World War I occurred during a time of alliances and a want of power in Europe. Serbia and Austria-Hungary were the two countries that began what was known as “The Great War”. Many causes resulted in this war, which ended up killing millions of people. Despite alliances being a factor of World War I, the reason for rising tensions was the want of more control and the feeling of superiority, resulting in Serbia killing Archduke Franz Ferdinand, which in turn stirrued up conflict that began World War I.
Austria-Hungarian Archduke Ferdinand and his wife were assassinated, which was the one event which began the whole series of the war. It was present that Serbia wanted to expand their power, and one way they were going to do that was to have the Archduke killed. The want for more power is prevalent in Germany’s Yearning for Expansion and Power by Eyre Crowe (doc. 1). Crowe says, “The world belongs to the strong. A vigorous nation cannot allow its growth to be hampered by blind adherence to the status quo (doc . 1). It is visible that a nation would do whatever it can to avoid being overthrown and avoid the loss of control. Willaim II sent a letter to tsar Nicholas, which read, “The spirit which made the Servians murder their own King and his consort still dominates that country. Doubtless You will agree with me that both of us, You as well as I, and all other sovereigns, have a common interest to insist that all those who are responsible for this horrible murder shall suffer their deserved punishment…” (doc. 8). The killing of the Archduke led Willaim II to want to attack Nicholas II and his nation. Revenge is evident here, along with the need to remain in control. A nation would do what it could to maintain dominant control where it wanted it. In order to do this, and in order to avoid defeat, countries made alliances, which when it came time for war, involved many more countries than what was originally at hand.
The Triple Alliance and the Triple Entente were made to keep ties between countries known. It is said in the Triple Alliance that “If one, or two, of the High Contracting Parties, without direct provocation on their part, should chance to be attacked and to be engaged in a war with two or more Great Powers non-signatory to the present Treaty, the casus foederis will arise simultaneously for all the High Contracting Parties” (doc. 2). When one country in an alliance was attacked, all of the allies would be dragged into the war as well, creating more havoc. The reason that allies were created was to keep countries in control and stabilized, therefore solidifying the fact that tensions rose because countries wanted more power and went to drastic measures to maintain their power. Europe in the Twentieth Century states that “more and more people had acquired a larger stake in defending the state” (doc. 5). More and more people joined the defense, creating more tensions and racism leading to the war because more of different types of people were involved. In a book by Chamberlein, he states, “Physically and mentally the Aryans are pre-eminent among all peoples; for that reason they are by right, as the Stagirite expresses it, the lords of the world” (doc. 3). Chamberlein is being biased in this statement in saying that the Aryans are the best among all people. This remark demonstrates that countries or areas thought that they were better than others, leading them to think that they could overthrow other powers. The feeling of superiority, therefore ultimately the feeling of wanting to have the most, led to tensions before World War I.
In By-Laws of the Organization Union or Death, it says that Serbia will “organize revolutionary action in all territories inhabited by Serbs; Beyond the frontiers of Serbia, fight with all means the enemies of the Serbian national idea” (doc. 6). The Serbians are biased in the fact that they will fight any enemy of their, even if the enemy has done nothing particularly wrong to Serbia itself. The Serbians were a main cause of World War I, in that they wanted more power, and they were setting up their country to be able to hold a revolution because they knew war was coming. Serbia’s feeling of superiority allowed them to think that they were above others and did not have to respond to enemies. War was declared on Serbia exactly for this reason: they did not respond. The Austro-Hungarian Declaration of War of Serbia says, “The Royal Serbian Government not having answered in a satisfactory manner the note of July 23, 1914, presented by the Austro-Hungarian Minister of Belgrade, the Imperial and Royal Government are themselves compelled to see to the safeguarding of their rights and interests, and, with this object, to have recourse to force of arms. Austria-Hungary consequently considers herself henceforward in state of war with Serbia” (doc 7). The feeling of dominance by Austria-Hungary is evident because they declared war merely because Serbia did not answer their note in a way that was satisfactory for Austria-Hungary.
Tensions before World War II led to the first battle and the first declare of war between Serbia and Austria-Hungary. The need to be in control is the reason that tensions rose, causing alliances to be formed in Archduke Ferdinand to be killed. The feeling of ultimate power and the biased of this countries preceding World War I caused one of the biggest wars in history.
