Can you tell me what started WW2?

[young&smart2]

I am learning about World War 2 right now in school; and my text book says that the war was started because some 19 year old kid of the Black Hand, a revolutionary group of Serbia, assassinated Archduke Franz and his wife Sofia. But I don't believe that something that small, Franz wasn't even liked, could start such an important war.

So please help me out as much as you can.
Thanks

~*meg*~

[don1]

Archduke Ferdinand was assassinated in 1914 which arguably led to the first world war not the second world war. Google and ye will find

[Johnmof]

You're right that a single act like this should not be a cause of a major war. In 1914 Europe was a place of alliances, formal and otherwise, Britain and France, France and Russia, Germany and Austria-Hungary, and Russia had close bonds with their Slav cousins in the Balkans, who were ruled by Austria. Added to this were imperial ambitions, primarily of Germany, who had been flexing their muscles since unification under Bismarck. Gernany believed that it should enjoy similar imperial spolis as Britain but was prevented by the strength of its navy. Germany embarked on a programme of naval expansion around the turn of the 19/20th century, causing friction with Britain. Friction with France was a permanent feature. Russia wanted access to warm water, and had been eying the Balkans for years. With these powerful alliances and ambitions, it was only going to take a spark to ignite it and this came at Sarajevo. Franz Ferdinand was heir to the Austrian throne, and was paying a visit to one of the empire's outposts. The Serbs wanted to overthrow Austria and achieve independence. Prinzip succeeded in killing th Archduke and his wife. Austria came down hard on Serbia: Russia came in to support them. Austria pushed things further than they should have, knowing Germany were in their corner. Germany should have reined them in but didn't. Russia declared war on Austria, Germany on Russia, France on Germany. At first, Britain stayed neutral, although links with France would have brought them in eventually. Britain got involved because of the Schlieffen Plan, designed to outflank France's Maginot Line by invading Belgium. Britain had guaranteed Belgian sovereignty by the Treaty of London (1820), but Germany did not think they would honour what they described as a "piece of paper". Within 12 days of the assassination most of Europe was involved in the most disastrous war the world had ever seen,and which in terms of military casualties is still the most expensive ever.

[vehelpfulguy]

You better make sure you write about the correct war.

WW1 - 1914 to 1918

WW2 - 1939 to 1945

About WW1 - As johnmof indicates in his reply, their were quite a few countries wanting to expand their "empires" around that time.

Britain had its empire, but Astro-Hungary, Germany, Russia, Turkey all wanted to prove they were kings of Europe.

Many of these countries had "deals" with each other, such that if one of them were attacked the other country would come and help.

It could be argued that Europe was spoiling for a fight at the time, the way you can see drunk yobs in a pub building up to a fight.

So it only took one "small" event for the whole thing to kick off.

See if you can get the film "oh what a lovely war" from Blockbuster or a DVD hire shop.

This sets the scene nicely at the start, and shows how the British people were really pleased when the war started, although soon got fed up as the war dragged on.

[Grunty]

In a way, though, you are right about the Second World War having its origins in the assassination by Gavril Princip. The German defeat in 1918 was a terrific humiliation. This was added to with the Treaty of Versailles which imposed reparations on Germany which it was unable to keep up. Germany fell into depression in the 1920s and 1930s. Hitler sought to restore Germany's pride in itself and blamed the Communists and the Jews for the 1918 war. The humiliation was added to when France occupied part of Germany, the Rhineland, in an unsuccessful attempt to enforce reparations. Then the scene was set for what many people think of as a continuation of the 1914 war. The situation is of course a lot more complicated than that, and a good starting point would be a book called 'They thought they were free' by Milton Mayer.

[matty1]

This help you

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_war_1

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_war_2

[johnlambert]

Grunty
that was the main point of an essay I wrote for my A level

[Wozzawasp]

Just one little correction to Johnmof''s excellent answer.
The Maginot Line did not exist at that time. Building started in 1930 and it was quite useless in 1940 in WW2.

[Kiwi the 1st]

I know a lot about WW1 & WW2, the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferinand on the 28th June 1914 started WW1 & the Nazi invasion of Poland on September 1st 1939 started WW2 which was declared on the 3rd.

[pauliwauli2]

You should read any book on appeasement and the road to war, it has everything about the Re-occupation of the Rhineland, Spanish Civil war and the Czech chrisis etc. I'm using it for my higher history course!!

[young&smart2]

Opps my bad. Yeah it was WW1 not 2. Thanks for all the great answers it has cleared a lot up & I have a lot more information I didn't know.

Thanks again,

Meg

[grover41]

The historian A J P Taylor wrote a number of books about wars so his books could provide some useful material.