Study this source. Source A (your primary source for this question) 'The news from Sarajevo has sent shockwaves across Europe. The heir to the Austro-Hungar...

This is a source utility question worth [8 marks]. You must evaluate what the source can tell us about the reasons for the First World War, then assess its limitations.

Analysing the source content [up to 4 marks]:

The source is a British newspaper report from 29 June 1914, the day after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. It provides useful contemporary evidence about the immediate trigger of the war:

• It accurately identifies the assassination as having "sent shockwaves across Europe," capturing the scale of the diplomatic crisis it caused.
• It identifies the assassin as a "young Bosnian Serb" with links to "a secret Serbian nationalist organisation." This refers to the Black Hand, a Serbian nationalist group that supplied Princip with weapons and training. The connection between the assassin and Serbian nationalism is crucial because it gave Austria-Hungary a pretext to move against Serbia.
• The report notes "calls for swift and severe action against Serbia" in Vienna, foreshadowing the harsh Austro-Hungarian ultimatum of 23 July 1914, which contained demands designed to be unacceptable.
• The uncertainty expressed - "whether the great powers can prevent this crisis from escalating" - reflects the reality that the assassination alone did not make war inevitable. There was a period of diplomatic manoeuvring (the July Crisis) before war was declared.

Evaluating limitations [up to 4 marks]:

• Only the immediate trigger: The source focuses on the assassination and its immediate aftermath. It cannot explain the deeper causes of the war: the alliance system (Triple Alliance and Triple Entente), the Anglo-German naval arms race, imperial rivalries in Africa and Asia, and the long-standing tensions in the Balkans.
• Written before events unfolded: Published the day after the assassination, the report was written before the wider consequences were known. The journalist could not foresee the chain of events: Austria's ultimatum, Russia's mobilisation in support of Serbia, Germany's activation of the Schlieffen Plan, and the invasion of Belgium that brought Britain into the war.
• British perspective: As a British newspaper, this is an outsider's view of events in Austria-Hungary and Serbia. It presents the crisis from a distance and cannot reveal the internal decision-making in Vienna, Berlin, St Petersburg, or Belgrade.
• Spark vs. cause: The assassination was the spark, but without the existing tensions between the great powers - built up over decades - it would not have led to a world war. Previous crises (the Moroccan Crises of 1905 and 1911, the Bosnian Crisis of 1908) had been resolved without war. The source cannot explain why this particular crisis escalated when others had not.

Exam technique: When analysing a source about the causes of war, always distinguish between immediate triggers (short-term events) and underlying causes (long-term factors). A source can be highly useful for one while saying nothing about the other. Make this distinction explicit in your answer.