how the tension in Balkan led the first world war
Answers
Answer:
Few issues in modern history have received as much attention as assigning responsibility for the outbreak of the World War in 1914. The debate began during the war itself as each side tried to lay blame on the other, became part of the "war guilt" question after 1918, went through a phase of revisionism in the 1920s, and was revived in the 1960s thanks to the work of Fritz Fischer.
This lecture also deals with the causes of World War I, but does so from a Balkan perspective. Certainly Great Power tensions were widespread in 1914, and those tensions caused the rapid spread of the war after it broke out, but many previous Great Power crises had been resolved without war. Why did this particular episode, a Balkan crisis that began with a political murder in Bosnia, prove so unmanageable and dangerous?
Some questions will help to frame our inquiry:
What was the purpose of the assassination of Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo on June 28, 1914?
Who was responsible for the killing, besides the assassins themselves?
Was a war inevitable after the murder, or did policy-makers let the crisis escape their control?
Finally, why did a Balkan crisis lead to a world war in 1914, when other crises had not?
Explanation:
Answer:
A. Balkans was a region of geographical and ethical variations comprising modern day Romania, Bulgaria, Albania, Greece, Macedonia, Croatia, Bosnia, Herzegovina, Slovenia, Serbia and Montenegro whose inhabitants were known as slaves.
B. A large part of the Balkans was under the control of the Ottoman Empire. The spread of the ideas of romantic nationalism in the Balkan together with the disintegration of the Ottoman Empire made this region very explosive.
C. As the different Slavic nationalism struggled to define their identity and independence, the Balkan area became as area of intense conflict.
D. The Balkan states were jealous of each other and each hoped to gain more territory at the expense of other. Balkans also became as area of big power rivalry.
E. Each European power such as Russia, Germany, England, Austria-Hungry was keen on countering the hold of other powers over Balkans and this led to a series of wars eventually the First World War.