Why did the assassination of Franz Ferdinand lead to WW1?

Question: Why did the assassination of Franz Ferdinand lead to WW1!?

or why did they assassinate him!?Www@QuestionHome@Com

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker:

I think some other posters (NC) gave you good answers, but assassination of Ferdinand was not a reason to start the war if Austria-Hungary (AH) did not desired it for a while!. AH did not like the rise of Serbian Kingdom, and felt that Wien should harvest the victory over Turks not Belgrade!. Decade prior war, the Serbs was demonized in various articles published in the monarchy!. This provoked outrage among many Slavic intellectuals especially Czech and brought revival of interest in Balkans Slavs among the Slavic people around AH monarchy!. AH was afraid the rise of independent small state would eventually help secession movement within its monarchy among subjected nations!. The Serbs were seen as threat to the stability of monarchy, while the same time, they filled vacuum after collapse of Ottoman positions at the Balkans; and especially after the round of Balkan wars in 1912-1913!.

The assassination was pretext for aggression, without it; AH monarchy would find different reason to attack Serbia!. The declaration of war was accepted with rejoice among Germans (ie!. German speaking citizens of AH) within the monarchy and accepted bitterly among Slavs!. It was seen by Germans that finally AH will deal with that sore spot and shows subjected non -privileged nation (especially to Czechs) that they will be next!. There are numerous articles, newspapers, even short movies, where Germans were parading in the streets of the monarchy and shouting (on Belgrade!)!. Czechs took parody of it and make fun of it (na Belehrad!)!. also majority of the AH Slavs were sent to fight Italians during WWI including my grandfather, but the Hungarians and Germans took the biggest burden of the fight down the Balkan front!.

Any case, the war would happen regardless of events in Sarajevo!. AH probably DID NOT expected Russia helping Serbs!. Russia was seen as weak state after its defeat in 1905!. People do not realize that the war in Balkans was happening for several years prior 1914 and the only power standing there was AH that was eventually dragged into it!. I am not sure if Serbs were aware of the war with AH, but they seen Balkan Slavs being liberated from Turks and did not have doubt, that the rest of the Balkans could follow!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

Franz Ferdinand assassinated and countries were dragged into the war by the peace treaties they had before the assassination!. Basically, Austraia-Hungary got angry at Serbia, Russia supported Serbia, Germany supported Austria-HUngary, France Britain entered etcetc

Well you could use this
http://en!.wikipedia!.org/wiki/Assassinati!.!.!.
pretty much explains everything you are asking!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

It didn't!. What really led to WWI was the gold standard!. I've written about this repeatedly!. See this for example:

http://www!.myvirtualdisplay!.com/2007/07/!.!.!.

Assassination of Franz Ferdinand was just a pretext!. If it didn't happen, another pretext would be found in a short order!.!.!. Recall that ultimately, WWI was not about Austria or Serbia; it was about Germany and its ability to feed 40 million people while having population of 63 million!. This was the real problem German government faced, and being comprised of military aristocracy, it knew only one way of solving it, through war!. German exports had to be forced on France and Britain (and gold thus obtained used to buy food in Argentina and Australia), while German agriculture had to be expanded into the Ukraine to lessen the need for food imports!. The alternatives (such as industrialization of agriculture) were far less attractive, because they would lead to the rising prominence of German commercial class and the eventual loss of political power by the military aristocracy (German aristocrats needed only to look at Britain and France to see what history has in store for them)!.

As to why Franz Ferdinand was assassinated, that's a convoluted story!.!.!.

!.!.!.According to the provisions of the 1878 Treaty of Berlin, Austria-Hungary occupied and administed the former Ottoman provinces of Bosnia and Herzegovina!. Serbia, meanwhile, was recognized as a sovereign state!. The problem was that this arrangement left plenty of Serbs outside Serbia!. For a while, nobody did anything about it, but in 1903, King Alexander and Queen Draga of Serbia were killed during a palace coup!. The Obrenovi? dynasty to which King Alexander belonged ended; the conspirators installed Peter Kara?or?evi? (who lived in exile at the time) as the new king crowned Peter I (a side note: the blood feud between the Kara?or?evi? and Obrenovi? families goes back to 1817, when ?or?e Petrovi?, aka Kara?or?e, the founder of the Kara?or?evi? dynasty, was killed by Milo? Obrenovi?)!.

Peter reversed pretty much every policy that Alexander had in place!. His ultimate goal was to expand Serbia to its 14th century borders!. In that, he got a lot of moral support from faraway Russia, whose government would gladly underwrite anything that could spite the Austrians as long as it wasn't too expensive!. France, where Peter lived most of his life (and even served in the French army during the Franco-Prussian war of 1871) also supported him, but less openly!.

As a result of two Balkan wars (1912-1913), Serbia reclaimed Macedonia and Kosovo from the Ottoman Empire and Bulgaria!. Bosnia and Herzegovina were next in line!. Population there was not particularly happy with the Austrian rule, which led to a series of peasant riots, the last one happening in 1910!. But Franz Ferdinand, the heir to the Austrian throne, came up with a plan than could eventually make union with Serbia unattractive to Bosnia and Herzegovina!. He thought that all Slavic lands under Austrian rule could be reorganized into the third kingdom within the empire (Austria and Hungary being the first two)!. Had that come to pass, Bosnian Serbs and Muslims would no longer be second-class citizens, which could render Serbian unification rhetoric significantly less attractive!. As a result, Serbian unionists perceived him as a threat to their agenda; eventually, colonel Dragutin Dimitrijevi? (aka Apis), head of Serbian military intelligence, tentatively tagged him for elimination!. A small group of (mostly Bosnian) operatives was formed to assassinate Franz Ferdinand or, failing that, general Oskar Potiorek, the Austrian governor of Bosnia and Herzegovina!.!.!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

It was based on a stupid idea that Serbia mattered and was important while all the time it was just a basket case of insurrection and instability being exploited for the greater interests of the major powers!.

Nearly 100 years later and nothing has changed!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

Why did they assassinate him- to liberate certain areas of Austria-Hungary
Why did the assassination lead to WWI- because Austria-Hungary thought Serbia was behind the assassination, when it was a terrorist organization behind it!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

IT DIDN'T,THAT IS A BIT OF A FURPHY,GERMANY AND THEIR ALLIES HAD BEEN ITCHING FOR A WAR IN EUROPE SINCE 1905,AS IN THE SECONG WORLD WAR THEY WANTED TO DOMINATE EUROPE,AND THIS WAS ONE OF MANY EXCUSES!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

just look it up in ggole, easier and more accuratae than this!.!.Www@QuestionHome@Com