Long Term Cause 4 – The Two Alliances:-
Germany signed a treaty of alliance with Austro Hungary in 1879. Then France joined forces with Russia, promising each other that if one of them went to war, they would help the other out. In addition to this, Britain then joined forces with them to fire things up even more. Below is a diagram from the Internet showing the alliances and when they occurred:
So, before the war itself, there were many things causing conflict between the countries. However, the specific thing that was the due cause of the war was the death of Archduke Franz Ferdinand.
Below, after the list, is a diagram showing how all the long term causes were linked. The list includes:
- Nationalism
- Germany
- The New Kaiser
-
The Arms Race
- The Two Alliances
The reasons for them being linked will now be explained. The reasons aren’t obvious and therefore have been pointed out:
- Germany & The New Kaiser- After Wilhelm II gained the throne, Germany revolutionised. He began to take advantage of his power and therefore, Germany changed in many ways.
- The Arms Race & The New Kaiser- Germany (Wilhelm II) wanted everything his way. So, he influenced and led the Arms Race, which also was another reason for war.
- The Two Alliances & The New Kaiser- Since the New Kaiser was so aggressive, this had a great impact on alliances. In fact, as a result of his aggression, France and Russia joined forces – a price which later proved to be costly.
- Germany & The Arms Race- Germany proved to take a great part in the Arms Race. In fact, there were really only two competing countries – England and Germany, in which Germany played a great part.
- Nationalism & The New Kaiser- The New Kaiser believed that he was superior to other countries and he loved his country a great deal. Therefore, it would only be fair to say that along with Gavrilo Princip, Wilhelm II was a nationalist.
Below are the short term causes of the war.
It all started on the 28th June 1907 – the day when Serbia split up and were forced to give up many of their citizens. Originally, Serbia was accommodated with the bodies of 250,000 people. However, on the 28th June, Bosnia had to become part of Austro Hungary – one of the biggest empires of the time. Bosnia didn’t like the fact that they had to separate but eventually, they gave in and did so. Since then, they had been regretting the moment - every last second of it. So, 28th June is a day for remembering the martyrs who died trying to prevent separation.
Gavrilo, assassinator of Franz Ferdinand, was not an ordinary Serbian citizen. He was a person with nothing to lose; for he was dying of Tuberculosis – a rare and infectious disease. Gavrilo was thought to have caught it due to lack of food or “malicious”/“raw” food, as his parents were so poor, they couldn’t feed him adequately. However, they still had to pay tax to the Austro Hungarians – yet another motive for the assassination.
Colonel Dragutin Dimitrijević, a.k.a. Apis, was the leader of The Black Hand (the gang used to reunite Serbia) and most importantly, the plotter who took control of everything. At the time of the assassination, Apis was 56 years old - 7 years younger than Franz Ferdinand. Apis knew Franz Ferdinand was here only for one reason – to make peace with the Bosnia while persuading them not to reunite with the foes of the Austro Hungarians – the Serbians. However, Apis wanted one thing and one thing only – to make sure that Franz Ferdinand couldn’t get anywhere near the Serbians – even if it meant killing him. For 10 years, Apis had tried reunite Serbia and Bosnia but had failed on numerous occasions. This time though, he wanted his treacherous plan to work and end up with a message from the Black Hand members reading: “Mission Accomplished.”
Gavrilo got expelled from his school for breaking the rules and therefore decided to go and join Apis. Anyway, one day in 1914, a newspaper announced the exact arrival and whereabouts of Franz Ferdinand and his tour of Bosnia. Each of the Black Hand members saw this as a great opportunity and decided – there and then – to vow that they would die for getting back Bosnia and fulfilling Apis’ dream. Apis also realized it was the right time to send in pistols and smuggled them in a cart. In fact, Apis even trained everybody, and it was decided that Gavrilo was the best with the gun.
Franz Ferdinand was a strict and mean man, but when it came to romance, he was known to be one of the best. He fell in love with a woman named Sophie. However, many objected to this and saw this in a wrong way. Nevertheless, Franz married Sophie and they were in such a bonded love relationship, they even vowed that they wouldn’t allow their children to be heir to the throne. The day marked his 14th anniversary, and what a better day to take Sophie on a tour to greet all of the Bosnians. In fact, in addition to that, Sophie was pregnant.
28th November 7.30 a.m., just a few hours before the assassination, Franz Ferdinand prepares for his tour of Serbia. He puts on 7 lucky charms (to eradicate evil) and a bullet proof jacket. But the assassination just proved how useless that turned out to be...
Everything was set and ready for the assassination – it was just a matter of time. Cleverly, the newspapers showed Franz Ferdinand’s exact route and therefore, it was easy for the BH members to work out the rest.
Here is what exactly happened at the time:
1st person, Muhamed Mehmedbasic, lets him go by
2nd person, Nedjello Cabrinović, fails to manoeuvre the timer bomb and fails
3rd person, Vaso Cubrilović (School Boy), car passes him
4th person, Cvjetho Popović (School Boy), car passes him
5th person, Gavrilo Princip, does nothing
6th person, Trifun Gabez, does nothing
7th person, Danilo Izić, does nothing
So, basically, the Black Hand had failed once again in their plot to kill Franz Ferdinand. Some people attempted to commit suicide. However, their cyanide was old and therefore, it didn’t have an effect on their bodies.
Four men were still free at this point: Muhamed Mehmedbasic, Gavrilo Princip, Trifun Gabez and Danilo Izić. They realised they had failed in their assassination of the Archduke and therefore, they talked for some time...until, however, Gavrilo Princip decided he wanted a sandwich because he had failed and wanted peace to control his thoughts.
Meanwhile, Franz Ferdinand was attending to the town hall to tell the Mayor what had happened. Since the Mayor wasn’t really interested, he then went to the hospital to see how many people had died. After doing so, he took a route which would ultimately, pass Gavrilo. 28th November 11.30 a.m., Gavrilo had finished his sandwich and was beginning to walk off when he suddenly couldn’t believe his luck. The Archduke was more or less at point blank range to him and they had stalled because the gears had jammed. Gavrilo grabbed his pistol from his pocket and sent a bullet, killing both Franz Ferdinand and his pregnant wife. He needed only one bullet in doing this; for they were stationary at that point.
Immediately after that, Gavrilo was arrested but he didn’t care – the job was done. For all he cared, Apis’ job was done and there was nothing more to do. At first, Serbia was safe because Austro Hungary had nothing against them. Although suspicions were immediately aroused, nothing was found to proof the origin of the plot.
However, just hours later, Danilo Izić was found at a tip-off and later lost his cool when he was asked questions about what happened. In fact, he ended up telling everything; every last detail except for the fact that Apis was behind it. However though, Apis ended up caught and was beheaded for his plot behind it. Furthermore, Austro Hungary had grasped a reason to go to war with the Serbians and the war commenced 6 weeks later. Gavrilo Princip and Vaso Cubrilović died of Tuberculosis and nothing meant more than the fact that the job was done.
My Opinion – “The One That Matters”
Considering the rivalry and conflict between the two sides in the war, I think that the war would have gone one even without the assassination of Gavrilo Princip. I think that the Austro Hungarians would have eventually found a reason to attack Serbia and the war would have gone through exactly the same way with the exception of one – the victims as a result of the war. I think that since the Serbians thoroughly planned the assassination, it was a good enough reason for many people to get involved. However, if a minor reason caused the war, then I think less lives would have been claimed. Nevertheless, a war is a war and therefore, I can sum up this essay with a single sentence:
“The death of one man was known to have claimed the lives of 20,000,000 others...”