It is really complicated. There were many different factors that contributed to it. The assassination was merely the final event that pushed Europe over the precipice into war, but if that hadn't happened something else would have done it soon enough. You will find a lot of different explanations. Pick a couple that pique your interest and concentrate on them. It will be hard to go wrong.
1.) the july crisis 2.) the bosnian crisis 3.) the pig war 4.) the daily telegraph affair 5.) the moroccan crisis 6.) the deadly alliances 7.) militarism 8.) war plans 9.) the dreadnought race i've just had to write a 10 page essay on the subject of why it started so i did a page for each of those and a page for intro and 1 page for conclusion hope that helps
It was a bad constellation of certain stars, that caused WWI. Look it up in any astronomer's almanach...
the assassination was just a trigger. The great war started mainly because of great social instability.
"Some damned foolish thing in the Balkans" - Chancellor Bismarck's prediction on what would provoke war.
they needed something to trigger the war, the assassination did it. Just like USA used 9/11 to trigger war with Iraq and Afghanistan.
the bosnian crisis made war inevitable all it needed was a trigger which was served up in the form of the july crisis
Some say that Poland invaded Germany but this is not a common view and you could be arrested for saying it.
I don't believe it myself but you normally hear it form holocaust deniers. There are some interesting theory on the net that give another side to the story. Its very interesting to read them because it is not in the mainstream because you are not allowed to give it as an option. I am not sure if it is illegal but its in the same ball park as holocause deniers.
You've got the wrong war (WWII, not WWI). Poland didn't even exist before WWI - its territory had been split between Germany, Russia, and Austria at the end of the 18th century.
alex: 1. As someone already mentioned, you're talking about WWII. Poland didn't exist in WWI, due to the partitions which occured in the early 1800's. 2. I think you've meddled actual history with fantasy. What actually happened was that Nazi troops dressed up as Polish soldiers, and attacked a German radio station near the border. They then used this 'Polish' attack to justify invasion.
