The July Crisis, the events that followed the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand, heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, is the point at which the four MAIN factors come crashing together with the result that Europe goes to war.
Ferdinand was visiting Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia, along with his wife, Sophie. He had gone to Bosnia to watch manoeuvres by Austro-Hungarian forces (manoeuvres for a possible attack on Serbia). As Bosnia had only recently and controversially been incorporated into Austria-Hungary when Serbia thought, by rights, it should become part of a greater Serbia, it was a provocative act.
In Bosnia a group of young Bosnian patriots, passionately opposed to Austro-Hungarian control of Bosnia, planned to use the archduke’s visit to further their nationalist cause. They were passionate nationalists, idealists, inspired by Serbian victories in the Balkan Wars of 1912 and 1913, and committed to the cause of freeing Bosnia from Austro-Hungarian rule. They, and other nationalists, had the support of members of the Serb government (though not the government itself) as well as members of its military. The young Bosnian nationalists had made their decision to try and assassinate the archduke in Sarajevo. They were provided with six bombs and four revolvers by a sympathetic general in the Serbian army and they secretly crossed the Serb-Bosnian border with the help of Serbian officials.
So, links to Imperialism and Nationalism and to the crises in the Balkans.
The actual assassination was, in fact, an accident of history. Bad luck. The first assassination attempt had failed: the bomb that was thrown blew up the car following behind the archduke’s car. The second attempt wouldn’t have happened if the archduke hadn’t decided to visit the injured in hospital, and if the car hadn’t taken a wrong turning and stopped in order to head back onto the right route, and if Princip hadn’t still been waiting when it passed before stopping.
But the assassination led to a chain of decisions that only ended when all the great European powers – Austria-Hungary, Germany, Russia, France and Britain – were at war.
Although Princip was a Bosnian it was known that Serbs were behind the Black Hand, the secret organisation to which he belonged. Austria-Hungary’s first move was to make sure of Germany’s support. On July 4th it sent a special envoy to Berlin and on July 5th both the Kaiser, Wilhelm II, and the German Chancellor, Theobald von Bethmann-Hollweg, gave them their unconditional support, Germany’s infamous blank cheque (a blank cheque is a signed check but with the amount left blank – in other words, Germany was saying to Austria-Hungary: “Do what you want and we will support you”). The Kaiser also urged speedy action.
So, links to the alliances.
The other powers were shocked by the severity of Austria-Hungary’s ultimatum. The crucially important terms were that Austro-Hungarian officials should be involved in the investigation into the assassination and its trial as this would undermine Serbian independence.
Again, links to imperialism and nationalism clashing in the Balkans.
The speed in which events unfolded was now frighteningly fast. The deadline for a response was 6pm, July 25th. The first thing the Serbs did was to ask for Russian support. Though they also made preparations for their country’s defence. Austria-Hungary was then asked for more time for Serbia to respond, but they refused. On the day of the deadline Russia informed the Serbs that it would ‘go to the limit’ to support them which must have encouraged the Serbs in finalising their response.
Serbia’s response to the ultimatum tried to show sympathy to Austria-Hungary but they couldn’t accept Austro-Hungarian involvement in the investigation into the assassination. So, on July 28th Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia.
On July 29th Russia mobilised. Government ministers, diplomats and the royal families of Europe (and they were related to each other) were making telephone calls, sending telegrams in attempts to either reach a compromise or bully their foes into backing down. On July 31st Germany sent an ultimatum to Russia to stop its mobilisation within twelve hours.
On August 1st, with no reply from the Russians, the Kaiser ordered the mobilisation of Germany’s forces. France ordered the mobilisation of their troops too.
On August 2nd the French started their mobilisation. The same day, Russian troops crossed into Germany and German troops marched into Luxembourg, like Belgian, neutral, and like Belgium, its neutrality guaranteed by the major powers, Germany included. Germany demanded that Belgium allow its troops free passage through its country but it refused. The Belgian king wrote to George V asking for British support.
On the evening of August 3rd Germany declared war on France. The excuse, with no evidence whatsoever, was that French forces had advanced into Alsace and French planes had dropped bombs.
On August 4th, Britain gave Germany an ultimatum, that it either promised to respect Belgian neutrality or at 11pm that evening (midnight, German time), Britain would declare war. When the deadline duly passed without a response from Germany, Britain finally entered the war. German troops were already in Belgium.
And so, more links to the alliances and also to militarism and especially the need to mobilise quickly.