Tag: cause of world war I

03/5/11

The Crises before 1914

In 1904 Morocco had been given to France by Britain, but the Moroccans wanted their independence. In 1905, Germany announced her support for Moroccan independence. War was narrowly avoided by a conference which allowed France to retain possession of Morocco. However, in 1911, the Germans were again protesting against French possession of Morocco. Britain supported France and Germany was persuaded to back down for part of French Congo.

In 1908, Austria-Hungary took over the former Turkish province of Bosnia. This angered Serbians who felt the province should be theirs. Serbia threatened Austria-Hungary with war, Russia, allied to Serbia, mobilised its forces. Germany, allied to Austria-Hungary mobilised its forces and prepared to threaten Russia. War was avoided when Russia backed down. There was, however, war in the Balkans between 1911 and 1912 when the Balkan states drove Turkey out of the area. The states then fought each other over which area should belong to which state. Austria-Hungary then intervened and forced Serbia to give up some of its acquisitions. Tension between Serbia and Austria-Hungary was high.

The effects of these crises had been a hardening of attitudes and an increase in distrust between the different European powers. It led to a strengthening of the different alliances: Britain and France during the Moroccan Crises and Austria and Germany during the Bosnian crisis.

03/2/11

WW I Begins

       The Ferdinand Family

          The straw that broke the camels back that causing WWI was the assasination of  Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and his wife, Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg, at the hand of Gavrilo Princip.  On June 28, 1914 in Sarajevo, Bosnia the couple was gunned down by the Serb in the hopes of increasing the Serbian teritory.  The ploy worked and spiraled the majority of the world into a war.  A month later Austria-Hungry invaded Serbia.  This was followed by the German invasion of Belgium, Luxembourg and France leading to the Russians attacking Germany.  Although this tragedy is actually what directly can be seen as what ignited the war, there were also a slew of underlying conflicts and problems including political turmoil, international relations, imperialism, also technical and militarty factors.  Considering all of these issues, the war was utterly inevitable, such as a volcano primed for an eruption.