Archduke Ferdinand

Research papers on Archduke Ferdinand talk mainly about Ferdinand being the reason for World War I. Get a custom written research paper on any aspect of WWI, Archduke Ferdinand or the causes of the war itself.

No doubt, the most significant event of the twentieth century was the 1914 assignation of the Austro-Hungarian Archduke Ferdinand in Sarajevo, Bosnia. In a simple but horrific case of the cause and effect principle, the assignation of Archduke Ferdinand would impact twentieth century human society, technology, and history in a multitude of ways. In short, the assassination would to a great extent, form the world we now live in.

The immediate cause of World War I is believed to be the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand, which promulgated the following:

1. Archduke Ferdinand was the presumed heir to the throne of the Austrian-Hungarian Empire
2. In Sarajevo on June 28, 1914 by the Serbian nationalist Gavrilo Princep assassinated Ferdinand
3. The assassination was used by some nations to try to humiliate other nations and improve their political or territorial standing
4. An immediate sense of nationalism was imparted as the rivalries, hostility, and distrust among the big powers of Europe escalated
5. Beyond the assassination and a rise in nationalism, the main factors in the cause of WWI are militarism, imperialism, nationalism and the system of alliances

In 1914, Europe and much of the world were divided up into empires and alliances. When the Austrian heir to Serbia, the Archduke Ferdinand, came to Serbia with his wife on an official visit, a Serbian independence/terrorist group, known as the Black Hand, was waiting. Among them was nineteen-year old Gavrilo Princip, who along with his two partners, was suffering from tuberculosis. While Princip's partners in the assassination failed, Princip shot and killed not only the Archduke but his pregnant wife as well. As a result, and enraged Austria invaded Serbia, Russia came to defend her ethnic ally Serbia, Germany sided with Austria, and soon more countries, most bound by old treaties of alliance, entered the fray and World War I ensued.

Gavrilo Princip was caught and, because he was a few days under the age of twenty, received a twenty-year prison sentence rather than execution. Undoubtedly, Princip never thought that his two pistol shots would ultimately cause two world wars, a cold war, and act as a catalyst for great technological and social change.

World War One ended with the 1919 Treaty of Versailles, which brought severe war reparations and national blame to the losers - Germany and Austria. The harsh conditions of the treaty and induced national shame eventually made it possible for German nationalism to occur, and, the Austrian Adolph Hitler to rise and bring about the Second World War and the Holocaust.