USA HISTORY

AMERICAN IMPERIALISM(1890 1919)

CAUSES OF WORLD WAR I

[SOURCES]
This person’s assassination sparked World War I.

(A) Emperor Franz Joseph

(B) Czar Nicholas I

(C) Kaiser Wilhelm II

(D) ** Archduke Franz Ferdinand

EXPLANATIONS BELOW

Concept note-1: -Two shots in Sarajevo ignited the fires of war and drew Europe toward World War I. Just hours after narrowly escaping an assassin’s bomb, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the heir to Austro-Hungarian throne and his wife, the Duchess of Hohenberg, are killed by Gavrilo Princip .

Concept note-2: -The assassination set off a rapid chain of events, as Austria-Hungary immediately blamed the Serbian government for the attack. As large and powerful Russia supported Serbia, Austria asked for assurances that Germany would step in on its side against Russia and its allies, including France and possibly Great Britain.

Concept note-3: -The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, and his wife Sophie in Sarajevo (the capital of the Austro-Hungarian province of Bosnia-Herzegovina) on 28 June 1914 eventually led to the outbreak of the First World War.