Factors Leading to World War I in 1914In August 1914, the major European powers began a war that would lead to the deaths of over 9 million people. The threat of war had been lurking for a long time. Historians point to short- and long-term causes. In the short term, the road to war began in Sarajevo on 28 June 1914, when Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife paid a state visit. They were attacked when a group of Serbian terrorists attempted to throw a bomb into their car. Fortunately for the Archduke, the attack was unsuccessful. In the heat of the moment, the driver made a fundamental mistake that would lead to the deaths of his two passengers. Once the driver had taken a wrong turn, Gavrilo Princip, a member of the Serbian group, unexpectedly ran into the Archduke and his wife. Therefore, without haste they got into the car and with just two bullets killed both of them. Historians have suggested four long-term causes. The most important was nationalism. Nationalism was a belief in political independence. Another cause was imperialism. Countries that thought they were better than others wanted colonies. Of all the countries, Germany was the one that wanted an empire. Germany not only wanted an empire, but it wanted the biggest and best empire in the world. They feared they might be attacked by one of their neighboring countries, France and Russia. France and Great Britain, however, wanted the opposite. Both wanted to avoid a world war, but France also feared losing land to Germany. Britain's ambition was simply to maintain peace, while France wanted to steal land from Germany. Some countries also began to strengthen their militaries, most notably France. They built large, intimidating artillery aimed at the Germans that would stop any attack from them. The Germans discovered a fundamental fact about the artillery: it was all concreted. The Germans then developed the Schiffer plan which consisted of passing through Belgium