Find how World War 1 started !

PRELUDE:

The date is June 28, 1914, World was at the brink of a global war. Back then, most of the territories around the world were occupied by the major forces of Europe. Europe was considered as the powerhouse of the world at that time, so whatever happens in Europe will have a global impact.

Find out how World war 1 started, which resulted in the death of 60 Million (6Cr) humans in 5 years.

1914:

WW1 started right after the assassination of Franz Ferdinand(Archduke) by a Bosnian Serb terrorist, on June 28 in Sarajevo, capital of Bosnia. He was the heir presumptive to the throne of Austria-Hungary (Habsburg Empire), also the younger brother of the Austrian Emperor.

Later, the assassination of Franz Ferdinand becomes a fulcrum for the start of World War 1.

So, how really assassination of an Austrian Archduke, turned into a war of such greater magnitude!

Let’s see.

First, we’ll have a look at the political map of Europe(at the start of the war).

Focus on green and brown coloured countries.

Cause:

Two countries involved in the assassination were Austria-Hungary  and Serbia.

Austria-Hungary( also known as Habsburg Empire) was a multinational state and one of Europe’s major powers at the time of WW1. It consisted of two monarchies (Austria and Hungary), and one autonomous region: the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia under the Hungarian crown. So basically it had many ethnic groups within its region of administration including Slavs, Croats, and Italians.

Serbia, a small country south of Austria, had an ambition of uniting all the Serbs and Croats, who were living inside the Habsburg Empire, to form a large South Slav kingdom (Yugoslavia). But, if Slavs and Croats were to break away from the Habsburg Empire, it would create chaos and will probably result in the shattering of the Habsburg Empire into pieces, which the Austrian-Hungary rulers resisted.                                                                                                                          (Quick info: Eventually the kingdom of Yugoslavia will be formed after the collapse of the Austria-Hungary kingdom post WW1. Scroll to the bottom to see more info on that).

Thus, Austria was waiting for the right time to attack Serbia. They planned to defeat Serbia and avoid any nationalist movement among different ethnic groups inside the Habsburg Empire. But, a war against Serbia by Austria, will drive most of the countries into conflict, since many of them had made a grand alliance, anticipating a full-fledged war in Europe. It was similar to the China-Taiwan conflict of the present time.

Before 1914, major European countries teamed up.

• The France-Russia alliance in 1894,
• Britain-France ‘Entente Cordiale’ in 1904,
• Britain agreement with Russia in 1907 (to deal with their interest in Asia),
• Germany, Austria-Hungary, Italy grand Triple alliance in 1882(later, Italy broke up from the alliance and joined the allies).

Though Austria-Hungary was unable to find evidence of Serbia’s act in the assassination Franz Ferdinand, On July 23, they sent an Ultimatum (a series of ten demands) to Serbia, which it knew would be rejected, thereby leading to war.

Look how quickly the war escalates and spreads across Europe in just 10 days.

July 28: Austria-Hungary kingdom declared war on Serbia, exactly one month after the assassination of Serbia.

July 29: Russia ordered a general mobilization of its troops, to support Serbia.

July 31: Germany demanded to cancel the mobilization.

August 1: When Russia failed to comply, Germany declared war on Russia.

August 2: Germany declared war on France Since the French government responded to the demand of neutrality sent by the German government, by ordering their troops to withdraw only 10 km from their border.

August 4: Britain declared war on Germany when Germany entered Belgium, to invade France. Britain promised to defend Belgium neutrality in 1839.

August 6: Austria–Hungary declared war on Russia.

Italy and Bulgaria remained Neutral in the 1914 campaign and joined the war only in 1915 with Allies and Axis power respectively.

So, this is how the assassination of one man turned into a large-scale conflict, involving most of the countries in the World. War at that time was needed to balance power in Europe, but no one would’ve thought how deadly the World will become later, with another Global conflict starting in just 20 years after the end of the First World War.

Post War Europe Map. The Austria-Hungary kingdom completely disintegrated and new countries were formed out of it.