I’m not a history buff, and all I know is that his death set off a Rube Goldberg machine of Politics that led to everyone fighting everyone else. Can someone simplify it for me?
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Several people have gone through the strict mechanics of what led to the war, but most importantly a lot of people also wanted a war.
Germany in particular saw a war with Russia as inevitable. They saw their chances of winning going down the more time Russia had to industrialize. Germany was eager for war before Russia was too powerful for them to handle, so they were fine with backing Austria if it meant a Balkan war and Russia got involved. Austria wanted a war because they had nothing better to do. France wanted a war to remake Alsace and Lorraine, two provinces taken from them in the franco prussian war.
Oddly enough Russia probably didn’t want the war, but they were also the one with the most control to stop it. If they hadn’t mobilized, Germany likely wouldn’t have mobilized and the whole thing stops. The problem is Serbia would have been left alone with Austria. Ultimately Austria performed like shit, but they still would have likely defeated Serbia. The question is if Russia could have gotten Bulgaria and Romania to assist Serbia. Ultimately though, Russia went in because they had determined they were the protector of the Slavs and had to defend their allies.
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