World War Why?

The First World War lasted more than four years, killing between 15 and 19 million people. The war devastated the global economy. It also led to outbreaks of disease that killed millions more people. Why did this war happen?

Historians have three explanations for what caused the First World War. The first is the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. The second is that a rise in global trends, such as alliances, caused the war. The third suggests that the war almost started by accident. Leaders did not handle the consequences of Archduke Ferdinand’s assassination well. Let’s look at each of these ideas. We will see if the causes of this deadly conflict were simple, complicated, or accidental.

One shot: The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand

Ferdinand was a member of the Habsburg family. The Habsburgs ruled the Austro-Hungarian Empire for nearly 400 years. This large empire was in the center of Europe. The population was multi-ethnic, meaning there were many distinct ethnic groups.

Franz Ferdinand’s uncle was the emperor of Austria-Hungary. He struggled to rule the empire’s different ethnic communities. Nationalism pushed these communities to pursue independence from the empire. One group was the Serbs. Other Serbs gained independence from the Ottoman Empire and formed the country of Serbia.

However, many Serbs still lived in the Habsburg region of Bosnia, under the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Serbian nationalists wanted to push the Habsburgs out of Bosnia. Russia, the Habsburgs’ rival, supported the Serbs. The Serbs’ planned to kill Franz Ferdinand. Then, they hoped, Austria-Hungary would declare war on the Serbs. Russia would come to their aid and help win the war. After this, the Bosnian Serbs could gain independence.

Archduke Franz Ferdinand was killed on June 28, 1914. Two days later, the Austro-Hungarian Empire gave the Serbs a list of demands. It was called the July Ultimatum. The Serbs thought the demands would take away their independence. They rejected the demands and turned to Russia for help. Within a month, much of the world was at war.

Deeper trends: Help me help you help me

The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand was the immediate cause of a war between Russia and Austro- Hungarian Empire. But how did this conflict become a world war? Some historians argue that the answer lies in deeper trends. The good news is we have already introduced many of those trends in this course.

Let’s start with the alliance system. These were “communities” of nations that promised to support each other. The Napoleonic Wars in the 1800s had devastated Europe. Large European powers believed alliances would help balance power in Europe. This would prevent future wars. Two great alliances were pitted against each other. Russia, France, and Great Britain made up the Triple Entente. Austro-Hungary, Germany, Italy and the Ottoman Empire formed the Triple Alliance. This was later called the Central Powers. Russia and Austro-Hungary each had their own allies. If they went to war, they would drag in their allies and make the war even bigger.

Growing nationalism added fuel to the war. Nationalism promoted the idea that national pride was a good reason to go to war. For example, France joined the war to win back land they had lost to Germany.

National sovereignty¹ also widened the war. Sovereignty refers to a nation’s ability to rule itself. Britain is one example. They joined the war to protect Belgian sovereignty after German troops invaded Belgium.

Imperialism was another trend that helped expand the war. Many countries joined the war to gain territory. For example, Britain and France wanted land from the Ottoman Empire. Japan also supported the Triple Entente. The Japanese hoped to take German colonies in the Pacific Ocean. Empires also practiced imperialism for economic reasons. They hoped to take important trade routes and raw materials from their opponents.

The big powers believed war would be short and easy. They had successfully used their military power in Africa and Asia. Why would Europe be any different?

Finally, industrialization brought new technologies, like weapons and transportation. Everybody believed that the first country to get their troops moving would have an advantage. Railroads could now quickly move large numbers of troops and materials. This meant that once Austro-Hungary sent troops to Serbia, all the other powers also had to start sending troops. Everyone thought that the war would be over very quickly. Unfortunately, everyone was wrong.

Accidental war: Missed the memo, hit the target

It may seem like states saw the war coming, but did not try to stop it. This leads us to another idea about why the First World War happened. Communication between diplomats and governments was slow back then. Diplomats represent their country’s interests in other nations. Technology advanced faster than the diplomats could keep up. This became a problem when troops began moving faster than before. Diplomats missed many opportunities to slow down the troops. Some historians say governments’ slow response was the real reason for the war. Other historians think the other big trends would have led to war anyway. What do you think?

1 Yes, these terms can get confusing. Nationalism was introduced as the idea that a state should govern itself. But at some point, that feeling that you should get to govern yourself can turn into the idea that you are better than other nations. This becomes a form of extreme patriotism. We call that nationalism as well. As we will see, nationalism is a pretty open-ended idea. It can be used for different purposes.