Like France, Russia had been humiliated by being defeated in war. Russia lost against Japan in a disastrous and costly war. Russia was keen to prove that it was still a huge European Power. Russia was also keen to gain more influence in the Balkans and desperately didn’t want Austria- Hungary to expand its empire in this area. Russia was a great ally of Serbia, A country bordering Austria-Hungary. This was probably because they shared a similar language and religion.
Austria-Hungary and Serbia’s friendship has been seriously damaged by the Bosnia crisis, which took place in 1908. Austria-Hungary annexed Bosnia, thereby taking Bosnia over. This deeply aggravated Serbia and of course their close ally Russia.
Austria- Hungary has a huge empire with an aged leader. Franz Ferdinand the heir was the leaders Nephew. Franz Ferdinand was assassinated on the 28th of June 1914. He was on a tour around Sarajevo, the Capital City of Bosnia, Austria-Hungary’s new annex.
Franz Ferdinand was killed along with his wife by a group of Serb nationals called ‘The Black Hand’; they were terrorists funded by the Serbian government. The Black Hand’s members included important and influential people such as army generals and government officials. The Black Hand recruited a group of men to carry out the assassination. They were all Bosnians who hated the Austria- Hungary empire and distrusted it’s leaders. The young man who eventually carried out the assassination was named ‘Gavrilo Princip’
Gavrilo Princip was dying of a nasty, untreatable illness called Tuberculosis. He knew that he was dying and had nothing to lose by assassinating the ArchDuke. The young men recruited to carry out the assassination were supplied with guns, bombs and cyanide. They were then given a map of the Dukes movements and worked out a plan. The men found out that the Archduke was planning to travel along a long road by the river in Sarajevo. They decided that they would position themselves along this road about half a metre apart and kill the Archduke as he drove past. They would then drink the cyanide given to them and jump in the river to make sure they died and were not caught. This plan failed.
When the first hit man saw the Car carrying the Archduke coming he threw a bomb at it. The hit man forgot that it had a ten second delay. The bomb didn’t kill the archduke. He took the cyanide as planned and tried to drown himself in the river. This failed, the cyanide was out of date and the river contained only 6 inches of water. He was dragged out the river and thrown into jail and interrogated. He said nothing under pressure. The hit men further up the line were shaken by the first failure and did nothing. It seemed that the plan had failed.
In the end Archduke Franz Ferdinand was killed by his own bad luck. On his tour around the city his driver took a wrong turn by mistake. This put the Archduke and his wife in Gavrilo Princeps firing line. Gavrilo Princep didn’t delay he shot the Archdukes wife and then the Archduke himself. Both died almost instantly.
Austria- Hungary knew that Serbia was responsible for this awful murder. Austria- Hungary sent Serbia an almost impossible Ultimatum. Austria- Hungary knew that Serbia wouldn’t comply. Austria-Hungary now wanted war. Austria- Hungary asked Germany if it would support them in the case of war. Kaiser Willhelm II replied quickly. Kaiser Willhelm II told Austria-Hungary that they would support them in the case of war. Kaiser Willhelm II also wanted a war. Germany wanted to show the world how great the country had become. The war, soon to become world war one started very soon. First Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia. Then the Russian army mobilized. Due to this Germany declared war on Russia, then later France and Belgium. Because Britian protected Belgium, Britian declared war on Germany. Then Austria- Hungary declared war on Russia. Finally on August 12th 1914 France and Britian declared war on Austria-Hungary.
I think the reason that world war one started so quickly was because all the country’s involved had old scores to settle. Problems had been getting worse for a long time. The alliances in Europe actually helped to keep peace rather than destroy it. If it weren’t for the alliances there would have been a major war before 1914. Germany had been threatening countries in Europe for many years before the war and Serbia was always going to retaliate over the annexing of Bosnia. The war was inevitable.
By Charlotte Brown 9f
