Why Did World War One Cause The Great War?

World War 1(WW1), also known as the Great War, was one of if not the most horrifying of wars in history. Spanning for 4 years from 1914 to 1918 millions of soldiers were killed. A still debated question however is the cause of the Great War; two major worldly forces grinding against each other or a single bullet fired by a rebellious Bosnian Serb?

The 28th of June 1914, the Archduke Franz Ferdinand was going to make a speech in Sarajevo, a Bosnian city under Austria-Hungary’s rule, where the Black Hand (a group of nationalist Bosnian Serbs who wanted independence from the Austrian-Hungarian empire) were preparing to assassinate him. He survived the first assassination attempt, but was killed later that day when his driver took a wrong turn
Post Industrial Revolution people were suddenly able to expand their empire and increase their wealth. This led to countries in Europe growing their empire and creating colonies. Each shared a desire and a fear. The desire to create an empire to gain wealth and respect but the fear that if others made bigger empires that they would become insignificant. The German leader Kaiser Wilhelm was determined that Germany has its “place in the sun”. This desire to be an Imperialistic super power threatened other empires like Britain beginning a build up of tension between both. Germany was not jealous of Britain but they were intimidated by them. This combined with the Kaisers ambition of being a superpower, Germany began building a Navy to match Britain’s. As a result, Britain began to spend money on their own navy, which started the Arms race. Being threatened by Germany’s triple alliance Britain formed the triple entente with France and Russia. Germany was now caught between Russia and France potentially creating a two front war. To counter this Germany had their Schlieffen plan in the event that war would break out. With tension at a maximum everyone was gearing for