1st World War question:?

Question

For people who know about the 1st world war well:

when franz-ferdinand was assassinated, i had thought, well, why would germany want to help Austria hungary to declare war on serbia? yes, she had been 'throwing her weight around' previoulsy, but in my history exam i thought that, possibly, if Germany wanted to do this, she could get back at the Triple Entente, by helping fight Serbia, who would turn to Russia for help, and she turn to france and britain... was this the possible plan of the Kaiser? your views please!

Answer 1

The reason Germany got involved was that Russia mobilized its armed forces against the Austro-Hungarians for threatening to invade Serbia.

Answer 2

Take a step back from the petty squabbles and look at the big picture.

By about 1880, all major European countries adopted the gold standard. Under the gold standard, a nation can expand its money supply only as far as its gold stock allows. To expand its gold stock, a nation must have a trade surplus. So expanding the money supply under the gold standard is only possible if a nation has a trade surplus.

Expanding money supply is the quickest way of ending recessions and thus keeping the population gainfully employed and reasonably happy. But under the gold standard, it is only possible if a nation has a trade surplus, so governments, instead of abandoning the gold standard, started working on ensuring that their nations always have a trade surplus.

In practice, this took the form of pressuring other countries into opening their markets for your exports while keeping imports off your domestic market. The pressure tactics gradually escalated from diplomacy to the threat or war, until everyone was threatening everyone else.

And that's when Gavrilo Princip fired his FN M 1910... If he didn't, another "cause" (which, of course, would have as little to do with real problem as the assassination of Franz Ferdinand did) would have been found in a pretty short order...

Answer 3

Austria-Hungray would not more without the support of Germany. Austria-Hungray, Germany, and Italy had a mutual defence alliance. This was the result of being hemed in between the Russian French alliance. Britian did not have an allianc ewith France but Germanys modern fleet posed a threat to the British navy and there fore the British Empire. All the Monarchs of Europe deplored the assassination of a fellow Monarch, Austria-Hungary was weak and in decline but tried to prove itself different by brazen acts. The German Kasier agreed that the Serbs should be punished for there open support in the assissanation. The German Army felt superior to the of Russia and France, German had hoped the Austria would have the ability to hold Russia while German took out France again. The wild card was England. The Kasier felt that England would stay out of the fight. Having sacked Bismark the Kasier did not have a skilled diplomat to seek advice with rather he relied upon his military and himself.
Had the Kasier been better served he would have secured an agreement with Russia before giving the blank check to Austria. It would be difficaul to make the matter criminal because of the open support Serbia played in the assassination. The best senerio would have been to convine the Tsar to hold the Serbs accountable and threaten to back out of the alliance if they did not turn out the responsible persons.
But these our the thought of a modern democrat with the prespective of hindsight and not that of an insulted monarch in fear of the growing calls for democracy.

Answer 4

We can't really know the answer to that question, it was too long ago actually. What we do know is Imperialism was on the rise in those days, and war profiteering was probably the only way to become rich. Germans and Austrians share a language with Switzerland, these place are very similar in custom, the Serbs were different. To be honest it was probably racism. The Crouts didn't like the Slavs. I hate to admit to this being German-American. I don't seem to have a problem with Slavs, I love folk music that is Slavic for instance. The Kaiser might not have dug it. There were also allot of treaties in those days. You and I have a self defense treaty, but if one of us gets in a fight the other is sucked into it to help. Kinda like that as well. All we have is records of what happened, not really why, if you could go back in time and you asked the Kaiser I'm sure War was the last thing on his mind, he was trying to run a country and industrialize society. He also probably didn't have any noticable racial bias.

Answer 5

Germany’s “Blank Check”
Aware of the threat from Russia, Austria-Hungary held off on its attack plans and turned to its well-armed ally to the north, Germany. On July 5, 1914, Austria-Hungary sent an envoy to meet personally with the German emperor, Kaiser Wilhelm II, to convey Austria’s concerns about Russia. The kaiser felt that Russia was unlikely to respond militarily, as its forces were utterly unprepared for war. He also had a close personal relationship with Tsar Nicholas II (the two were cousins), so he hoped to smooth things over diplomatically. Nevertheless, the kaiser pledged that if Russian troops did in fact advance on Austria-Hungary, Germany would help fight off the attackers. This guarantee is often referred to as Germany’s “blank check.”

Answer 6

It all had to do with alliances. Russia was the enemy of Germany (most countries who are neighbors are enemies or at least rivals) and Russia had an alliance, a friendship and a treaty with Serbia. They were, interestingly enough, both followers of the Orthodox Church (the 2nd largest Christian church, world wide) and therefore natural allies. When the Archduke was killed IN Serbia, the Austria-Hungarians and their friends the Germans wanted to punish Serbia, but Russia wanted to defend its friends and ally, so this was the ground work for WW I.

Answer 7

World War 1: 1)Franc Ferdinand Asassinated by Serbian Sparking World War 1 2)Germany march into Belgium, Britain declare war on Germany 3)German's U-2 submarines sink U.S.S Lusitania 4)Zimmerman notes Brought the U.S into war 5)Treaty of Versaille ended World War 1 World War 2: 1)Germany invade Poland sparking World War 2 2)Japan attack Pearl Harbor bringing the U.S into WW2 3)Japanese Internment camp, All Japanese in America were sent to camp during the war 4)D-Day Allies break into Europe 5)Atomic Bomb dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki completely destroying the citys.

Answer 8

WW I was a frenzy of mistakes, poor judgement and disasterously wrong decisions on the part of almost all the leaders of all the nations involved.

When they paused a few years to rest the Russians were Soviets, the Germans were bankrupt, angry and humiliated, the Americans were suddenly a world power, and the stage was set for Act 2.

The reasons for WW I boil down to a lot of decisions without a lot of thought going into them, with long-range consequences no soothsayer could have anticipated.

Kaiser didn't have a 'plan'. He just had a strategy, same as all the others.

Answer 9

the germans probably would have done what you just said but if you think of the war like this...

two gangs. axis and allies. head of axis germany. head of allies britan. both gangs are collecting weapons and there is a lot of rivalry between the two so it was just a matter of time before one gang threw the fisrt stone. serbia was in the allies gang and did just that. austria hungry was in the axis so when the archduke franz ferdinand was assasinated germany HAD to take sides with Austria hungry because if they didnt the other contries in there so called"gang" would attack THEM so realy they had no choice because if they helped serbia the other countries in there gang would rebel and then they where practitcally surrounded by there gang countries. hope this helped