The First World War (WWI) Essay -- World War 1 I One

On June 28, 1914, the heir to the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Archduke Francis Ferdinand, was assassinated along with his wife while touring the Bosnian capital of Sarajevo. The assassin was a student radical associated with a Slav nationalist terrorist group known as the Black Hand, which was fighting for independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire for the empire's Slavic minorities. From the beginning, the Austrians suspected that Serbia, an independent and radically pan-Slavic nation bordering the Austro-Hungarian Empire, was behind the killing (they were right as it happened — the Serbian chief of staff had helped plan the crime). World Response Initial world opinion also believed Serbia was behind the assassination, and the initial world response condemned the act — a factor which reassured Austria that it could move to get revenge. But the Austro-Hungarian Dual Monarchy never operated quickly, especially since Austria could do nothing without being sure of German support. In the end, the Austro-Hungarian government waited too long — by the time they attacked Serbia, public opinion about the killing had already cooled. The Entangling Alliance Domino Effect Austro-Hungarian Empire: desperately wanted to get rid of Serbia, which had been behind most of their largest Slavic problems (Serbia had been a leader in the two Balkans wars, both of which had threatened Austro-Hungarian holdings). Biggest Fear: Russia (a Slavic country which might help their minorities if pressed). Needed: the Hungarians and the Germans to promise military support against Russia. Germany: promised the Austrians support in the event of a Russian attack: a "blank check" which allowed A.H. to move confidently against Serbia. Both Austria-Hungary and Germany believed they could do this in a limited way, and that Russia would stay out of it, as it had before. They were not looking to start a fight with Russia or any other major European power. Biggest Fear: That Austria-Hungary, their most important ally, would be seen as a useless, "paper tiger" if they didn’t act against the Serbians, and that the A.H.’s disintegration would leave them standing alone against France and Russia. Needed: A strong ally, a united front with that ally, a passive Russia, and a neutral Britain. Russia: The Austrians and Germans were counting on a repeat performance of Russia’s p... ...marked Europe after it helped set the stage for W.W.II. W.W.I was truly global in scope; it was devastating in terms of casualties. The old methods of fighting had met new technologies, and caught the military leaders off-guard. The scale of "The Great War" was truly unprecedented, as Europeans dragged their respective colonies around the world into it. New Weaponry: tanks, submarines, airplanes were all new in W.W.I — would become staples of war by W.W.II. One of most infamous weapons of W.W.I was banned afterwards: poison gas. Proof of the Failure of the Peace: W.W.II. The peace created by the Versailles Treaty did not last, and the world created by settlement quickly broke apart. Pro-nationalist statements made by European leaders, like the 14 Points, were taken seriously by various colonials, who looked forward to self-determination; they were disappointed that the treaty still left Britain, France, the US and Japan firmly in control of their own colonial regions. Tensions between European powers and their colonials were one source of instability in the interwar period; the domestic unrest and hostility between European nations sparked by the Treaty was another.