These countries found themselves dragged into World War I by their pre-existing alliances and these underlying alliances played an integral role in the decisions taken by the major powers in the war. Consequently, Germany’s steadfast alliance with Austria-Hungary was solely responsible for getting them involved in the war and for turning the war into a global crisis rather than a local one. Because Germany had previously vowed to support Austria unconditionally no matter what the circumstance they were bound by their word, seeing as Germany wanted to preserve the alliance with their closest ally. Therefore, Austria had their backing if war broke out as they prepared to punish Serbia for the assassination of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand. Since
