Quote:
Originally posted by Morgeruat:
The Great War (aka WW1) was fought over the assassination of Franz Ferdinand, Archduke of Austria and every country in Europe having an agreement to assist their allies (sort of like NATO) in the event of an attack, a little research and some reading at Wikipedia will help you alot.
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Not really. Think about it. The Schlieffen Plan was not concieved overnight. A main battle plan for assaulting France was circulated as early as 1905. (All those who believe the Sclieffen Plan was made in WWII raise your hands). The assasination might have started the ordeal, but look beyond that and answer the following questions. Why was the crown prince assasinated? Because A-H Empire was expanding into the young Balkan nations. You have to realise that Serbia was not free of Ottoman rule until the end of the 19th century. It was a very young nation fairly rich in resources. Why was Germany so eager to join up? Because Germany needed to eliminate England to gain global power. France was seen as a temporary enemy that needed to be overrun so attention could be turned towards England. It is said that England always borrows a German word when at war and then forget the original meaning. In WWII the word was flak (FLugzeug Abwehr Kanone). In WWI it was strafe. The German meaning is "punish". Every school in Germany would start out by the headmaster yelling "Gott strafe England" (God punish England) and the pupils would yell back "Er strafe ihn" (He will punish them). It was a common German warcry on the front. This kind of hate was simply bred into the Germans. England was preventing the German nation from expanding.
Now these are some of the reasons for WWI. The assasination may have been the catalyst, but I do not consider it the real reason.
EDIT: Minor correction. Serbian independence 1873, not 1903 as I thought.
[ 05-28-2005, 09:25 AM: Message edited by: mad=dog ]