Why did war break out in 1914?

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Why Did War Break out in 1914?

Jack Richards

This war rooted from the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and (less importantly) his wife. This happened on 28th June 1914, as the Archduke bought his wife on her first official trip from their home country Austria, to Bosnia; which, to Serbia upset- as Austria had just gained Bosnia to its empire. The Black Hand gang of Hungary were responsible for this assassination. There were many problems with the assassination. At first, one of the assassins was too shocked too shoot; another forgets the ten second delay on his bomb; when the person who finally shot the duke jumped into a nearby river- it was far too shallow and the poison he had used had passed its date. Yet there were many reasons that helped this group to follow through with this killing, but in the end- it was down to luck and being in the right place at the right time. However, the Archduke insisted on having his same open top car that he always used and only had police roaming the streets. One of these policemen gave the route to these assassins, and so the Black Hand gang knew exactly where this open top car would be going- and as a result; lined themselves along it. But ultimately, it was the fact that the driver took a wrong turning- to where a member of the Black Hand gang (who was not part of this shooting), who had just bought a sandwich standing outside. It was this man, Gavrilo Princip, who shot Franz Ferdinand.  But the reason this European war went global (and turned into a World war), is because of allies, enemies and most importantly empires. Austria is in alliance with Bosnia and Germany who had a large empire at this point; however Serbia was in alliance with Britain, who had a huge empire, France and Belgium.

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An immediate effect of this shooting is Austria’s declaration of war on Serbia. Yet Serbia have the powerful ally, Russia; who prepare to assist in this war on the 29th July (1914). Yet another powerful country, Germany, prepares on the first day of the following month to back up her ally Austria. But an important factor is when France prepares for war, as the ally of Russia, as this resulted in Germany not only declaring war on France, but attacking through Belgium. France and Belgium were, at third time, allies of Britain who declare war on Germany immediately after. And ...

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