When it comes to WW 1 most people do not understand how it started. There were a lot of different events and details that lead up to the first world war.
World War 1 (also known as the Great War) occurred between July 1914 and November 11, 1918. There were a specific chain of events that caused the fighting, but the actual reasons behind the war are a lot more complicated. Some people today are still debating if some of these events really lead to World War 1 or not.
There are many reasons as to what started WW 1 but I will only list very big and important ones.
1. Mutual Allies
Countries throughout Europe had made mutual defense agreements over time. Meaning that if a agreement was made between two or three countries, and one is attacked the other allied countries are pulled into battle and bound to defend them. Before WW 1 these alliances were created
- Russia-Serbia
- Germany-Austria Hungary
- France-Russia
- Britain-France-Belgium
- Japan-Britain
Austria Hungary declared war on Serbia, so Russia had to get involved to defend Serbia. After seeing Russia move to defend Serbia, Germany declared war on Russia. France was then drawn in to fight against Germany and Austria Hungary.
Germany then attacked France through Belgium forcing Britain into the war. Then Japan got involved and joined the war. Later on both Italy and the United States would enter the war on the side of the allies.
I know that this might seem confusing, but if you read this carefully and look at the list it might make sense. This is why some people find it hard to know how World War 1 started.
“This is a war to end all wars.”
— Woodrow Wilson, 1917
2. Imperialism
If you do not know what Imperialism is, Imperialism is when a country increases their power and wealth by taking control of additional territories. Before World War 1 Africa and parts of Asia were territories that were in the middle of many conflicts with European countries.
A lot of European countries wanted to claim these territories to boost their power and wealth and grow their Imperialism. What made these territories such big targets was because of the natural raw material these areas provided.
This led to increased competition and desire for greater empires. This led to increased confrontation and this conflict helped push the world into WW 1.
“The trench was a horrible sight. The dead were stretched out on one side, one on top of each other six feet high. I thought at the time I should never get the peculiar disgusting smell of the vapour of warm human blood heated by the sun out of my nostrils.
I would rather have smelt gas a hundred times. I can never describe that faint sickening, horrible smell which several times nearly knocked me up altogether.”
— British Captain Leeham, talking about the first day of the Battle of the Somme (July 1, 1916), in ‘Tommy Goes to War’
3. Militarism
Entering the 20th century an arms race had begun. Germany had the greatest increase in military buildup by 1914. Both Germany and Great Britain had greatly increased their navies during this time period.
In Germany and Russia particularly, their military establishment started to have a great influence on the public policy. This increase in militarism also helped push the countries into the war, or get involved into the war.
“These young fellows we have, only just trained, are too helpless, especially when their officers have been killed. Our light infantry battalion, almost all students from Marburg, have suffered terribly from enemy shell fire. In the next division, equally young souls, the intellectual flower of Germany, went singing into an attack on Langemarck [but it was] just as vain and just as costly.”
— Rudolf Binding, German captain, October 1914
4. Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand
The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand was seen as the last straw before war broke loose. His assassination is what made everything else come into play (Militarism, imperialism, alliances etc…)
In June of 1914 a Serbian- nationalist terrorist group called the Black Hand had sent assassins to kill Archduke.
The first attempt failed. They had thrown a grenade at a car that the Archduke was in. But the driver was able to avoid the grenade and Archduke was able to get away safety.
Unfortunately later that same day Gavrilo Princip, a Serbian nationalist assassinated both Archduke and his wife. He assassinated them while they were in Sarajevo, Bosnia which was part of Austria Hungary. This was done in protest to Austria Hungary having control of this region because Serbia wanted to take over Bosnia and Herzegovina.
This is what led Austria Hungary to declare war on Serbia. This is also what caused Russia to get involved in the war. Remember Serbia and Russia were allies, so Russia got involved to defend Serbia due to their alliance. Once Russia began to mobilize and defend Serbia Germany declared war on Russia.
The assassination triggered the events leading up to all these countries starting war with each other, thus starting Wold War 1.
By the end of World War 1 over 17 million people would be killed, including 100,000 American troops.
“Come on you sons of b*tches, do you want to live forever?”
— Daniel Daly, US Marine, 1918
Again, there are many more reasons as to why World War 1 happened. This is just a few of the most popular reasons as to why the war started.
