HST 210 Lecture Notes - Lecture 8: Archduke Franz Ferdinand Of Austria, Passenger Ship, Central Powers
17 Feb 2018
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Central powers: expansionist germany, austro-hungarian empire, ottoman. Allies: england, france, italy, russia, romania, and japan (more later on): triple. Caused by imperial rivalries, greed for freedom, national prestige, and alliance system. Catalyst was assassination of archduke franz ferdinand, heir to the austro-hungarian throne, by a bosnian serb terrorist on june 28, 1914. Austria declares war on serbia, russia mobilizes in defense of serbia, and germany declares war on russia (so a local struggle becomes a world war because of the allia nce syst em) Wilson issues proclamation of neutrality on aug. 4, 1914. : few americans want to lose men to european war. Multiethnic population divided on who to support. Commercial advantages to neutrality in terms of trading to both sides. British erect naval blockades of the german coastline preventing us trade with germany. Germany responds to british blockade by engaging in submarine war against allied ships.
