Causes of World War I

Main article: World War I

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On June 28, 1914, Franz Ferdinand, Archduke of Austria and heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, was assassinated in Sarajevo in a conspiracy involving Gavrilo Princip, a Bosnian Serb student. He was part of a group of eight assailers, acting with some support from parts of the Serbian government. Though World War One was triggered by the chain of events this assassination unleashed, the war's origins lie deeper, involving national politics, cultures, economics, and a complex web of alliances and counterbalances that developed between the various European powers over the course of the nineteenth century, following the final 1815 defeat of Napoleon Bonaparte and the ensuing Congress of Vienna.

Related Topics:
June 28 - 1914 - Franz Ferdinand, Archduke of Austria - Austro-Hungarian - Assassinated in Sarajevo - Conspiracy - Gavrilo Princip - Bosnia - Serb - 1815 - Napoleon Bonaparte - Congress of Vienna

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The reasons for the outbreak of World War I is a rather complicated issue, as many factors intertwine. Some examples are:

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• Unresolved previous disputes
• The intricate system of alliances
• Convoluted and un-unified governance
• The delays and misunderstandings in diplomatic communications
• The arms races
• The rigid military planning

The various categories of explanation for World War One correspond to different historians' overall methodologies. Most historians and popular commentators include causes from more than one category of explanation to provide a rounded account of the causal circumstances behind the war. The deepest distinction among these accounts is that between stories which find it to have been the inevitable and predictable outcome of certain factors, and those which describe it as an arbitrary and unfortunate mistake.

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Causes of World War I: Ideological causes ►