Austria Hungary declares war on Serbia
On July 28 1914 one month to the day after Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and his wife were killed by a Serbian nationalist in Sarajevo Austria-Hungary declares war on Serbia effectively beginning the First World War.Threatened by Serbian ambition in the tumultuous Balkans region of Europe Austria-Hungary determined that the proper response to the assassinations was to prepare for a possible military invasion of Serbia.After securing the unconditional support of its powerful ally Germany Austria-Hungary presented Serbia with a rigid ultimatum on July 23 1914 demanding among other things that all anti-Austrian propaganda within Serbia be suppressed and that Austria-Hungary be allowed to conduct its own investigation into the archdukes killing.Though Serbia effectively accepted all of Austrias demands except for one the Austrian government broke diplomatic relations with the other country on July 25 and went ahead with military preparedness measures.
Meanwhile alerted to the impending crisis RussiaSerbias own mighty supporter in the Balkansbegan its own initial steps towards military mobilization against Austria.In the days following the Austrian break in relations with Serbia the rest of Europe including Russias allies Britain and France looked on with trepidation fearing the imminent outbreak of a Balkans conflict that if entered into by Russia threatened to explode into a general European war.The British Foreign Office lobbied its counterparts in Berlin Paris and Rome with the idea of an international convention aimed at moderating the conflict the German government however was set against this notion and advised Vienna to go ahead with its plans.On July 28 1914 after a decision reached conclusively the day before in response to pressure from Germany for quick actionapart from Kaiser Wilhelm II who by some accounts still saw the possibility of a peaceful diplomatic resolution to the conflict but was outmaneuvered by the more hawkish military and governmental leadership of GermanyAustria-Hungary declared war on Serbia.In response Russia formally ordered mobilization in the four military districts facing Galicia its common front with the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
That night Austrian artillery divisions initiated a brief ineffectual bombardment of Belgrade across the Danube River.My darling one and beautiful everything tends towards catastrophe and collapse British naval official Winston Churchill wrote to his wife at midnight on July 29.He was proven right over the next several days.On August 1 after its demands for Russia to halt mobilization met with defiance Germany declared war on Russia.
Russias ally France ordered its own general mobilization that same day and on August 3 France and Germany declared war on each other.The German armys planned invasion of neutral Belgium announced on August 4 prompted Britain to declare war on Germany.Thus in the summer of 1914 the major powers in the Western worldwith the exception of the United States and Italy both of which declared their neutrality at least for the time beingflung themselves headlong into the First World War.READ MORE Why Kaiser Wilhelm Was Never Tried for Starting World War I
