Question

Which of the following can be used to investigate the reason the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand sparked World War I? Which one is the best answer?
• the nationality of Archduke Franz Ferdinand's assassin
• knowledge of the Schlieffen Plan
• the role that East African soldiers played in the war
the collapse of the alliance system

Answer 1

Best answer: the collapse (or breakdown) of the alliance system.

Why:
- The alliance system turned a local crisis into a continent‑wide war: Austria-Hungary’s move against Serbia drew in Russia (to protect Slavic Serbia), which prompted Germany to back Austria-Hungary and declare war on Russia (and then on France), and Britain entered after Germany violated Belgian neutrality. That chain reaction explains why the assassination sparked a world war.

Other options:
- The nationality of the assassin (Gavrilo Princip was a Bosnian Serb linked to Serbian nationalist groups) is relevant as background — it helps explain Austria-Hungary’s decision to punish Serbia — but by itself it doesn’t explain the escalation to a general war.
- Knowledge of the Schlieffen Plan is useful for understanding how Germany’s military plans made a European war rapid and wide (e.g., invasion of Belgium), so it explains the mechanics of escalation, but it’s secondary to why the assassination triggered mobilizations in the first place.
- The role of East African soldiers is not relevant to why the assassination sparked WWI; it relates to how the war was fought in colonial theaters after it began.