World War I, also known as the First World War or First Great War, formally began on July 28th 1914. It was triggered when Archduke Franz Ferdinand the heir of the Austro-Hungarian throne and his wife were assassinated in Sarajevo by a group of Bosnian Serb nationalists on June 28th 1914. This assassination resulted in widespread sympathy towards the Austro-Hungarian throne, including other places in Europe and the United States. The assassination resulted in an ultimatum from the Austrians towards the Serbs which would weaken the Kingdom of Serbia, in an attempt to stabilize the region for further Austro-Hungarian domination. The Serbs complied with few areas of the July Ultimatum but rejected major portions of the diplomatic ultimatum's agenda, which would have effectively avoided war at the expense of the Serbian Kingdom. As the July Ultimatum's failure loomed, Serbia mobilized their army and sent ambassadors to their Russian allies seeking military aid for the oncoming war. Austria-Hungary saw the Serbian mobilization of troops as an act of aggression and declared war against the Serbs at the end of July 1914.
A series of clandestine military alliances established in the decades preceding the war resulted in a so to say “domino effect” of war declarations across Europe. Within months the sides were drawn, which pitted the Russian Empire, France, and England against the formidable Austro-Hungarian Empire, Ottoman Empire, and Germany. What began as a solitary act of sectarian aggression against a monarch in the Balkans resulted in the most widespread and diplomatically volatile war the world had experienced yet. Despite the fact that these nations were embroiled in bitter conflict, important members of these nations saw their involvement in the war as superfluous. The following quote exemplifies the German argument for the war, given by the Imperial Chancellor of the Reichstag.
“A mighty fate has descended upon Europe. Because we were struggling for the...