Was the Assassination of Arch Duke Franz Ferdinand That Important free essay sample

Two bullets fired in a Sarajevo back-street on the morning of the 28th June in 1914 set in motion a series of events that have shaped the world we live in today: World War One, World War Two, the Cold War and their conclusions all trace their causes to the gunshots that shook that summer day. But why was this so important? Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his pregnant wife were the victims, the heirs to the Austro-Hungarian throne. Tensions had been building up in the years before hand, but were their deaths really that important as an individual event? To begin with, one would have to look at the various factors that led to souring in relations between countries, for example, â€Å"Weltpolitik†. Germany was a new country, and had industrialized pretty quickly. Its nationalism was growing which led its imperialistic attitude. Thus it had ditched â€Å"realpolitik† and cast its eyes on the rest of the world. Germany did not â€Å"want to place anyone in the shadow,† but still have â€Å"a place under the sun. Britain and other leading powers did not want Germany to have an empire, because they were scared it would make Germany even more powerful. Germany accused them of double standards and led to it feeling resentful to the other countries. In order to achieve Weltpolitik, Germany had to develop a formidable navy. Britain had the strongest navy since the Battle of Trafalgar, and needed one in order to maintain its empire and import vital supplies. Thus, it saw Germany’s naval ambitions as a threat. When Britain built the first Dreadnought, it brought the naval race to a new level. The Germans developed the â€Å"Risk Theory†: that Britain would stay in port, rather than risk severely damaging its navy in a battle. On the other hand, Britain developed the â€Å"Two Power Standard†: that Britain should have a navy stronger than the other two leading navies put together. Eventually Britain won the race. This caused tensions between both countries to be extremely high, meaning any infraction could be used as a trigger for war. Distrust was at its highest in a long time, thus any chances of cooperation or negotiation were slim, leading to a worse bond between the two countries. The military plans increased the likelihood of a war taking place because each country had made the assumption there would be a war, for various different reasons, like imperial gains (Austria over the Balkans and France reclaiming Alsace and Lorraine) or diplomatic superiority (Germany, who was surrounded by enemies). Most of the countries were vying to have the best militaries, which had led to arms races (Britain and Germany’s naval race). The nationalist â€Å"vox populis† in certain countries led to faster development of armies and navies, a famous slogan in Lloyd George’s Britain was â€Å"we want eight [dreadnoughts] and we won’t wait! The first Moroccan crisis happened in 1905, when France wanted to make Morocco one of its colonies. Germany hadn’t been consulted, unlike the other countries of Europe; therefore the Kaiser pretended to be upset. He decided to go personally to Tangiers and deliver a message to the Sultan of Morocco, stating th at he would stop France from taking over. The Kaiser actually had no real interest in helping Morocco, although it is possible that he wanted it for himself due to Germany’s imperialistic desires; instead he set up this fiasco in order to test Britain and France’s newly formed â€Å"Entente Cordiale†. France and Britain anxiously negotiated, but eventually decided against war. Instead, they held a conference at Algeciras. The results disappointed the Kaiser; France could not have possession of Morocco, but still had â€Å"special rights† in it. But the Kaiser found out what he wanted to know; that Britain and France would stand together at the conference table, but would not join forces to fight Germany. In the second crisis, a rebellion happened in the town of Fez. The French decided to crush the rebellion by sending 20,000 troops. Germany accused France of invading Morocco and deployed the â€Å"Panther, a warship, to the port of Agadir on the Atlantic coast of Morocco. The British were extremely alarmed. They were paranoid that Agadir might be used as a rival navy base to Britain’s base in Gibraltar, so Britain ordered its navy to prepare for war. At the last moment, when war seemed imminent, the Kaiser ordered his ships to give way and leave Agadir to avoid a confrontation with Britain’s superior navy. The consequences of the Agadir crisis were that it left Britain and Germany even more terrified of each other, which led to a more frantic race to build Dreadnoughts for their next confrontation. In addition, the crises welded the Entente powers, raised a new spirit of national defiance in France and led them to believe that Germany could no longer be trusted, as it had tried dictating the world by force in various occasions like the Tangiers and Bosnian crises. Therefore, from 1912 onwards, the Entente shared all its military details and coordinated strategies in the event of a war with Germany. On the other hand, the diplomatic defeats in both crises had a profound effect on Germany. German nationalism was at a high and from then on, German propaganda would often loudly proclaim that the Central powers were surrounded by the Entente powers, a union of jealous and troublesome powers, who were waiting for an opportunity to crush them. Fifty years before World War one, the political alignments of Europe were very different. It was a time when two new powers had formed: Italy and Germany. Britain had no ties with any European countries, and preferred to be in â€Å"splendid isolation†. The emperors of Eastern Europe were tied by an agreement called â€Å"the Three Emperors League†. France had few allies and was still nursing its wounds from its humiliating defeat in the Franco-Prussian war. But this is how Europe divided into two power blocs and edged closer to war. In 1879, Russia and Germany quarreled. Fearing an attack from Russia, Germany allied itself with Austria, making the Dual Alliance. Soon, Italy joined, making the Triple Alliance in 1882. This worried France and Russia, so they formed the Franco-Russian Alliance in1892. The countries were now temporarily at peace. Britain was now concerned. It had spent much of that time building up its empire, rather than getting involved in European affairs. But Germany had gotten itself involved in the Boer war, earning Britain’s mistrust. Now Britain needed to find an ally. In 1903, Edward VII paid a state visit to France, and the year after signed a treaty, the â€Å"Entente Cordiale†. Britain was no longer isolated. Three years later, due to the naval race and first Moroccan crisis, Britain signed an agreement with Russia. Since Russia and France were already allied, this agreement became the Triple Entente. Although in 1912, Italy had waged war on Turkey, winning easily and making the Ottoman Empire even weaker. This put cracks into the Triple Alliance as Turkey was allied with Germany, who had spent a great deal of money to help it. Italy also fell out with Austria, leading to Italy remaining neutral until 1915, when it joined the Entente. The alliance system didn’t make war less likely, in fact, it increased the likelihood. If one country attacked another, each one’s allies would be drawn in, who would then draw in their allies and so on. The Balkans were a heavily coveted area for several different reasons. For many centuries, the Ottoman Turks ruled over it. However, in the 1800’s their influence diminished as the native Slavs rebelled against Turkish rule. The Ottoman Empire was nicknamed the â€Å"sick man† of Europe, and other countries surrounding the area realized they could easily grab land from weak Turkey and increase their influence. Russia sought seaports on the Mediterranean. This would make trade easier, and in times of war, its ships wouldn’t be bottled up in the Black sea. Russia was also interested in the Balkans because it was a predominantly Slavic area, so it saw itself as the protector of Slavic nations, being one itself. Austria obviously wanted to increase its empire, but it had a much more important reason. Austria-Hungary was a â€Å"patchwork† empire, meaning it had many different nationalities under its rule. One of these was the Slav people, who wanted to break away and form new nations, and were particularly keen on doing so due to other independent Slavic nations, like Serbia who often stirred up trouble. Therefore, Austria wanted to take over Serbia before any rebellion could start and spread through out its empire, leading to its collapse. Germany was interested in the Balkans because it was allied with Austria and wanted to build a railway that would extend from Berlin to Baghdad, and would have to pass through the area. In 1908, the â€Å"Young Turks† staged a rebellion, causing chaos all over Turkey; Austria exploited the turmoil and annexed the provinces of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Serbia was outraged because it had wanted that area due to an ethnic majority of Serbs living there. Serbia also wanted to expand towards the sea, but was unable to do so without those territories. Russia also objected to this because it had promised to support Austria’s claims to those provinces, if Austria supported it in the ending of the 1841 convention that banned men-of-wars from using the Bosporus and Dardanelle’s, effectively trapping the Russian Navy in the Black Sea. Germany, however, got itself involved and backed Austria. Russia did not want to risk a war with both powers, especially since France wouldn’t support it on this matter, thus a conflict was avoided. As a result, Russia was determined not to back out In 1912, the Balkan nations declared war on Turkey, and effectively drove it out of the peninsula, except for the territory of East Thrace. Serbia gained the most territory, which fuelled Serbian nationalism and made the Serbians even more aggressive. This also made the Serbians in Bosnia restless and wanted to become part of Serbia more than ever. Bulgaria had been unfairly treated in the Balkan wars, thus he hated Serbia and was bent on getting revenge. Austria was also afraid of Serbia and was desperate to invade it. Eventually an extremist nationalist group called the â€Å"Black Hand† decided to take matters into their own hands and deal a devastating blow to Austria. On the 28th of June 1914, they assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand. This led to Austria’s ultimatum, which it had designed to be extremely hard to accept as an excuse to finally take over Serbia. In conclusion, the Archduke’s assassination was merely the spark that lit the bonfire; as it would have had no real significance as an isolated occurrence. Out of all possible causes, the Alliance system was the most significant one. This is because its failure to act properly made what should have been a local dispute between Austria and Serbia an international issue. Nationalism and militarism also contributed greatly to the beginning of World War 1 as it provided leaders with support for their campaigns. This could have been avoided had the countries not been so belligerent and hateful to each other; and maybe a peaceful agreement could have been made. Therefore diplomacy rather than military prowess could have been used to end their quarrel.