Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria

Mark Biondich is a professor of the Balkans at Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada. His book, The Balkans, looks at the region following the decline of the Ottoman Empire. More specifically, he discusses how the contrasting forces of nationalism and foreign intervention have caused the mass violence which are unfortunately synonymous with Balkan history. Balkan nationalist movements followed a similar path beginning with cultural revival and ending with political agitation for national…

by two alliances; The Entente Powers which involved England, Russia, and France. The second alliance group was called The Central Powers, which consisted of Germany and Austria-Hungary. While many debate the actual cause of WW1, some say that the first spark was initiated by the assassination of Austria’s Archduke, Franz Ferdinand and his wife. The Great War was one of the most expensive wars of its time, costing the United States approximately a trillion dollars—and by 1917 the casualties of…

others had hoped to not get involved. Initially, “Europe was a tinderbox on the verge of being set alight. The slightest spark could set off a conflagration which would engulf all of Europe in flames...There was the web of alliances: Germany with Austria-Hungary; Serbia with Russia, Russia with France, Britain with Belgium... the alliances were supposed to prevent war” (Purkayastha). The alliances between nations, while supposedly beneficial, ended up doing more harm than good. Creating…

they had to pay back all the money that the countries used to pay for the war, they had to give up land, and they had to reduce their army. Germany had to take the blame for WWI when Austria-Hungary and Serbia started it. They started the war. “The direct cause of WWI was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand at Sarajevo on 28 June 1914” (European History). Germany had no choice on whether to take the blame or not. “Germany, by signing the treaty, would…

The Harlem Renaissance (1919-1929) The Harlem Renaissance, originally known as the New Negro Movement, received its’ name from Harlem, a large neighborhood within Manhattan, New York. From 1917-1935, nearly 175,000 African Americans, mainly from the south, turned this neighborhood into the largest concentration of black people in the world. Out of this, came a cultural, social, artistic, literary, and intellectual movement that lit a new black cultural identity. Important Events • The…

1. “Sick man of Europe” is a term used to describe the fall of the Ottoman Empire in the nineteenth century. The Ottoman Empire went from the most powerful state to a state that had weakened and were losing provinces. Due to all the loss the Ottoman Empire encountered the Turks began to assert themselves and the set out to overthrow Abdul Hamid. 2. Lusitania was the name of a British ocean liner. It was attacked by the German submarines during their blockade of 1915. This attack on Lusitania…

The twentieth century is plagued by the terrors of war, but none was as terrible as World War II. The most recognizably terrible dictator of the time, and instigator of the war, was Adolf Hitler. The war, however, would probably not have occurred had he never taken power. The conditions for his rise to power was a perfect storm of poor leadership, nationalism, and the aftermath of the first world war. Germany was so weak in the aftermath, that the power vacuum that was created, as well as the…

On the 28th of December in the year of 1856, little “Tommy” Woodrow Wilson was born in a small town by the name of Staunton, Virginia. Although Wilson suffered from dyslexia when he was just ten, his father constantly drilled him in political lectures and debates to enhance the skills everyone thought the youngster was nowhere near capable of. By the time Wilson had reached adulthood, he was able to land entrance into one of most prestigious schools titled The University of New Jersey, which is…