History of the First World War

In June 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the future heir to the Austrian royal family, visited Bosnia with his wife Sophie. Bosnia was then occupied by the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

The couple traveled to the Bosnian capital, Sarajevo, on June 26 to meet with loyal troops. This was the last day of their visit to Bosnia and the day was Sunday. The day was especially significant for Ferdinand and Sophie. Because, this day was also the 40th wedding anniversary of this royal couple.

Ferdinand and Sophie have never been able to take pictures together in Austria as husband and wife because of love and marriage to someone below them (due to the strict rules of the royal family). But Sophie was happy that day that the rules were not in force in Bosnia, far from the kingdom, and she took some pictures with her husband. Although Sophie was very happy on this trip, many people in Bosnia were angry at her arrival. On the way to their destination, they narrowly escaped a hand grenade fired by Serbian terrorists. Ferdinand and Sophie were killed by bullets fired by Serbian Serbian nationalist Gavrilo Princip.

Princip was only 19 at the time and was the son of a poor farmer. Although such assassinations were not uncommon in Europe at the time, the Austro-Hungarian Empire was outraged by the killings and, with the help of Germany, declared war on Serbia on July 26, a month later. Shortly afterwards, Germany declared war on Russia and occupied Belgium. And France. Russia was then a friend of Serbia. Britain did not like these events at all. They declared war on Germany. Occupying one country after another was nothing new in Europe. These events were his reflection.

The Industrial Revolution was in full swing throughout Europe at the beginning of the twentieth century. New industries and manufacturing technologies were being invented to establish control over new areas rich in oil, gas, coal and more valuable mineral resources. When the British Empire was spread over five continents and many African colonies were under French control, Germany wanted to be a good participant in the colonization game. The like-minded countries then formed alliances with each other in order to strengthen their existence in Europe.

In the first decade of the twentieth century, European nations sought to increase their military might and, if necessary, encourage them to do so. All the influential countries of Europe had strong military forces and they were gradually doing everything they could to prepare their military. Nationalism flourished throughout Europe in the nineteenth century. People begin to overestimate their country and culture. Desperate to get rid of the colonial power at any cost. It is thought that this intense nationalism was a common cause of the outbreak of World War I. For example, in the Franco-Prussian War of 160-71, Germany defeated France.

France lost a lot of money and land to Germany. This incident later provoked French nationalism and public opinion was formed for revenge against Germany. Archduke Ferdinand was also assassinated due to the rise of extremist nationalism. He was shot by Princip, a member of a Serbian nationalist terrorist group who could not accept the Austro-Hungarian Empire's rule over Bosnia. Bosnian peasants were then severely deprived, day after day they were utterly defeated by the burden of exploitation. When no one was doing anything to change these terrible days, a group of young people in the country started doing something on their own. Princip was one of these 'revolutionary' groups.

After all, after the Austro-Hungarian Empire declared war on Serbia, Germany declared war on France and Russia in August of that year. In response to these events, Britain quickly declared war on Germany. As a result, all the influential countries of that time got involved in the war. By the time Princip's trial began in October, World War I had begun in earnest.

Deadly weapons such as tanks and chemical weapons were used in The Great War. About 9 million people died in that war!