The Great War spanned just five years yet inflicted severe damage to most of Europe. This war, which resulted in millions of lives lost and dollars spent, was the outcome of two factors. The first, and perhaps the direct cause, was the assassination of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand while the second cause was the various alliances that created tension among powerful nations. The thesis of Mr. Fay, which states that every country was responsible for the cause of the war, is wrong and the purpose of this essay is to prove it so. The only countries responsible for the whole war were Austria and Serbia.
             As previously stated, one of the main causes for the Great War was the assassination of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand. On June 28th, 1914, while riding in the motorcade through the streets of Sarajevo, Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie were shot and killed by Gavrilo Princip, a player in the Greater Serbia terror society called the Black Hand. The assassination acted as a catalyst where Austria and Serbia could use the archduke's death to start a war between them. Unfortunately, other countries would foolishly take sides and enter the war as well. The plot devised by renegade Serbians was known of before it happened while the leader of Serbia, Premier Pashitch, did nothing to stop it. Because of this, Premier Pashitch's action, or lack there of, can be deemed hostile and thus a direct link to the cause of the Great War. Since Pashitch was the leader of Serbia at the time, Serbia is therefore responsible for war. Since there were other underlying factors that led to war, the Premier may not have been able to prevent the entire war if he decided to act accordingly, but he certainly could have postponed it.
             The second main cause of the Great War deals with the alliances between many countries. Had there been no alliances between neighboring countries, the war would have only been fought betwe
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