Georgia Hargreaves C1U HISTORY ESSAY DRAFT INTRODUCTION: World War One was the result of tension caused

by the fear and mistrust among European countries. In some ways, the assassination of Franz Ferdinand Austria-Hungarys heir was the actual event that triggered the War itself. Pre-existing tensions between the two alliances made it possible for this outcome to transpire. The culpability of these tensions can be recognised as the nationalistic attidutes among European Governments. (end here?) There were pre-existing nationalistic and imperialistic attitudes among rival autocratic Governments, which exacerbated the mistrust and fear among European countries prior to 1914. The rise in Nationalism, or the aggressive pride in ones own homeland, meant that people were defensive and therefore bellicose. For example, French politicians hated the Germans and were enraged when their country was insulted. Furthermore, the vast majority of governments in Europe at the time were autocracies ruled by one man. This one man had the power to declare war without consulting the people, thus increasing the fear of war between nations. When nations for example Germany - sought out increasing amounts of power and land, it resulted in fear and mutual mistrust by the opposing country because an increase in power was seen as a threat. An example of this was when Germany challenged Britain to a Naval Race in 1906. From this, one can assume that Germany feared the size of Englands navy and had felt the need to challenge their greater power. As a result of both nationalism and imperialism, various countries of Europe did not trust one-another and feared the declaration of war. Fear and mutual mistrust resulted in two main alliances to be made, to ensure supporting forces for when war became a reality. The first alliance known as the Triple Entente - existed between France, Russia and Great Britain. It initiated after Germany obtained the area of Alsace Lorraine from France after the war in 1870. The establishment of the Triple Entente alarmed Germany, which felt itself surrounded by the France-Russia alliance. In an attempt to seek protection, Germany felt obliged to make an alliance of their own. This is known as the Triple Alliance and existed between Austria-Hungary, Germany and Italy. Because neither side trusted the other, and both sides feared the military forces they would be up against, the tension between European countries increased dramatically. Some may argue that the assassination of Franz Ferdinand in 1914 was the event that caused events leading to World War One. However, this may not have been possible if there were no pre-existing tensions among various European countries as described in the paragraph above. It was the assassination at Sarejevo in 1914 that generated a chain-reaction of incidents therefore resulting in War. The assassins had planned to murder Ferdinand as a statement an act of revenge against Austria-Hungary. Approximately one month after the assassination, Austria-Hungary sent an Ultimatum to Serbia containing several strong demands. Serbia agreed to everything demand but one the permission

Georgia Hargreaves C1U for Austria-Hungary to investigate the Serbian Government. Austria Hungary took this as an excuse to claim war on Serbia. Because of the Triple Alliance, Germany was obliged to become involved in the matter. Out of fear and complete distrust, Russia soon mobilised its army against Germany, and so it begun. The War itself might not have been directly been caused by fear and mistrust, but it was these things that caused the assassination which essentially was what sparked World War One.

CONCLUSION: In some ways, the assassination at Sarejavo in 1914 was the leading cause of world war one, however it would not have had the same affect if there had been no pre-existing tensions among the countries of Europe. What initially caused these tensions was the fear of the threatening power that ones enemy may possess, and the mistrust that this brought upon autocratic governments. Therefore, the main causes of war was both the fear and mistrust that brought upon the assassination thus causing a sequence of events resulting in war. **CHECK**