The causes of the world war were 4; the murder of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, Arms Race, Alliances and the Empire. I think that the most important cause is the Alliances, because if other countries didn’t start coming into Austria-Hungary’s war with Serbia, it wouldn’t have turned into a major war.
The first link is from Box 3: ‘Countries wanted a big empire because they gave countries more power, money and prestige’, to Box 1: ‘Countries in Europe were competing over who had the biggest empire’.These boxes link together because Box 3 states that countries wanted a big empire and Box 1 states that countries were competing over who had the biggest empire because they both obviously wanted the most power, money and prestige. This link relates to the cause of Empire. Carrying on, the link is from Box 1: ‘Countries in Europe were competing over who had the biggest empire’, to Box 5: ‘Germany and Britain began competing over who had the biggest navy.
Both countries wanted to make sure they were the strongest’.These boxes link together because as well as competing over who had the biggest empire, they were also competing over who had the biggest navy. Because both countries ‘wanted to make sure they were the strongest’, they needed a big empire, because then they would be able to have enough money and power for weapons and navy. This link relates to the cause of Arms Race. Box 5 then links to the middle because there are no other boxes to link it to, and the competition between Britain and Germany of who was the strongest was a cause (Arms Race) of the World War One.
The next link is from Box 2: ‘Germany, Italy and Austria-Hungary were in an alliance together. Germany was worried about being attacked by France or Russia’, to Box 4: ‘In response to Germany joining an alliance, France and Russia formed an alliance, which Britain later joined. These countries thought Germany was getting too powerful’. These boxes link together because France and Russia formed an alliance only in response to Germany doing so.Britain joined when it too, thought that Germany was getting too powerful.
So far, there are two alliances; the Tripe Entente (France, Russia and Britain) and the Triple Alliance (Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy). This link relates to the cause Alliances. Carrying on the above link is the link from Box 4: ‘In response to Germany joining an alliance, France and Russia formed an alliance, which Britain later joined.These countries thought Germany was getting too powerful’, to Box 6: ‘The two alliances became more nd more suspicious of each other because of the quarrels over colonies and the arms race and fears about being attacked. They were ready to defend each other if a war began’. These boxes link together because they talk about the two alliances, and how they became more and more suspicious of each other.
Once the two alliances were formed, they just became more suspicious because of the quarrels over the colonies (Empire), and their weapons and navy (Arms Race). This link relates to the cause Alliances.Box 6 then links to the middle because the fact that the alliances were becoming even more suspicious of each other meant that a war was bound to happen. All the countries in both alliances were ready to defend each other if their suspicions of a war happened.
The final link I made is from Box 9: ‘The Archduke Franz Ferdinand is murdered on 28th June 1914 by a member of the Black Hand Gang, who want Serbia to be part of Bosnia, not Austria-Hungary. ’ To Box 7: ‘Austria-Hungary declares war on Serbia on 28th July 1914’.These boxes link together because they show that Austria-Hungary’s reason for declaring war on Serbia was because the Black Hand Gang, from Serbia, killed Austria-Hungary’s heir to the throne- Archduke Franz Ferdinand. They killed him because they wanted Serbia to be part of Bosnia, not Austria-Hungary.
Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia exactly a month after the death of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand, showing that the war was hastily prepared and very quickly organized. This link relates to the cause of the Murder of Archduke Franz Ferdinand.Box 7: ‘Austria-Hungary declares war on Serbia on 28th July 1914’, then links to Box 8: ‘Russia joins the war to defend Serbia. Then Germany joins the war to defend Austria-Hungary. France joins the war to defend Russia and Britain joins to defend Belgium and France.
’ These boxes link because Box 8 shows what happened because of the war Austria-Hungary declared on Serbia. So there was a war between two countries and then all these other countries join to defend the countries in their alliances. Box 8 then links to the middle because the wars between the alliances became the First World War.Overall I still think that Alliances is the main cause, because if all the countries from the alliances hadn’t got involved, then it would be a miniature war with just two countries.
However, both countries at war (Austria-Hungary and Serbia) had joined an alliance therefore the countries defending them joined the war and it soon became a major World War. The cause that I think is next important is the Murder of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, because if the Black Hand Gang hadn’t killed him, then Austria-Hungary wouldn’t have declared war on Serbia and then other countries wouldn’t have got involved.I think this cause is almost as important as the first cause, because if the murder didn’t happen then the alliances wouldn’t have got involved. The next most important cause, in my opinion, is Empire.
This is because empire gave countries power, money and prestige. If countries wanted a good Arms Race then they first needed a good Empire, otherwise they’d have no money for good weapons and navy. Also countries wouldn’t want to form an alliance with a country with no money or ability to help them if a war did break out.
