Free Sample Essays > World History
Was the assassination at Sarajevo what was the most important cause of the First World War?
Was the assassination at Sarajevo the most important cause of the First World War?
I believe that the assassination Sarajevo wasn’t the most important cause of the First World War because it was only a short term cause. There were other causes that we have to take into account; these are the Bosnian crisis, the Moroccan crises, the building up of armies and navies, and the alliance system; all these causes can be seen as to be long term causes. It is necessary to examine the above in further detail to establish their relevance to the question.
The alliance system- The first alliance was set up in 1879 by Germany and Austria which was named the dual alliance. In 1882 Italy joined to make it the Triple Alliance. In 1904 France and Britain made the alliance ‘Entente Cordiale.’ In 1907 France, Britain and Russia all combined to make the Triple Entante. The alliances were made for protection against other countries. Germany felt surrounded by ‘the ring of steel’ which was the triple Entante.
Bosnian Crisis- In 1908 Austria annexed Bosnia and became part of Austria-Hungary’s empire. Serbia opposed to this happening and looked to Russia for help. Russia was keen to help, but Austria didn’t want to fight them on their own, so asked Germany for help. However Russia weren’t strong enough to fight both Germany and Austria-Hungary on their own, so they were forced to back off. This crisis had three important results, they were, Austria now felt confident that they could rely on Germany’s support, Russia had to back down in 1908 but by 1914 their armies were built up and stronger and Serbia had to accept that Bosnia was a part of Austria-Hungary but they looked for a chance to get their own back.
In Europe each country had quite a large army. It was argued that it was the only way to keep peace. All major powers had large armies except Britain: we didn’t have conscription either. Germany had the best army in Europe, which was very well equipped and trained. Russia had the poorest army.
Britain had the largest navy because of the size off her empire, she was also very powerful. Germany began to build up her navy in 1896 and Britain saw this as a challenge. In 1906 both sides started to build dreadnaughts. The race was on to build more warships than the other country. Y 1914 Britain had far more warships that Germany and this eventually built up into a war.
I believe that the assassination at Sarajevo was not the most important cause of the First World War. After analysing all the evidence it could be said that the alliance system caused the war because if one country got into some trouble they thought that they could always rely on another country in their alliance to be [next page]