What was the reason for the 1st World war?

Answer 1

austro-hungary wanted to punish the killer of their prince in serbia.

Answer 2

The German General Staff believed that war with Russia was inevitible, and the longer they waited, the more powerful Russia would become. Due to alliances, it would be necessary to defeat France swiftly in order to discourage British entry into the war. In the meantime, the Germans would need an ally that could delay the Russians long enough for the Germans to defeat the French and redeploy to the East. Austria-Hungary served that role, but were only militarily allied to the Germans if Germany was not the agressor. Von Moltke and the German General Staff saw the assassination of Franz Ferdinand as the moment they'd been waiting for and Germany orchestrated all the machinations that led to the Austrian's declaration of war on Serbia.
Germany got an early reality check on their ally. Once Russia began mobilization, Berlin ordered Vienna to forget about Serbia and prepare for the Russian front. Not only did the Austrians, who were getting a little tired of being ordered around by Germany, disregard this directive until they'd finished off the Serbs...they didn't finish of the Serbs. They were defeated! What the Prussians had discovered in 1866 was still the case in 1914; Austro-Hungary was more bark than bite.
Anyway, the reason for World War I was simple. Germany believed they had to deal with Russia before Russia became too militarily powerful and a threat to Germany. Though the Germans had the world's best General Staff, they were extremely paranoid and had a minimal civil check placed on them.

Answer 3

The assassin, Gavrilo Princip, was a member of a political youth organisation “Young Bosnia”, which resisted Austro-Hungarian occupation (1878) and annexation (1908) of Bosnia & Herzegovina. In this organisation were not only Serbs, but Muslims as well and even a few Croats.
The assassination had no support from Serbian government or royal family. It was supported by Dragutin Dimitrijevic Apis, chief of Serbian Intelligence Agency who had his own agenda as the leader of the organisation, “Unification or Death”, a military officers’ not-so-secret society that overthrew the previous dynasty and wanted unification of all Serbs. Serbian government had no power over this man.
It would hardly be in the course of the Serbian government to start a war with 50-million population empire, a war they narrowly avoided several times before.

That said, the first world war had to happen with the course history took. Imperialism, arms race, alliances, counter-alliances, counter-counter-alliances, competition for resources, paranoia,… Since 1902 Europe became a small room packed with very volatile empires.

There were sparks that got defused, between Austria and Italy, between the Balkan states, between Denmark and Germany, … it was just that the spark thrown in Sarajevo was too big
to be defused and the German invasion of Belgium made it essentially a world war.

But if hadn’t happened then and there, it would sometime and somewhere else.

Answer 4

The Causes of World War I were complex and included many factors, including the conflicts and antagonisms of the four decades leading up to the war. The immediate origins of the war lay in the decisions taken by statesmen and generals during the July crisis of 1914, the spark (or casus belli) for which was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary by Gavrilo Princip, a Serbian irredentist.
here's the full story
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Causes_of_World_War_I

Answer 5

The Arch Duke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated by Serbian nationalists which enraged Austria. Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany told Austria, in effect, to do what it liked in retaliation. He forgot the words of Bismark - 'the Balkans are not worth the life of one Pomeranian Grenadier'. Russia mobilised on the side of Serbia, as fellow Slavs. Britain wanted to stay out, but when Germany invaded Belgium, in defiance of the treaty obligations which provided that Belgium should be treated as neutra, entered the war to oppose that invasion. A very brief resumé of a complicated situation upon which complete books have been written.

Answer 6

The Assassination is what finally set it off, but there was tension in the Balkans for years. Serbians living in Austria Hungary wanted to be reunited with Serbia, along with other ethnic groups wanting Independence from Austria Hungary.
The Assassination gave Austria Hungary the chance to weaken Serbia so they would no longer be a thorn in their side. Of course Germany, being Austria Hungary's closest Ally was egging them on, never expecting anything more than a small, regional war.
Russia, being a Slavic country like Serbia, decided to flex it's muscle to convince Austria Hungary and Germany to back down, and France, having a treaty with Russia, agreed to support Russia in its threats to Germany.
Austria Hungary gave Serbia an ultimatum that would basically give Austria Hungary control of Serbia. Serbia of course refused the ultimatum and at that point, everyone was stuck, no country wanted to be the first to back down.
Great Britain announced they were going to stay out of the conflict because it was a continental conflict, but if Belgium was attacked, they would step in to protect Belgium.
Finally, with all the major players fearing if the do not attack first, they would be attacked, Austria Hungary invaded Serbia and Russia, Russia attacked Austria Hungary and Germany. Germany attacked France through Belgium and Great Britain jumped in on the side of France.

Answer 7

Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary is assassinated by Gavrilo Princip, a Serbian irredentist. Thanks to that guy, it unleashed a massive chain reaction causing no only WWI but WWII, Cold War, Middle East conflict, and Israel conflict.

Answer 8

There were a lot of contributing factors, tension building up over time. The actual causal action was when Archduke Ferdinand was shot.

Answer 9

M - Militarism
A - Alliances
I - Imperialism
N - Nationalism

but the assassination of Archduke Francis Ferdinand really kicked it off.

Answer 10

The events of July and early August 1914 are a classic case of "one thing led to another" - otherwise known as the treaty alliance system.

The explosive that was World War One had been long in the stockpiling; the spark was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, in Sarajevo on 28 June 1914.

Serbia had long had Slavic ties with Russia, an altogether different proposition for Austria-Hungary. Whilst not really expecting that Russia would be drawn into the dispute to any great extent other than through words of diplomatic protest, the Austro-Hungarian government sought assurances from her ally, Germany, that she would come to her aid should the unthinkable happen and Russia declared war on Austria-Hungary.

Germany readily agreed, even encouraged Austria-Hungary's warlike stance.

So then, we have the following remarkable sequence of events that led inexorably to the 'Great War' - a name that had been touted even before the coming of the conflict.

Austria-Hungary, unsatisfied with Serbia's response to her ultimatum (which in the event was almost entirely placatory: however her jibbing over a couple of minor clauses gave Austria-Hungary her sought-after cue) declared war on Serbia on 28 July 1914.


Russia, bound by treaty to Serbia, announced mobilisation of its vast army in her defence, a slow process that would take around six weeks to complete.


Germany, allied to Austria-Hungary by treaty, viewed the Russian mobilisation as an act of war against Austria-Hungary, and after scant warning declared war on Russia on 1 August.


France, bound by treaty to Russia, found itself at war against Germany and, by extension, on Austria-Hungary following a German declaration on 3 August. Germany was swift in invading neutral Belgium so as to reach Paris by the shortest possible route.


Britain, allied to France by a more loosely worded treaty which placed a "moral obligation" upon her to defend France, declared war against Germany on 4 August. Her reason for entering the conflict lay in another direction: she was obligated to defend neutral Belgium by the terms of a 75-year old treaty.

With Germany's invasion of Belgium on 4 August, and the Belgian King's appeal to Britain for assistance, Britain committed herself to Belgium's defence later that day. Like France, she was by extension also at war with Austria-Hungary.


With Britain's entry into the war, her colonies and dominions abroad variously offered military and financial assistance, and included Australia, Canada, India, New Zealand and the Union of South Africa.


United States President Woodrow Wilson declared a U.S. policy of absolute neutrality, an official stance that would last until 1917 when Germany's policy of unrestricted submarine warfare - which seriously threatened America's commercial shipping (which was in any event almost entirely directed towards the Allies led by Britain and France) - forced the U.S. to finally enter the war on 6 April 1917.


Japan, honouring a military agreement with Britain, declared war on Germany on 23 August 1914. Two days later Austria-Hungary responded by declaring war on Japan.


Italy, although allied to both Germany and Austria-Hungary, was able to avoid entering the fray by citing a clause enabling it to evade its obligations to both.

In short, Italy was committed to defend Germany and Austria-Hungary only in the event of a 'defensive' war; arguing that their actions were 'offensive' she declared instead a policy of neutrality. The following year, in May 1915, she finally joined the conflict by siding with the Allies against her two former allies.

Such were the mechanics that brought the world's major nations into the war at one time or another. It's clear from the summary above that the alliance system was as much at fault as anything in bringing about the scale of the conflict.

Even more detailed information at the link on this subject plus a complete history of WWI which should help you later with your studies. It is probably the best web site on WWI.