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Great War Causes

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June 28, 1914, the heir to the throne of Austria had been assassinated. Unbeknownst to his killer, this one event would be the cause of monumental battle between nations, later known as “The Great War”. Although the assassination was not that of random circumstance, it was a thought out and planned event. The assassination had been influenced by many outside reasons, those reasons would create an acronym that would be used to explain how this brutal war had begun. The acronym was M.A.I.N which was Militarism, Alliances, Industrialism and Nationalism. These four causes added to the absolute reign of terror that was the “The Great War”. Though at the beginning of the acronym, Militarism wasn’t the most game changing or influential reason that …show more content…
Along with the Triple Entente that was comprised of Great Britain, France, and Russia. There were influences to these alliances that would warp each other's choices. “France was determined to challenge the hegemony of Germany because France had been defeated by Germany in 1871” France wanted revenge against Germany so they decided to become allies with Russia as they were huge competitors in the war along with Great Britain because their technology had been advancing the fastest. Germany was not all appreciated by its neighboring countries Austria and Russia but the leader Bismarck had to make a decision. “Bismarck chose Austria to be his ally because firstly, Germany preferred a weaker partner which could be more easily controlled” Germany was a power hungry country that was not going to be controlled but is the controller. “Secondly, alliance with Austria would throw open the Danube valley to German trade” Bismarck also had other intentions of getting resources not available to them through Austria that would aid them in battle. “Thirdly, Austria had racial ties with Germany” Allying with Russia would have one major issue which would be communication. Germany and Austria had spoken the same language at the time which made communicating with each other easier. Although this would lead to consequences as now Germany faced attacks from the East and the West. These …show more content…
In this case, it was just a matter of being faithful towards one’s own country. This had just be taken too seriously when the Archduke Franz Ferdinand was murdered in a terrorist attack. Before this event, Austria-Hungary had taken over many small countries including Serbia. Franz Ferdinand was the heir to the Austrian Throne, therefore, the instigator of taking over Serbia. Undoubtedly this would make anyone of Serbia furious at him. Although being conquered wasn’t the reason for this anger. “The Serbian Black Hand had to assassinate Archduke Ferdinand because he wanted to convert the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy (the Dual Monarchy) into a Triple Monarchy by the inclusion of Serbia” Ferdinand's killer, Gavrillo Princip believed that if there was a new leader that his country would be included in the Monarchy and would gain power. Unfortunately for Serbia, this resulted in a counterattack against them. “After declaring the Serbian reply unsatisfactory, the Austrian government declared war on July 28. The bombardment of Belgrade began on July 29” This one act of nationalism made Austria start the fury of absolute destruction and terror also known as the Great

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