World War 1

 Until the early 20th century, most of the power of European countries was held by royal dynasties. Big countries like Britain, Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Russia even had colonies.

They wanted to keep their empire strong and saw other countries taking over new territories as a threat. Therefore, each country establishes diplomatic relations and alliances to maintain the stability of the country.

Assassination of Prince Franz Ferdinand (1914)

Prince Franz Ferdinand was the crown prince of the kingdom of Austria-Hungary at the time. Thus, his figure was considered a threat to the Serbian revolutionary group whose territory was part of Austria-Hungary.

On June 28, 1914, the prince and his wife Sophie undertook an inspection of the imperial troops stationed in Bosnia and Herzegovina. He and Sophie were shot dead in their car by a 19-year-old Serbian revolutionary, Gavrilo Princip.

This tragedy caused a crisis of political power in Europe, especially for Austria-Hungary and Russia which became an alliance of Serbia. Various historians agree that this incident was the backdrop for World War 1.

Neither of them wanted to back down and appear weak. Fearing a fight would break out in Russia, Austria-Hungary turned to Germany for help, which promised support if Austria-Hungary used force against Serbia. German support prompted Austria-Hungary to declare war on Serbia on 28 July.

Two days later, the Russians made a military mobilization, and the Germans saw that they too were bound. They did not want to fight Russia and its ally France on two fronts simultaneously, so it became imperative to drop the French military from war before Russia was ready for war. Germany declared war on Russia on August 1, and two days later declared war on France.

German troops gathered on the neutral Belgian border, which they planned to cross to attack France. Belgium then turned to Britain for help, and on August 4, Britain declared war on Germany.

Since then, the first World War was fought with two camps. The triple entente camp consisting of England, France and Russia, as well as the triple alliance formed by Germany, Italy, and Austria-Hungary.

After fighting for five years (1914-1918), the Triple Entente side won the war.