Short And Long Term Causes Of World War I

World War I is one of the most remembered wars in the history. There are many short and long-term causes that lead up to the war. Most important causes that contributed are the Bosnian Crisis, Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, and the secret alliances. First critical cause that contributed to the war is the Bosnian Crisis in 1908. There was tension between A-H and Russia as the Balkans was important to both of them. Austria annexed Bosnia and Herzegovina and an agitated Serbia looked to Russia for support. While Germany backed Austria, Russia had to stop supporting Serbia. This meant that Russia accepted Austria’s annexation of Bosnia. As a result Russia felt humiliated, Serbia was belligerent towards A-H and Russia and Austria was encouraged by Germany.
The assassination, which was an international crisis itself, was caused because of other reasons. Started when Bosnia was annexed by Austria in 1908 because many Serbs live in Bosnia and wanted join the new independent Serbia. Austria despite having tension in their own nation gave Serbia a series of demands they must meet. Serbia refused the ridiculous demands, which set the initial stage for war. During this time some angered Serbs formed the Black Hand Secret Society and it wasn’t part of the Serbian Government. They killed Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the heir to Austria’s throne on June 28, 1914. After this event, Austria allied with Germany, Serbia relied on Russia, and Russia relied on France. When the allies are asked to mobilize Russia refused to. Then Germany declared war on Russia, France on Germany and Britain fearing isolation declared on Germany despite being in the Triple Entente with