-- Posted by rosiewantspancakes at 8:31 am on Jan. 2, 2009 i'm revising the causes of world war one for my mock gcse exam in a couple of weeks. can someone explain to me why the assassination of Franz Ferdinand was a trigger to the war? It's often been an essay title in practise exams, and i've never really got it! -- Posted by Periwinkle at 8:32 am on Jan. 2, 2009 I might have an essay on that somewhere (or I might not, though I'm pretty sure I wrote one). I'll have a look for it, and if I do have it, I'll send it you. -- Posted by racheelx at 8:33 am on Jan. 2, 2009 im studying world war 1 at the moment in history and R.E but i havnt a clue what that question is sorry. 8( -- Posted by BobbieMcMullan at 8:33 am on Jan. 2, 2009 Because all the countrys were already tensed up for war, the assasination just gave them an excuse to go to war basicly -- Posted by roryboy at 8:34 am on Jan. 2, 2009 In a nutshell, it was because of all the various treaties countries in Europe had for mutual defense. Virtually nobody actually wanted war, many of the countries were being ruled by cousins. The underlying cause, was the international banks trying to force the world into the League of Nations. -- Posted by economist at 8:37 am on Jan. 2, 2009 Austro - hungary blamed the serbs for his murder, they sent an ultimatum to the serbs. the serbs supportted by russia didnt agree fully and started to mobilise for war. Then austro hungary declared war on 28 july. The germans joined supporting austro hungary and russia joined supporting the serbs. -- Posted by Arguia at 3:30 am on Jan. 3, 2009 The events in Europe and the world that had been going on for the last few years/decades had lead to tensions between the countries. Imagine each long term/short term cause as firewood... every international developement added to the growing pile of firewood. Tension can't go on building for ever, and the assassination provided the spark that brought all that tension to war. I have an essay lying around that I wrote a while ago about the causes of WW1. Don't know how good it is, but it may help. Would you like it? Feel free to ask me questions... I don't know how much of this you understand, so if you want I could explain more. Let me know. =) -- Posted by GoloSLB at 4:28 am on Jan. 3, 2009 different countries made packs with other countries against other countries to protect themselves.  Basically all the countries were paranoid.  Then some crazy serb came along and shot the archduke. -- Posted by sadnessness at 7:48 am on Jan. 3, 2009 Quote: from roryboy at 4:34 pm on Jan. 2, 2009 In a nutshell, it was because of all the various treaties countries in Europe had for mutual defense. Virtually nobody actually wanted war, many of the countries were being ruled by cousins. The underlying cause, was the international banks trying to force the world into the League of Nations.   the league of nations didnt exist until after WW1 was over -- Posted by roryboy at 2:14 pm on Jan. 3, 2009 Quote: from sadnessness at 7:48 am on Jan. 3, 2009 Quote: from roryboy at 4:34 pm on Jan. 2, 2009 In a nutshell, it was because of all the various treaties countries in Europe had for mutual defense. Virtually nobody actually wanted war, many of the countries were being ruled by cousins.    The underlying cause, was the international banks trying to force the world into the League of Nations.   the league of nations didnt exist until after WW1 was over  Exactly