9 WHY DID WORLD WAR ONE BREAK OUT IN 1914? World War One or ‘ The Great War’ as it became known , started in late summer of 1914 and lasted until November 1918. It was the first long-lasting war that the world had experienced until then, as millions of people got killed. The factors that started the battle were numerous and are still being debated; Alliances, imperialism, the arms race, nationalism , and miscalculations were some of them. However, at the end the war broke out because of a combination of these causes. This question implies that an event that occurred in 1914 triggered and spread the battle to the five major empires.
From the early 1900’s , the two major alliances in Europe were on the one side the Triple Alliance between Austria-Hungary, Germany and Italy , and on the other side, Great Britain , France and Russia forming the Entente Cordial. It must be noted that, the Entente Cordial became anti-German after the two Moroccan crisis (1908 and 1911) , because of Germany’s lack of diplomacy maters. The two crisis, raised the temperature in Europe, and made war more likely. In addition, Germany followed ‘ Weltpolitik’, a form of nationalism , that meant that she would support an expansive policy.
Up to 1914, Germany was building up her army. This led to tensions between other countries over the colonies, such as France, however no one was militarily ready yet for a war before 1914. Nevertheless, Germany showed her intentions with the ‘ Shleiffen’ plan as she had identified her main enemies and started to build up her army. So, in a very short period of time , the empires began strengthening their naval and military forces with great rhythm. This caused friction and suspicion between the empires, and sooner or later, the war would be inevitable.
Nationalism in the Balkans was the trigger that set off the events which led to the outbreak of World War One and the problems were between Austria –Hungary and Serbia. Serbia was a newly independent state outside the Austrian-Hungarian empire. The big problem started in 1908 with the Bosnian crisis. When the Ottoman Empire started to collapse, Austria- Hungary immediately grabbed the opportunity and wanted to annex Bosnia Hertzegovina. However, the Serbs refused, because they had minorities there. Then, the alliance system was involved in the onflict, with Germany giving a blank cheque to Austria –Hungary and Russia coming to support the Serbs. The important blank cheque, made Austria –Hungary confident forcing Russia and Serbia to back down. This of course, humiliated Russia in the face of her other allies : France and Britain, and it meant that she could not afford to back down once again. On the other side, Austria –Hungary moved aggressively in their demands in 1914. Then in 1912-13 the Balkan wars broke out with Serbia becoming a bigger threat to Austria –Hungary , because she had increased population and developed her weapons.
Austria –Hungary was looking for an excuse to solve the problem with Serbia , once and for all, in 1914. The major event that caused the war to erupt in 1914, was the assassination of Franz Fernand of Austria on July 28th . He was killed with his wife Sofia, while traveling in Sarajevo , by a Serbian nationalist. He was the heir to the Austrian-Hungarian thrown and basically this was the chance Austria- Hungary was waiting for to solve the dispute with Serbia. The events that happened afterwards, inevitably spread the war. On the 28th of July , Austria –Hungary had the audacity to declare war on Serbia, being the first empire ever to do so.
Then, Russia was the first to mobilize so quickly in order to support Serbia , which was of course a big miscalculation of the ‘ Shlliefan’ plan. Then Germany warned Russia not to help the Serbs , and when Russia refused to , Germany declared war on her ( 1st of August). As the Shleiffan plan was set in motion, Germany began to mobilize towards Belgium , a neutral state, in order to get to France. The French started to mobilize to protect themselves and Britain declared war on Germany, in attempt to protect Belgium’s neutrality. The empires never believed that Britain would join the war.
Nevertheless, within a month the five great powers were at war. In conclusion, it was more likely that an event within Europe could cause the battle, than a conflict for the colonies. In 1914 , all of the above factors mentioned, were present and in combination led to the outbreak of the war. The trigger, however, of the war was the assassination of Fernand and the series of events that followed spread it. By 1914, there were many indications that a battle would erupt because all the empires were ready and had shown their intentions.
