The Beginning of World War One

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The Beginning of World War One

On the 28th June 1914, a Serbian, Gavrilo Princip shot the Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand, who was heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne. That shot sparked off a War that claimed the lives of around 10 million people. That war was called World War One.

28th June 1914 Sarajevo, Bosnia

Sarajevo, a city in Bosnia was the centre of world attention during June 1914. Bosnia was part of Austro-Hungary but many of the people there were Serbs who wanted to be ruled by the neighbouring state Serbia. Serbia wanted to expand its country and wanted to control Bosnia. Most Serbs would do anything to attack Austro-Hungary, who also wanted an excuse to attack Serbia.

This chance came when a Serb nationalist, Gavrilo Princip, who was 18 at the time, shot Archduke Franz Ferdinand. Gavrilo was a member of the Black Hand Gang and had previously failed in two attempts that same day to kill the Archduke. He took his opportunity though, just as he was about to give up, when the driver took a wrong turning and he soon shot the Archduke and his wife. Austro-Hungary blamed Serbia for the murder and prepared its forces for attack. The next month they declared war on Serbia.  

July 5th 1914 Germany’s position  

The Austrian government wanted to know whether Germany would support a war against Serbia if the Russians joined in. They needed this help because they knew that Russia had strong alliances with Serbia and the Russian army was still very strong. Kaiser Wilhelm of the German government replied by issuing a “blank cheque”. They said they would support whatever Austria-Hungary decided to do.

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July 23rd-25th: A peace agreement or the final straw?

On the 23rd the Austrian government issued Serbia with an ultimatum. This was a contract that had several conditions. If the Serbian government didn’t agree to one Austro-Hungary would declare war. The Serbians accepted all but one of the terms on this document crucial document. This term was that Austrian police should be allowed into Serbia to stop any uprising. The Austrians expected the Serbs to reject this and so got ready for attack.

28th July 1914: War!

Exactly a month since the ...

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