What was the catalyst for ww1

And what reasoning is there to say that this singular event was the cause of World War I? In this post we will discuss each of these questions and provide a detailed insight into the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, and how the event was connected to the inception of World War I. Franz Ferdinand and his family Image: Flickr. To understand why the death of Franz Ferdinand took place on 28th June , we must first understand the historical and political context of the time in which the incident occurred.

The early 20th century was a tumultuous time for Eastern Europe, where empires fought for control of the Balkan countries and the people suffered as a result. Bosnia and Herzegovina were still formally provinces of the Ottoman Empire, who had controlled them in the past. Austria-Hungary had attempted to improve the valuable region economically, and to tie it to Austria-Hungary.

July saw the Young Turks staging a revolution in Constantinople Istanbul. During this revolution they commenced a reform program, and as a result Austria-Hungary decided to annex Bosnia and Herzegovina before the Turkish regime managed to gain control of the provinces.

Serbia was close to Bosnia and Herzegovina both geographically and ethnically. The provinces were home to a huge Serbian population, and the annexation caused outrage among Serbian nationalists. Serbia demanded that Austria-Hungary give them a portion of Bosnia at least, and Austria, with support from Russia, declined and threatened Serbia with invasion if the demands continued to persist.

Archduke Franz Ferdinand was heir to the Austro-Hungarian empire, and he had opposed the annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina because he believed it would worsen the turbulent political situation.

Upon hearing that the Archduke and heir to the Austro-Hungarian Empire was to visit Sarajevo, a group of young Bosnian student revolutionaries known as the Young Bosnians began hatching a plot to assassinate him.

If it worked, this would act as a message and a threat to the Austro-Hungarian government. The turbulent political situation and bitter relations resulted in the tensions materialising in underground radical movements. Since Serbia won the Balkan Wars of and it had become a source of frustration for Austria-Hungary. Serbia had doubled its territory and increased its population by 1. The people were angry, and the extreme nationalists took this opportunity to voice that anger through an act of terrorism.

The Young Bosnians were a group of radical nationalists from Bosnia who planned the attack on the Archduke. Once their plan was in place, three members Gavrilo Princip, Trifko Grabez and Nedeljko Cabrinovic made their way to Belgrade where they obtained six handheld bombs, four pistols and cyanide capsules which they would use to commit suicide after the attack. They received these items from a terrorist group called the Black Hand, which held close ties with the Serbian army.

Then, the men travelled back to Bosnia and Herzegovina, helped by the Black Hand to smuggle their weapons across the border. Ferdinand had come to inspect the Austrian imperial armed forces, despite being warned that potential danger awaited him in the capital in the form of a radical Serbian nationalist organisation.

As the couple travelled from the train station to the town hall by car, the first attack occurred. Nedeljko Cabrinovic, a conspirator, threw a bomb at the car. Consequently, beyond a light police presence, security arrangements for the procession were notably lax. The lack of consideration afforded to security having left the vehicle in which the imperial couple travelled, with Potiorek, directly exposed to the unguarded crowds lining the street.

In the dry summer heat, however, it proved too shallow and the poison did little more than induce vomiting; the Young Bosnian was taken into custody, prompting his allies to disperse. At the city hall, Potiorek, concerned over the possible damage a major security debacle might cause to his political reputation in Vienna, vetoed any suggestion of mobilizing troops, arguing that the local garrison did not possess appropriate dress uniforms. Franz Ferdinand however, insisted on visiting the hospital where those injured in the explosion had been taken for treatment.

At , the motorcade departed back along Appel Quey with the imperial couple again sharing the same car as Potiorek. As Lojka attempted to reverse back out onto the thoroughfare, the car stalled in front of a popular delicatessen where Princip happened to be loitering. Drawing his pistol, the assassin fired twice, hitting the Archduke in the throat, and his wife in the abdomen; Princip would later state that Potiorek was the intended second target.

By , Ferdinand had also succumbed to his injury. Following the assassinations, anti-Serb demonstrations in Sarajevo, encouraged by Potiorek, quickly devolved into rioting and pogroms while the authorities moved to arrest anyone suspected of aiding the assassins.

All three instead received twenty-year prison terms. None would live to see the end of the First World War, with Princip being the last to die from tuberculosis in April Nevertheless, even assessed in isolation from its disastrous implications, the Sarajevo incident stands as a warning on the consequences of social unrest and political alienation. Foster, Samuel: Sarajevo Incident Version 1.

International Encyclopedia of the First World War, ed. DOI : Entangled alliances created two competing groups. In , Germany and Austria-Hungary allied against Russia. As war was declared, the allied countries emboldened each other to enter the fray and defend their treaties, although not every coalition was set in stone—Italy later changed sides. Militarism sparked an arms race. In the early s, many European countries increased their military might and were ready and willing put it to use.

Most of the European powers had a military draft system and were in an arms race, methodically increasing their war chests and fine-tuning their defense strategies. Between and , France, Russia, Britain and Germany significantly increased their defense budgets. But Germany was by far the most militaristic country in Europe at the time.

By July , it had increased its military budget by a massive 79 percent. Germany was also in an unofficial war with Britain for naval superiority. Not to be outdone, Germany built its own fleet of Dreadnoughts. By the start of World War I, the European powers were not just prepared for war, they expected it and some even counted on it to increase their world standing.