why did world war 1 break out in 1914 essay

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US Entry Into World War I

By: History.com Editors

Updated: August 30, 2022 | Original: April 6, 2017

When World War I broke out across Europe in 1914, President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed the United States would remain neutral, and many Americans supported this policy of nonintervention. However, public opinion about neutrality started to change after the sinking of the British ocean liner Lusitania by a German U-boat in 1915; almost 2,000 people perished, including 128 Americans. Along with news of the Zimmermann telegram threatening an alliance between Germany and Mexico against America, Wilson asked Congress for a declaration of war against Germany. The United States officially entered the conflict on April 6, 1917.

World War I Begins

On June 28, 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand , heir to the throne of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and his wife Sophie were assassinated by a Bosnian Serb nationalist in Sarajevo, the capital of the Austro-Hungarian province of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

One month later, on July 28, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia . Within a week, Russia, France, Belgium, Great Britain and Serbia had sided against Austria-Hungary and Germany, and the Great War, as it was originally called, was underway.

Central Powers

Germany and Austria-Hungary later teamed with the Ottoman Empire and Bulgaria and were referred to collectively as the Central Powers. Russia, France and Great Britain, the major Allied Powers, eventually were joined by Italy, Japan and Portugal, among other nations.

On August 4, as World War I erupted across Europe, President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed America’s neutrality, stating the nation “must be neutral in fact as well as in name during these days that are to try men’s souls.”

With no vital interests at stake, many Americans supported this position. Additionally, America was home to a number of immigrants from countries at war with each other and Wilson wanted to avoid this becoming a divisive issue.

American companies, however, continue to ship food, raw materials and munitions to both the Allies and Central Powers, although trade between the Central Powers and the United States was severely curtailed by Britain’s naval blockade of Germany. U.S. banks also provided the warring nations with loans, the bulk of which went to the Allies.

Lusitania Sinks

On May 7, 1915, a German submarine sank the British ocean liner Lusitania , resulting in the deaths of nearly 1,200 people, including 128 Americans. The incident strained diplomatic relations between Washington and Berlin and helped turn public opinion against Germany.

President Wilson demanded that the Germans stop unannounced submarine warfare; however, he didn’t believe the United States should take military action against Germany.

Some Americans disagreed with this nonintervention policy, including former president Theodore Roosevelt , who criticized Wilson and advocated going to war. Roosevelt promoted the Preparedness Movement, whose aim was to persuade the nation it must get ready for war.

'America First'

In 1916, as American troops were deployed to Mexico to hunt down Mexican rebel leader Pancho Villa following his raid on Columbus, New Mexico , concerns about the readiness of the U.S. military grew. In response, Wilson signed the National Defense Act in June of that year, expanding the Army and the National Guard, and in August, the president signed legislation designed to significantly strengthen the Navy.

After campaigning on the slogans “He Kept Us Out of War” and “America First,” Wilson was elected to a second term in the White House in November 1916.

Meanwhile, some Americans joined the fighting in Europe their own. Starting in the early months of the war, a group of U.S. citizens enlisted in the French Foreign Legion. (Among them was the poet Alan Seeger, whose poem “I Have a Rendezvous with Death” later was a favorite of President John F. Kennedy . Seeger was killed in the war in 1916.) Other Americans volunteered with the Lafayette Escadrille, a unit of the French Air Service, or drove ambulances for the American Field Service.

Submarine Warfare Resumes

In March 1916, a German U-boat torpedoed a French passenger ship, Sussex , killing dozens of people, including several Americans. Afterward, the United States threatened to cut diplomatic ties with Germany.

In response, the Germans issued the Sussex pledge, promising to stop attacking merchant and passenger ships without warning. However, on January 31, 1917, the Germans reversed course, announcing they would resume unrestricted submarine warfare, reasoning it would help them win the war before America, which was relatively unprepared for battle, could join the fighting on behalf of the Allies.

In response, America severed diplomatic ties with Germany on February 3. During February and March, German U-boats sank a series of U.S. merchant ships, resulting in multiple casualties.

Zimmermann Telegram

Meanwhile, in January 1917, the British intercepted and deciphered an encrypted message from German Foreign Minister Arthur Zimmermann to the German minister in Mexico, Heinrich von Eckhart.

The so-called Zimmermann telegram proposed an alliance between Germany and Mexico—America’s southern neighbor—if America joined the war on the side of the Allies.

As part of the arrangement, the Germans would support the Mexicans in regaining the territory they’d lost in the Mexican-American War— Texas , New Mexico and Arizona . Additionally, Germany wanted Mexico to help convince Japan to come over to its side in the conflict.

The British gave President Wilson the Zimmermann telegram on February 24, and on March 1 the American press reported on its existence. The American public was outraged by the news of the Zimmermann telegram and it, along with Germany’s resumption of submarine attacks, helped lead to the United States joining the war.

America Declares War on Germany

On April 2, 1917, Wilson went before a special joint session of Congress and asked for a declaration of war against Germany, stating: “The world must be made safe for democracy.”

On April 4, the Senate voted 82 to 6 to declare war. Two days later, on April 6, the House of Representatives voted 373 to 50 in favor of adopting a war resolution against Germany.

Among the dissenters was Rep. Jeannette Rankin of Montana , the first woman in Congress. It was only the fourth time Congress had declared war; the others were the War of 1812 , the Mexican-American War and the Spanish-American War of 1898.

In early 1917, the U.S. Army had just 133,000 members. That May, Congress passed the Selective Service Act , which reinstated the draft for the first time since the Civil War and led to some 2.8 million men being inducted into the U.S. military by the end of the Great War. Around 2 million more Americans voluntarily served in the armed forces during the conflict.

The first U.S. infantry troops arrived on the European continent in June 1917; in October, the first American soldiers entered combat in France. That December, America declared war against Austria-Hungary (America never was formally at war with the Ottoman Empire or Bulgaria).

When the war concluded in November 1918, with a victory for the Allies, more than 2 million U.S. troops had served at the Western Front in Europe, and more than 50,000 of them died.

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U.S. Entry into World War I, 1917. U.S. Department of State, Office of the Historian . Why did the US enter World War I? The University of Rochester Newscenter . U.S. Participation in the Great War (World War I). Library of Congress .

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World War One Essay

Germany was responsible for World War One. To what extent do you agree with this statement? 

Essay by Laura Iafur, 3rd Form

Taking place on 28th July 1914 until 11th November 1918, World War One was one of the deadliest conflicts in history, ending the lives of millions of people. Although no one country deserves more blame than the other countries, many would argue that the country of Serbia, after all, it was a group of Serbian terrorists who killed the hero of the Austrian-Hungarian empire, Franz Ferdinand. This is considered by many, what triggered this war. Others suggest Austria-Hungarian is to blame the most, they wanted war with Serbia even before Franz Ferdinand’s assassination, it seems like the assassination was the opportunity they were waiting for. Some could even say that it was Russia, who was the first to mobilize its troops, creating even more tension in an already unstable Europe. These countries are all guilty for such a violent war, but Germany, being the one that has the blank cheque to Austria-Hungary, is the most responsible of all; without backing up Austria-Hungary, it is improbable that Austria-Hungary would have acted so recklessly.

On 5th July 1914, Germany gave the “blank cheque” of unconditional support to the Austrian-Hungarian Empire, fully aware of the consequences it was probably going to bring. At that moment, Germany had the strongest army, with 2,200,000 soldiers and warships, this guaranteed Austria-Hungary that no matter how drastically they acted, they would receive massive support from Germany. If Germany had not given this back up to Austria-Hungary, they most likely would have done something other than declaring war. Germany knew that Russia would most likely help Serbia, which meant that a local war would escalate into a Global war, but they did it anyway.

Germany also dragged Britain into the war when using the Schlieffen plan. On 2nd August, Germany asked for permission for their army to pass through Belgium, to get to France, but they were refused. Sir Edward Grey proposed to Germany that Britain would stay if Germany did not attack France, but the German generals denied this. On 3rd August, Germany violated international treaties by invading Belgium, a neutral country; knowing that Britain was obligated to help Belgium if an invasion occurred. Therefore, Britain declared war on Germany on 4th August 1914.

The enormous increase in tension between these countries was one of the main reasons for this war to start, there are various factors that led to more tension, many in which Germany was involved. One of these factors was the German and British naval race which did not make Britain happy. (“Britannia rules the waves”), and at the end of 1914, Britain was this race.

The Moroccan crisis, 1906, was another factor. The French wanted to conquer Morocco and Britain agreed to help, but in 1905 Kaiser Wilhelm visited Morocco and promised to protect it against anyone who threatened it. The French and British were furious. Germany had to promise to stay out of Morocco, which didn’t make them happy at all. In 1911, there was a revolution in Morocco, the French sent in an army to control it. Kaiser Wilhelm sent a gunboat to the Moroccan part of Agadir; this angered the French and British. Germany was forced to back down, which made them very angry, it increased their resentment. Kaiser Wilhelm was determined to win the next crisis.  All this evidence shows that Germany, at that point was ashamed. They had lost various crisis issues and since they could not allow themselves another defeat. Germany had decided they needed to prove their power, this being the reason they acted in such a careless manner.

Austria-Hungary also deserves part of the blame; they were the ones who declared war first on Serbia on 28th July, 1914. Before 1914, assassinations of royal figures did not usually result in war. However, Austria-Hungary saw the Sarajevo assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife as an opportunity to conquer and destroy Serbia. The Austrian Chief of Staff General Hotzendoz wanted to attack Serbia long before the assassination.

Austria-Hungary sent an ultimatum to Serbia (23rd  July) with ten very exigent requests that needed to be accepted to avoid military conflict. Serbia accepted all requests apart from one, which was to allow Austria-Hungary to enter Serbia and oversee investigation and prosecution on the assassination of Franz Ferdinand. Nonetheless, this was not enough for Austria-Hungary, so they declared war, and with Germany’s support, it would’ve provided an easy win.

On the other hand, if Austria-Hungary did not make a move against Serbia, the different nationalities living in the Austria-Hungarian territory could act against their leaders giving the impression to other countries that there won’t have been any consequences. Austria-Hungary could have acted in a different manner on the Serbia war, but it was due to Germany who empowered them to act this way.

The assassination of Franz Ferdinand was conducted by a Serbian terrorist named Gavrilo Princip in Sarajevo, Bosnia, 28th June 1914. This was the spark that caused the war. Gavrilo was a nationalist who wanted Bosnia to be its own country, and when Ferdinand announced his trip to SaraJevo, it was the perfect opportunity to strike against Austria-Hungary. Gavrilo was a member of a terrorist group named, Black Hand. Austria-Hungary suspected the involvement of Serbia in the Bosnian attack, thus representing the final act in a long-standing rivalry between Austria-Hungary and Serbia. Russia did not want a war, the Russian Grand Council decided if Serbia was to be invaded, it would have to request a conference to asses the issue. However, Russia had previous issues with Serbia regarding the Bosnian crisis in 1908.

To conclude, World War One was a chain reaction triggered by the assassination Franz Ferdinand; however, Serbia wasn’t mostly responsible but Germany, who pushed Austria-Hungary in making those decisions leading to the global conflict. The alliance system was created to prevent war, but it did the total opposite, where all the countries were forced to join the war.

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Grade 8 - Term 4: World War I (1914 - 1918)

This major event came to be known as the Great War which was the first war to be fought along modern industrial lines and it lasted from 1914 to 1918. It was also the first time that chemical weapons were introduced which resulted in one of the first genocides of the century. The focus of this lesson is on the Causes of World War I and aspects of people’s experience at home and at war by exploring the reasons why the war broke out, aspects and experiences of the War, the role of women during the War, and the defeat of Germany.

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Why did the First World War break out in August 1914?

On the 14 th  July 1914, a war broke out in the Balkans and within days spread throughout the rest of Europe. This war was expected to have come to an end by Christmas nevertheless dragged on for another four more years. At the time it was known as the ‘Great War however today we know it as World War I. But which country was to blame in starting the war? This is a very controversial topic as no one country was to blame; the majority of countries were involved in one way or another. In this essay I will outline the main causes which sparked the commencement of World War I and also analyse the effect and consequences which they had.

The first cause of the war was the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand. Ferdinand was heir to the throne of Austro-Hungary. He was assassinated by a Serb fanatic in Sarajevo. This resulted in Austria accusing Serbia of complicity in the murder, gaining the support of the Germans. Austria responded by refusing the accusation and a compromise with the Serbs, war was pronounced on the 28 th  July. The government of Serbia requested the help of Russia. The assassination had long term effects which would then increase dramatically as a result of countries like Germany and especially Russia getting involved as this was a huge country with an enormous army. This happened on 31 st  July 1914 when the Russians assembled their forces upon the Germans. The consequence of this was that this led to Germany declaring war on Russia on 1 st  August 1914. Other countries now became involved. On the same day, the British foreign secretary proposed to the Germans that Britain would stay neutral if no attacks were made on France.

Propaganda Poster

This is a preview of the whole essay

I think that this was a significant cause of the war as it was the first one. This meant that it would be the spark which led up to all the other causes taking place as now numerous different countries had become involved. Good evidence of this is the fact that when Germany declared war on France, the Germans knew that the French would side with the Russians. As a result of this, they declared war on the French on the 3 rd  August. This was also when the Germans implemented their ‘Schlieffen Plan’. I also think that because of this spark it gave the Austria-Hungarians a legitimate reason to start a war, souring relations between the countries concerned.

The next factor I will be discussing is the Scramble for Africa. The Scramble for Africa involved rival European countries racing in order to gain possession, overseas, of the African territory in the late 19 th  century. The competition that took place between the Europeans often resulted in violent conflict. By 1914, the French had acquired new land in Morocco and the Italians had occupied Tripoli. The only country that remained completely free of occupation was Ethiopia, having defeated an Italian force at the battle of Adowa in 1896. Attaining land in Africa gave many benefits to the different countries. The result of this being the countries were able to utilise the continent’s resources which benefited industry and commerce in their own countries. It also involved negative consequences as during the process, relations with other countries would become strained and this would then lead to disputes. I think that this had a small effect at the start however would have a massive effect on militarism as countries would now have more power and would then want to use this to express their feeling of pride they held for their countries. By doing this relations between countries would become unpleasant and war would become inevitable.

Militarism played a significant role in the cause of the war. Militarisation was the process of building up a strong army. This was done as countries began to take great pride in their armies. A strong army became a necessity in the Great War as rivalry increased, especially between Britain and Germany. Admiral von Tirpitz, who was a member of the German government in charge of the navy, wrote in his memoirs: ‘ Building a battle fleet was necessary if we wanted to become a sea power. Sea power was needed to protect trade, as other states had realised long before we did. Our surrounded and threatened position convinced me that no time was to be lost in turning ourselves into a sea power’. From this quotation we can gather how competitive the countries were between each other. ‘No time was to be lost in turning ourselves into a sea power’. This shows the level of competition as Von Tirpitz is suggesting that if they lose time they could endanger their army as ‘other states had realised long before they did’. I think that it may have involved competition between Britain and Germany as at the time these two countries had the best navies. Furthermore, they were both competing to build the best battleships. The effect of this were that which some historians have said, that if a country invests so much in such a huge army, they are bound to use it, this would be even more tempting if countries fell out . One major consequence of militarism was that production had increased dramatically and was now taking place on an industrial scale. In addition to this, countries had formed allies known as the Alliance System. The Alliance System was a series of agreements between countries. Countries had split up into two alliances. The ‘Triple Entente’ and the ‘Triple Alliance’. This now meant that if say for example Germany and France started a war, this would then mean that both countries’ allies would be dragged into a war. However this was also beneficial in a way as people were now put off into starting a war. I think that this supports the view that there was no one country to blame as if one country’s allies became involved in war they were expected to support them.

The Balkans was an area in south-east of Europe. It included countries such as Bosnia and Serbia, small countries who were fighting in order to achieve independence. Nevertheless, the Austria-Hungarians wanted to maintain their control over this area. Serbia in particular, with the support of Russia was fighting in this. The effect this had was it created tension between Serbia and Austria-Hungary, just as importantly Austria-Hungary and Russia. Source B shows the little opportunities that countries would take in order to declare war i.e. the assassination of the Archduke gave the Austria-Hungarians an excuse to wage war on Serbia.

Other short term factors such as the recruitment poster shown in source D also led towards the war. By using propaganda posters similar to this, countries were  able to encourage people to enlist by giving their citizens a bad image of their enemies like Germany as shown in the poster. It says that the Germans have broken their pledge and devastated Belgium. This evokes the reader’s empathy as the word ‘devastated’ has a powerful meaning. Furthermore, it goes on to say ‘Help to keep your country’s honour’. By doing this it is telling the reader that if he enlists in the army he will not be missing out on anything.

Map of the Balkans

Also, the Franco Prussian war contributed to the outbreak of the war. It was a war between France and Prussia during the 1870’s. The Prussians defeated the French. Likewise with many of the other factors, it created tension between the countries and more importantly resulted in Europe being divided into two separate alliances. If this war had not have happened then Europe may not have been split up and alliances may not have been formed, meaning the war would have been more at hand since other countries would not have been dragged in.  

To conclude, I think that all the factors mentioned above played their own role in the lead up to the war. This may have either been a significant or a small role nevertheless encouraged a war. As well as this, each country were at some point responsible for the outbreak of the war. I think that the main long term cause was the alliances formed between countries as the war was now on a bigger scale and each country would be involved if war broke out. On the other hand, the assassination of Ferdinand was the main short-term trigger as this is what sparked the war off by causing a dispute between countries, and moreover giving an excuse for war to start.            

Document Details

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• Word Count 1434
• Page Count 3
• Subject History
• Type of work Controlled assessment

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