WWI - Causes of the War

The First World War began when Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, was assassinated by Bosnian-Serb student Gavrilo Princip on June 28, 1914 in Sarajevo. Princip was a member of a revolutionary group called the Black Hand. At the time, there were suspicions, which now seem unlikely, that the Serbian government provided assistance to this group. Princip, along with other Serbian nationalists, believed that the assassination of Ferdinand would further their goal of founding an independent Serbia.

In retaliation for the assassination, Austria-Hungary issued an ultimatum to the Serbian government. Serbia took issue with a few minor clauses of the extremely harsh ultimatum, and on July 28, 1914, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia. The intricate workings of the European alliance system then came into play as Germany, France, Great Britain, Russia, and others entered the conflict. It was not until April 6, 1917 that the United States entered the war on the side of the Allies.

Another long-term factor leading up to the Great War was the escalation of the naval arms race between Germany and Great Britain. Britain, which held that its navy was the key to the defense of its empire and homeland, felt threatened by Germany’s move to increase production of large classes of warships known as capital ships. The results were elevated tensions, the threat of imminent war, and the strengthening of two powerful nations that were fully equipped for a conflict.

*WWI. Sarajevo in 1924. Sarajevo in 1924, a decade after Archduke Ferdinand was assassinated in the city's streets, beginning the First World War.

*WWI. Berlin-Baghdad Railway, 1917. The proposed Berlin-Baghdad Railway, 1917.

*WWI. USS Delaware. The USS Delaware was a dreadnought class ship. Dreadnought ships were the centerpieces of the 1906-1914 naval arms race.

*WWI. Upper Alsace. Upper Alsace in 1929, when it was once again under French control.

*WWI. Map of Europe, 1914. A map of European political boundaries, as of July, 1914.

*WWI. Kaiser Wilhelm Fountain. The Kaiser Wilhelm Fountain in Istanbul. The fountain was a gift from Kaiser Wilhelm II to the Ottoman Empire in 1898, showing the close link between the German and Ottoman Empires.

WWI. German School in Ottoman Empire. A new school outside of Jerusalem built in 1913 by Germany, a sign of the German-Ottoman connection.

*WWI. War with Austria-Hungary. President Woodrow Wilson's acknowledgement of war with Austria-Hungary. [2 pages]