USA HISTORY

AMERICAN IMPERIALISM(1890 1919)

THE UNITED STATES IN WORLD WAR I

[SOURCES]
What was the spark that ignited the “powder keg” of war?

(A) ** Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo

(B) Fighting broke out between Serbia and Russia

(C) The Zimmerman telegram was sent to America

(D) Franz Ferdinand assassinated a Belgium spy

EXPLANATIONS BELOW

Concept note-1: -The spark that triggered World War I was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand on June 28, 1914, by Gavrilo Princip, a Bosnian Serb nationalist. Princip was part of an organization called Young Bosnia, which wanted independence for the Slavic peoples who lived in the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Concept note-2: -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.

Concept note-3: -The assassination of the archduke was the spark that set off the powder keg.

Concept note-4: -The Sarajevo incident refers to the events surrounding the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, and his wife Archduchess Sophie during a state visit to Sarajevo on 28 June 1914. It is traditionally regarded as the immediate catalyst for the First World War.

Concept note-5: -The event that sparked the conflagration was the assassination of the heir to the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, in 1914. But historians say that World War I actually was the culmination of a long series of events, stretching back to the late 1800s.