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The Alliances

The Assination of Archduke Francis Ferdinand


On Sunday, June 28, 1914, Archduke Francis Ferdinand, heir to the Austrian throne, and his wife, the Duchess of Hohenberg, were on the way to the town hall in Sarejevo, Bosnia. They had been warned not to come, but this was ignored. While moving through the streets, a person from the crowd threw a bomb at the Archduke's motor car. Luckily, the bomb was deflected, but exploded on the ground nearby, injuring six spectators. After a short delay, the procession moved on and they stopped outside the town hall where the Burgomaster read an address. On the way back from the town hall, two shots rang out and the Archduke and the Duchess were both fatally wounded. They were carried to the palace, but died before arriving there. The assassin was a student named Gavrilo Prinzip, a Serbian nationalist and a member of a Serbian terrorist organization. Both he and the bomb thrower (Cabrinovitch) were arrested from the outraged crowd. Austria believed Serbia was behind the assassination and declared war on Bosnia.


The Triple Alliance


The Triple Alliance or Central Powers, as they were called, were first started with the German empire, that was founded in 1871. With this formation Germany destroyed the French superiority. In 1979 Germany drew-up a binding treaty between itself and Austria- Hungary, forming the Dual Alliance. A couple years later in 1882 Italy joined, forming the Triple Alliance. Serbia joined and a year after that in 1885 Romania joined the Central Powers. However, when the war was declared these two countries fought on both sides of the war. Bulgaria joined the Central Power on Oct. 11, 1915. Italy became neutral to prevent terrorism in their home country. Turkey joined the Central Power and cut off RussiaÆs easy sea communication with it's allies. The Triple Alliance was formed because if Russia was to attack one of the countries in the Triple Alliance empire the other countries in the empire would be forced to help. Security was another reason why the empire joined together. They would have a better chance winning the war if they had a lot of manpower and area.


The Triple Entante


In 1894 there was a Dual Alliance between Russia and France. Britain joined the alliance in 1907. The Triple Entente was officially formed in 1907. The Anglo-Russian Entente was an agreement between France, Great Britain, and Russia to become the Triple Entente, they were also known as the Allies. This alliance would keep peace between the European countries and provide security for all of the nations involved. The members of the Triple Entente would plan military actions and fight together. This proved useful on August 4th, 1914 when Britain declared war on Germany, this was the beginning of World War 1. All of the members of the Triple Entente went to war including Canada since they were part of the British Empire. During the war many countries joined the Triple Entente such as Italy, Japan, Serbia, Belgium, and the United States. The Triple Entente also protected many neutral countries. When Belgium was a neutral country the Triple Entente stopped Germany from taking it over. On April 6th 1917, the United States entered the war on the Allies side. They sent soldiers and new weapons to support the Triple Entente. The Americans played a role in defeating the Triple Alliance.
A School Link Article. Courtesy of Katy Chan, Julia Clark, Jennine Dykstra, Mary Johnson, Calla Spencer and Ashley Young, The Dr. G.W. Williams S.S., 04/12/99 .