11.2 The Collapse of the Ottomans and the Coming of War

By the end of this section, you will be able to:

• Identify the causes of the collapse of the Ottoman Empire
• Analyze the rise of nationalism among minority ethnic groups within Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire
• Explain how the assassination of Franz Ferdinand triggered the start of World War I
• Describe the first few months of World War I

Former German chancellor Otto von Bismarck supposedly commented that the next big problem for Europe, most likely the next big war, would come out of “some damned foolish thing in the Balkans.” This prediction proved to be remarkably precise. The events of 1914 did not happen in a vacuum and were the result of many years of rising tensions in a volatile region of Europe, coupled with diplomatic maneuvers among the great empires of the continent. Yet even as the prelude to the war unfolded, most people did not truly expect conflict to be the outcome.