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... Ferdinand heir to the Austrian-Hungarian throne which did have a direct bearing upon World War I. Development of political and military alliances caused tension and hostility among nations leading up to World War I. Two major alliance systems developed due to conflicting national interests which had been evident during the past two decades throughout Europe. These were the "Triple Alliance" of Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy and the "Triple Entente" of Britain, France and Russia. Also several smaller countries became indirectly involved in the alliances which effectively divided Europe into two "Armed Camps". Russia pledged to support Serbia in order to prevent further Austrian-Hungarian expansion into the Balkans. Germany stated its support for Austria-Hungary and Britain had given its support for Belgium's 2. neutrality in 1839. However while these political and military alliances existed there is no direct evidence to indicate that any nation declared war on that basis. There had ...