World War I was without question the biggest war of its time period. European powers allied with and against each other and the war killed millions of soldiers. Austria allied itself with Germany because of their ethnic ties, and allied with Italy because of their religious backgrounds. On the other side of the war, France, Great Britain, Russia, and Serbia allied together to fight the war. Serbian nationalists played a big part in the assassination of the Arch Duke of Austria which was a big reason for the tension leading to the war. Also, Britain was afraid that Germany had the potential to take some of their territory in other places such as Africa. Germany felt it had to join the war because it was impossible for them to stay out. Due to the many reasons for international tension, World War I was inevitable, but the biggest reason that started the War so quickly was the assassination by the Serbs.
The war started as a war between Austria-Hungary and Serbia before it became a World War. The Austrians felt that they needed to protect themselves through war according to the telegram that declared the beginning of the war, " the Austro-Hungarian Minister of Belgrade, the Imperial and Royal Government are themselves compelled to see to the safeguarding of their rights and interests, and, with this object, to have recourse to force of arms (Doc. 7)." This declaration of was was due mainly to the assassination of the man in line to be Duke of Austria.
Serbia pulled Russia into the war so Austria was forced to turn to its ally, Germany. An agreement between Germany and Austria said, " one of the two Empires be attacked by Russia the High Contracting Parties are bound to come to the assistance one of the other with the whole war strength of their Empires (Doc. 1)." Therefore Germany had to join the war at some point. They felt Russia did not readily have the troops available, but would get them if given time. They also knew France would ally with Russia and join the war, so the attacked France hoping Austria would take care of Russia. Instead, Austria focused on the Serbs and were defeated at their first battle.
The Germans and Austrians knew they needed another alliance to have a chance in the war, so they turned to Italy to create "The Triple Alliance". The alliance itself said, "In case Italy, without direct provocation on her part, should be attacked by France for any reason whatsoever, the two other Contracting Parties shall be bound to lend help and assistance with all their forces to the Party attacked (Doc. 2)". All of these European powers were being recruited by the Austrians and Serbs, over a war the started because of the Ferdinand's death. What scared Great Britain into the war was Germany's hunger for more power. Erye Crowe wrote, "Germany distinctly aims at playing on the world's political stage a much larger and much more dominant part than she finds allotted to herself under the present distribution of material power (Doc. 4)". At the time, Britain was the biggest economic power in the world, the biggest target for Germany to take from.
Meanwhile, the Serbs were cooking up something important of their own. The Black Hand was an organization that, "prefers terrorist action to intellectual propaganda (Doc. 6)". Serbia and Austria were not the most powerful players in the war, but they were the mastermind's behind the scene. They assembled their allies and created the World War through their own problems with each other. Communications between Berlin and St.Petersburg took place during the war saying, "The unscrupulous agitation which has been going on for years in Serbia, has lead to the revolting crime of which Archduke Franz Ferdinand has become a victim (Doc. 8)". This shows that the all throughout the war people knew what had started the war. There had been agitation between the Serbs and Austrians, but the murder of Ferdinand brought it all to a head and sparked the war. The war could not have been entirely avoided, but would have started later and had less of an effect on everyone involved if this murder never took place. Therefore, the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand was the biggest contributing factor to World War I.
