The Student Room Group

Is WWI a fair bit silly?

Austria went to war to keep its serbian part of the empire.
Serbia went to war to gain bosnian land under Austria's control.

in 2024, Austria no longer have its empire.
Serbia does not have the bosnia either.

In the end neither got what they wanted, and all those dead men...
Original post by cyxstudio
Austria went to war to keep its serbian part of the empire.
Serbia went to war to gain bosnian land under Austria's control.

in 2024, Austria no longer have its empire.
Serbia does not have the bosnia either.

In the end neither got what they wanted, and all those dead men...
i mean you could say that about any war for the most part.

its about hindsight.what the contemporary people of the time went to war for. the serbians fought for independence against Austria hungary and ottoman rule which is what had occurred . the archduke franz feridand is what triggered the war and you know the story. point being the Austrians saw this as a chance to claim terrority as you mentioned but also crush the nationalism of the slavic people in the region in the form of serbia and be able to claim the former Ottoman territories. point being it served the interests of the leaders, in gaining land, a larger economy, and stability.
some may also argue that ww1 was inevitable as well.

in the end to answer your question 90% of wars are silly
(edited 9 months ago)
Reply 2
Yeah, it is absurd but WWI wasn't really about Serbia. That was just the flashpoint. It was several bellicose imperial powers jostling for power.

Christopher Clark's The Sleepwalkers is a great account of the period for anyone who is interested.
Reply 3
Original post by cyxstudio
Austria went to war to keep its serbian part of the empire.
Serbia went to war to gain bosnian land under Austria's control.
in 2024, Austria no longer have its empire.
Serbia does not have the bosnia either.
In the end neither got what they wanted, and all those dead men...

Pretty sure neither of them intended WWI to happen in the first place..
not sure what the state of play today has to do with 1914.
Original post by littleCorsican
Austria went to war to keep its serbian part of the empire.
Serbia went to war to gain bosnian land under Austria's control.

in 2024, Austria no longer have its empire.
Serbia does not have the bosnia either.

In the end neither got what they wanted, and all those dead men...


The whole emergence of WWI was silly, because of national egoistic aims of the involved countries and their strike for territorial expansion in times of colonialism and imperialism. The death toll was for nothing after all.
Reply 6
Original post by Kallisto
The whole emergence of WWI was silly, because of national egoistic aims of the involved countries and their strike for territorial expansion in times of colonialism and imperialism. The death toll was for nothing after all.

I remember hearing someone refer to it as an insanely large blood feud between QV's kids... to be perfectly frank, it sounds bang on the money more or less.

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