In history class today we had a teacher blame the entire thing on the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, causing the Kaiser to egg the Austrian-Hungary Empire to declare war on Serbia. I can see how that would cause a conflict between those two countries but don't understand how it led or what really cause the entirety of the First World War. Help me out!
There are a lot of threads on this in the FAQ.
That said, I did a little run-up on the deliberations that went into Britain joining the war, and I think you might find that interesting. Many of the discussions were reflective of the entire history leading up to that point, and how each little thing influenced other things.
Some highlights:
The alliance system brought pretty much everyone into the war. While Britain, France, and Russia weren't formally allied, the "warm feelings" they had meant that they were friendly at the very least.
The idea of friends falling aside, each nation was afraid of an upset of the balance of power. Mobilization became imperative as a result, and when countries mobilized, other countries mobilized in response. Then threats came, and war ensued.
Declaration of war on Belgium, which was not allowed (in the eyes of the British) led to their entry as well, and that was based on a very old treaty as well.
Previous wars, like the Boer war mentioned and other territorial acquisitions over the past decades had greatly enhanced the political and territorial stakes.
That thread on Britain, and the FAQ, should have many answers for you. Enjoy!
Think of Europe in 1914 as a pub. A pub crowded with football fans, these are the various nations. They root for two different teams, the two great alliances. Now, this bar serves a whole lot of alcohol in the form of nationalism. As the alcohol flows, everyone feels braver and bolder. It doesn't take much to start a fight in an environment like that.
Once the first punch is thrown and two guys start fighting, in this case Austria-Hungaria and Serbia, the rest are not going to sit idly by and watch. Some will join because they like fighting and think they have something to gain by doing so, others will do so because they feel bound to do it, other still will fight because they feel threatend, either by the opposing team or the heavy hitters of their own team.
Europe in 1914 was like that. Nationalism and new imperialism was strong, old an new alliances kept everyone tied to someone else and everybody who was anybody was thinking about expanding their territories again. Europe was a powder keg waiting to blow, all it needed was a spark. The shots in Sarajevo provided that spark.
If you want to read more about it, H.P Willmotts World War I is a great place to start.
I'm taking a course on WWI right now and let me tell you, it was eye opening. Really, the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand was merely the straw that broke the camel's back and had Austria attempt to take out Serbia. One view at the time was that WWI was the understanding of the aristocracy that they were losing power to the liberals of Europe.
To stop right here would be good. Liberals in this sense are not what Americans consider liberals. Conservative would be those that support the aristocracy and liberals would be opposed to it.
The conservatives saw this as a chance to have a patriotic war to serve their purposes and to drum up support. They did not heed the lessons of the American Civil War though, and they did not understand the blood bath that it would become.
Really, it was a long march to war, the International Crisis of the early 20th century. Conflicts like the Boer War highlight this. Most leaders understood war was coming, and Germany saw that they were at a disadvantage with enemies on both sides.
Before this time there were no long term alliances, a country would ally with another for a war and then it would be done. The prospects of Germany fighting a two front war against Russia and France showed them that they had to throw the first punch and attempt to surprise the enemy. Through the Schleiffen Plan they would attack France, fight them down while Russia prepared to mobilize, and then they would shift to Russia and win the war in a matter of months.
It really is remarkable that the alliance system of this time took a regional assassination in Southern Europe and turned it into a world war.