EssayClub.com - Free College Essays and Term Papers

Causes Of World War I

Causes of World War I

Fay argues that all the countries are at least partly culpable. Serbia was responsible in that the Serbians sought greater national independence. And when France Ferdinand was assassinated they took no steps to discover or bring to justice the Serbians who had participated in the plot. The premier of Serbia, Pashitch was aware of the plot three weeks before it had happened, however, he failed to take effective steps to prevent the assassins from crossing over from Serbia into Bosnia. And the failed to give Austria any information o warning that could have averted the fatal crime. Furthermore, they mobilized the Serbian army even before they responded to Austria’s demand of cooperation in discovering the implicated Serbians. Austria-Hungary, according to Fay, was the most responsible. The Austrian foreign minister, Count Leopold von Berchtold, determined to crush Serbia with war and deliberately framed an ultimatum with the expectation and hope that it would be rejected. He hurriedly declared war against Serbia in order to forestall all efforts of mediation. He even refused to answer his own ally’s urgent requests to come to an understanding with Russia. Germany escalated the conflict by giving grounds to the Entente fr suspecting the sincerity of her peaceful intentions by her denial of any foreknowledge of the ultimatum, by her support and justification of it when it was published, and by her refusal of Sir Edward Grey’s conference personal. Berchtold would probably not have embarked on his gamble’s policy unless he had been assured that Germany would fulfill the obligations of the alliance. They attempted to halt Austria when it was realized that Russia was likely to intervene, tat England might not remain neutral, and that there was danger of a world war of which Germany and Austria would appear to be the instigators; however, her attempts were too little too late and seemed insincere especially o the Entente Powers. Russia was partly...