Over the weeks that followed, Austria-Hungary blamed the Serbian government for the attack, hoping to use the incident as justification for settling the problem of Slavic nationalism in the tumultuous Balkans region once and for all. However, as Russia supported Serbia, an Austria-Hungary declaration of war was delayed until its leaders received assurances from German leader Kaiser Wilhelm II that Germany would support their cause in the event of a Russian intervention. This assurance came on July 5; Austria-Hungary subsequently sent an ultimatum to the Serbian government on July 23 and demanded its acceptance within two days at the risk of war. Though Serbia accepted all but two of the ultimatum’s terms, and Russia declared its intention to back Serbia in the case of such a conflict, Austria-Hungary went ahead with its war declaration against Serbia on July 28, one month after the assassinations.




With that declaration, the tenuous peace between Europe’s great powers was shattered: Germany warned Russia, still only partially mobilized, that to continue to full mobilization against Austria-Hungary would mean war with Germany. While insisting that Russia immediately halt mobilization, Germany began its own mobilization; when the Russians refused the German demands, Germany declared war on the czarist empire on August 1. That same day, Russia’s ally, France, long suspicious of German aggression, began its own mobilization, urging Great Britain—the third member, along with France and Russia, of the Triple Entente alliance—to declare its support. A divided British government declined to do so initially, but events soon precipitated Britain’s move towards war as well. On August 2, the first German army units crossed into Luxembourg as part of a long-planned German strategy to invade France through neutral Belgium. France and Germany declared war against each other on August 3; that night, Germany invaded Belgium, prompting Great Britain to declare war on Germany.




For the most part, the people of Europe greeted the outbreak of war with jubilation. The great majority of people—within government and without—assumed that their country would be victorious within months, and could not envision the possibility of a longer conflict. By the end of 1914, however, well over a million soldiers of various nationalities had been killed on the battlefields of Europe, and there was no final victory in sight for either the Allies or the Central Powers. On the Western Front—the battle line that stretched across northern France and Belgium—the combatants settled down in the trenches for a terrible war of attrition, which would continue, in Europe and other corners of the world, for the next four years.

Answer 2

Years before the war there was a lot of tension between European countries (Austria, Germany, Serbia, Russia, ect.) These tension mounted up to the assination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary in 1914. Russia declared war on Austria which had blamed the assination on the Serbs. While Russia prepared for war, Germany lept into action quickly attacked. Once German attacked Belgium (a neutral country) Britian got involved and France was already being attacked. At the was the start of a very bloody "War to End All Wars"...

Answer 3

On 28 June 1914, Gavrilo Princip, a Bosnian Serb student, shot and killed Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, and his wife, Sophie Chotek, in Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia, which had been annexed by Austria-Hungary in 1908. 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. Austria-Hungary demanded certain actions by Serbia to punish those responsible for the assassination. Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia when it was deemed that Serbia had failed to fully comply. Many major European powers came to be at war with each other within a matter of weeks. This was due to overlapping agreements for collective defense and the complex nature of international alliances at that time. However, the conflict also had deeper causes which were multiple and complex.

Answer 4

This is a favourite historical debate: in fact I answered this just last week.
The immediate cause was the Assassination of Franz Ferdinand, a member of the ruling royal family of Austria-Hungary, by a Sebian er, what we would today call a terrorist.
In 1914, Germany and Austria Hungary were close allies, while France and Russia, on either side, were allies. Both camps hated each other. Now, the Russians consider themselves protectors of Serbia for ethnic reasons. So when AH attacked Serbia, Russia mobilised its army. German had just one war plan: attack France, then turn and deal with Russia. They also knew that if they waited for Russia to actually invade, their army would not be 'mobilised'. So their plans REQUIRED them to mobilise their army to prevent their being caught off guard. This caused France to mobilise.

With Germany behind her, AH attacked Serbia, Russia attacked AH, and Germany attacked France. The British, who did not commit to either side until quite late, decided to go to war against Germany to protect France and, as a specific reason, to protect Belgium, which the Germans simply over-ran in order to gain a tactical advantage against France.

These were the immediate causes. Many books provide a time-line of the key events of August 1914.

Basically the world was keen to go to war, so not enough effort was put into stopping the situation turning into war. The growth of distrust and militarism is linked to industrialisation and imperialism over the previous 20-100 years.

Answer 5

The assasination of Franz Ferdinand

Answer 6

Kaiser William 2, the ruler of Germany's greediness of capturing countries.

Answer 7

if u want to know abt the immidiate cause, then it was assination of archduke frez ferdinand, the hier to the throne of austria- hungary, in sarajevo,in serbia.

Answer 8

One Shot.

Answer 9

endless greed for power is altime reason behind all wars

Answer 10

http://encarta.msn.com/encnet/refpages/search.aspx?q=First+World+War&Submit2=Go