WORLD WAR I DEFFINATIONS
Part 1
Europe was keen for a war, and after the assassination of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, the heir of the throne of Austria-Hungary in Sarajevo, Serbia, was the major trigger – or excuse – for the outbreak of the war. The assassinator was Gavrilo Princip, a member of the nationalistic Serbian group “Black Hand”. Ferdinand’s assassination resulted that Austria-Hungary gave Serbia an impossible ultimatum. This also resulted to the “July Crisis”, which was a diplomatic crisis among the major powers of Europe in the summer of 1914.
A month after the assassination, Austria-Hungary declared war. The First World was about to begin.
Before the outbreak of the war, a lot of things happened around in Europe. First the German Empire got united in 1871 by Bismarck, and this large and second most powerful country was desperate to become the most powerful country in Europe. This new country was late in the race for colonies, and they wanted a “Place in the Sun”. The new German ruler, Kaiser Wilhelm II, who was married to Augusta Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein, had a dream about having a massive navel like the British. Britain saw this like a threat, and decided to build Dreadnought, a fast and very dangerous boat. Alfred von Tirpitz was considered as the founder of the German navy.
Other countries like Russia was also interested in the Balkans, which would be strategic important for the Russian Empire. Russia was desperate for an ice free port. Later on in the mid-19th century, the Pan-Slavism movement started and they were aiming for uniting all the Slavic people.
France was also desperate for getting Alsace-Lorraine back from Germany. They were watching out for every single chance to take revenge. Britain, the biggest empire in the world, was still threatened by Germany’s growing strength. In the Treaty of London in 1839, a