how the assassination of one person sparked the start of WW1
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Europe was a powder keg at the time and national movements were already well underway. The outcome of The Great War was the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian empire that had a hold on most of Europe at the time.
The assasination was merely the spark.
Essentially, The Industrial Revolution left all the major players in Europe with better solutions for logistics and the means to produce military equipment en masse in order to muster and outfit large standing armies. Colonial holdings amongst the Great Powers were frequently being disputed and squabbled over creating a general atmosphere of tension. Germany notably was extremely militaristic due to residual effects of the military caste social structure in the HRE.
With economic tensions all around and almost all of Europe’s leaders at each other’s throats as it was, Serbia began having a nationalist movement shortly after the conclusion of the Balkan Wars, which ultimately led directly to the decline of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Franz Ferdinand’s public assassination, and then war.
It was almost inevitable when you consider all the factors as a whole
The boarders of Europe was changing. Germany and Austria-Hungary were new empires that were growing in size. The Ottoman Empire were shrinking as they could not control the Balkans. There had already been several wars over boarder disputes between different countries. The Crimean war, Franco-Prussian war, Austro-Prussian war, etc. Even outside of Europe you had the Russo-Japanese war and the American-Spanish war. To solve the issue of all these wars in the emerging boarder disputes the countries decided to focus on alliances. Both because the country with the biggest allies could pick which boarder disputes to challenge. There was also a theory of mutually assured destruction where countries would not go to war because of the many alliances as it would trigger a great war. We already had that in the 30 years war and arguably the Napolionic wars and nobody wanted that again.
The problem was that it did not actually stop the boarder disputes. It just accumulated them over time so you had one big boarder dispute in the Balkans. This was an area with lots of post-Ottoman smaller countries that had mixed national identities within their boarders. This is how the Ottoman were able to keep control as they could pit the nations against each other to prevent them rebelling against the Ottoman. But with Ottoman influence failing there were room for other empires to step in and take control. The Balkans have lots of farmland, natural resources and industries so there were lots of tax money on the table. It was worth fighting a war over, even a great war.
So there were already a big conflict which would affect the entire continent, and all the colonies. Even the empires who could not realistically control the Balkans did not want one of the other empires controlling it as this would make them too big. So everyone was building up their armies and preparing for war. In all governments there were people discussing if they should be the first to strike.
Archduke Ferdinand were actually leading a minority in the Austro-Hungarian government who wanted to avoid a war over Balkans. After having argued his cause in Vienna he went to Sarajevo to broker a deal with the local government there. If he could get them to agree to some Austro-Hungarian presence so that they could prevent the Russians from influencing them he could promise them autonomy. It was worth a shot to try and avoid war even if it meant they could not collect taxes or have any local control.
The murder of the archduke therefore did two things. Firstly the anti-war movement in Vienna lost their highest ranked member in government and their plans for a peaceful resolution to the dispute had failed. But it also gave the pro-war advocates a reason to go to war. It painted the Balkans as this lawless place filled with terrorists. And the only way to save them was with an armed invasion. Just talking about this made it look like the great war was impending and the people in all the governments who were for being the first to attack now had good arguments. If the war was happening anyway then being the first to strike gives you the element of surprise. And it nearly worked for Germany as well as they almost got to Paris in their first attack and only a scrambled defense by the French and British were able to hold the line at a river, and some miscommunication between the two German armies left a hole in their lines that the British were able to exploit.
Russia and France had a treaty declaring if one nation went to war, the other would respond. Germany and Austria/Hungry had a similar treaty. Serbian terrorists murdered the almost leader of Austria/Hungry. Austria/Hungry went to war with Serbia. Serbia and Russia were allies so Russia declared war on Austria/Hungry. Germany attacked France because of the aforementioned treaty. England attacked Germany because Germany invaded Belgium to attack France.
Believe me there is way more to it than that. The origins of WW1 are unbelievably complex. Literally thousands of books have been written on this subject.
Basically, the assassination was carried out with weapons supplied by a Serbian intelligence organisation (who may have been slightly exceeding their authority). Austria-Hungary was understandably pissed that they had done this, and ultimately declared war.
Russia had a treaty with Serbia, and declared war on Austria-Hungary in turn, but that was okay because Austria-Hungary had a treaty with Germany, and thus Germany declared war on Russia.
At this point Germany sends a message to France saying “please remain neutral so we can go fight Russia without worrying about you”, and France said “no, we’re mobilising”.
Germany figured France was just waiting for Germany to move their troops East so France could invade Germany from the west, and decided to pre-empt this by invading France, the best way to do so was by going through Belgium.
Britain had a treaty with both France and Belgium, but was tempted to stay out of it and let the French get clobbered, but not Belgium. To the surprise of Germany, Britain declared war.
Then the Ottoman Empire got German help to invade British territory in the middle east to cut off British oil, Italy got bribed to fight on the side of Britain, France and Russia.
Germany had been deploying submarines to disrupt British trade, and after a few years this pissed off America so much they decided to deal with Germany.
Imagine in your daycare class, half the class were in a friends circle, and the rest were in the other friends circle. And everyone in the friend circle has made a pact that, what happens to one, happens to all.
One day, jimmy and Bobby, from different circles, wanted to play with the same toy, so Bobby punched jimmy in the face, because of the friends circle pack, that means everyone had to get involved in the fight. Hence WWI.
Linking an old post. Sorry I lost the original poster.
“Germany, Austria and Italy are standing together in the middle of a pub when Serbia bumps into Austria and spills Austria’s pint. Austria demands Serbia buy it a complete new suit because there are splashes on its trouser leg. Germany expresses its support for Austria’s point of view. Britain recommends that everyone calm down a bit.
Serbia points out that it can’t afford a whole suit, but offers to pay for the cleaning of Austria’s trousers. Russia and Serbia look at Austria. Austria asks Serbia who it’s looking at. Russia suggests that Austria should leave its little brother alone. Austria inquires as to whose army will assist Russia in compelling it to do so. Germany appeals to Britain that France has been looking at it, and that this is sufficiently out of order that Britain should not intervene. Britain replies that France can look at who it wants to, that Britain is looking at Germany too, and what is Germany going to do about it?
Germany tells Russia to stop looking at Austria, or Germany will render Russia incapable of such action. Britain and France ask Germany whether it’s looking at Belgium. Turkey and Germany go off into a corner and whisper.
When they come back, Turkey makes a show of not looking at anyone. Germany rolls up its sleeves, looks at France, and punches Belgium. France and Britain punch Germany. Austria punches Russia. Germany punches Britain and France with one hand and Russia with the other. Russia throws a punch at Germany, but misses and nearly falls over. Japan calls over from the other side of the room that it’s on Britain’s side, but stays there. Italy surprises everyone by punching Austria.
Australia punches Turkey, and gets punched back. There are no hard feelings because Britain made Australia do it. France gets thrown through a plate glass window, but gets back up and carries on fighting. Russia gets thrown through another one, gets knocked out, suffers brain damage, and wakes up with a complete personality change. Italy throws a punch at Austria and misses, but Austria falls over anyway.
Italy raises both fists in the air and runs round the room chanting. America waits till Germany is about to fall over from sustained punching from Britain and France, then walks over and smashes it with a barstool, then pretends it won the fight all by itself. By now all the chairs are broken and the big mirror over the bar is shattered. Britain, France and America agree that Germany threw the first punch, so the whole thing is Germany’s fault. While Germany is still unconscious, they go through its pockets, steal its wallet, and buy drinks for all their friends.”
To quote Bill Wurtz:
” . . . Germany, which just had war declared on by Britain because Britain was friends with Belgium, which was being trespassed by Germany in order to get to France to kick France’s ass because France was friends with Russia, who was getting ready to kick Austria’s ass because Austria was getting ready to kick Serbia’s ass because someone from Serbia shot the leader of Austria’s ass. (Or, actually, he shot him in the head.) “
Highly recommend the book The Guns of August. Does a great job of setting up the various situations of each country prior to the assassination. Basically they all were ready to go before the assassination and they all used it as an excuse to trigger their alliances and start trying to expand their territories.
Serbian nationalists assassinate the heir to the Austrian throne. Austria exploits the situation to issue an impossible ultimatum against Serbia, which Serbia can’t accept. Russia, the self-proclaimed protector of Slavic honor and looking to salvage its prestige after its humiliation against Japan in 1905, tells Austria it will go to war to defend Serbia. Germany, Austria’s ally, tells Russia it will go to war to defend Austria. France, Russia’s ally, tells Germany it will go to war to defend Russia. Britain tells everyone that if Belgium is invaded they will go to war. Austria then invades Serbia, Russia declares war on Austria, Germany declares war on Russia, France declares war on Germany, Britain declares war on Germany after Germany invades France through Belgium, and the world was at war.
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