The Assassination of Archduke Francis Ferdinand
On the morning of June 28, 1914 Archduke Francis Ferdinand and his Wife Sophie von Chotkovato were assassinated by a Serbian nationalist while travelling through a motorcade in Sarajevo. Franz Ferdinand was killed because Serbians feared that after his ascension to the throne, he would continue and even heighten the persecution of Serbs living within the Austro-Hungarian Empire. A member of the Black Hand organisation, Nedjelko Cabrinovic attempt to kill Ferdinand by throwing a bomb into the car but was unsuccessful when Franz deflected the bomb with his arm. Theb Archduke later resumed his tour of Sarajevo, but when his chauffer took a wrong turn another Black Hand agent, Gavrilo Princip stepped up to the car and fired two pistol shots. Sophie was killed instantly and Franz died minutes later. This lead to Austria-Hungary producing a lengthy list of demands to Serbia, which were to be completed within 48 hours. Serbia could not comply with all the demands and on July 28 1914 Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia World War One had begun. This contributed to the start of the First World War because Serbia enraged Austria-Hungry so much that they declared war.
The First Moroccan Crisis
Morocco on the northern coast of Africa was rich in mineral and agricultural wealth. Both Germany and France coveted the place. By her entente with Britain in 1904, France was given a free hand in Morocco. Kaiser William II, angry at France's influence and at Germany’s exclusion, decided to intervene. In March 1905, the Kaiser landed at Tangier where he made a speech greeting the Sultan of Morocco as an independent sovereign and promising him German protection if France attempted to colonize his state. The German government followed this up by demanding an international conference to clarify the status of Morocco. Germany’s aim of calling a conference was to humiliate France and to split the Entente because from the point of view of international law, Morocco was an independent state and the French claim to Morocco was illegal. France was prepared to fight but at last she agreed to settle her conflict with Germany at a conference. At the conference at Algeciras in 1906, Germany was supported by Austria while France was supported by Britain, Russia and the United States. In name Morocco was preserved as an independent state whose trade was to be open to all nations; but in fact France was given two special privileges: (i) she, in conjunction with Spain, was given control over the Moroccan police and (ii) she was to control the customs and arms supply of Morocco. Thus the Entente powers scored a diplomatic victory over the Dual Alliance of Germany and Austria.
The Second Moroccan Crisis
During 1911 France was not satisfied with partial control of Morocco and decided to steadily increase their control over it. Germany considered this an injustice and in protest of French supremacy, sent a warship to Agadir. Britain again rose to Frances defence and gave Germany stern warnings. Germany heeded these warnings and agreed to allow France a free hand in Morocco in exchange for part of the French Congo. This increased the vicious hatred between Germany, France and Britain which gave all three countries all the more reason to go to war.
The Balkans
In 1912 Turkey found itself engulfed in war with no fewer than four small nations, Greece, Serbia, Bulgaria and Montenegro over the possession of the Balkans territories. During 1913 the intervention of the larger European powers brought an end to the first Balkan War.
Later in 1913, conflict erupted again in the Balkans as Bulgaria, unsatisfied with its earlier spoils, fought Serbia, Greece and Montenegro in an attempt to control a greater part of Macedonia. Between May and July 1913 Bulgaria was beaten back by Serbia, Greece and Montenegro. Bulgaria surrendered on 10th August 1913 and lost Adrianople back to Turkey. This build up of tension contributed to the start of World War One.
The Arms Race
From 1870-1914 the Armies and Navies were greatly expanded. The standing armies of France and Germany doubled in size between 1870 and 1914. Naval expansion was also extremely competitive, particularly between Germany and Britain. By 1880, the British had established the principle that in order to maintain naval superiority in the event of war they would have to have a navy two and a half times as large as the second- largest navy. This motivated the British to launch the Dreadnought, invented by Admiral Sir John Fisher in 1906.International rivalry caused the arms race to feed on itself. This rivalry between the countries made them competitive, suspicious and paranoid and built tension between them with contributed to World War One.