The Road to World War 1

Problems in the Balkans (1906 – 1912) Many different ethnicities in the Balkans Wars to get Ottoman Empire out of Balkans Conflicts over land disputes Country borders do not take in Ethnic boundaries Serbia wants 1) economic independence from A.H. 2) Greater Serbia Nation A.H. treats minority groups poorly

Franz Ferdinand Current leader of A.H. not sympathetic to Serbia, Serbs in A.H and Serbs in Bosnia. His nephew, Franz Ferdinand in line for the thrown Ferdinand wants to give minorities more say and autonomy, but still under A.H.

Sarajevo Crisis – Assassination of Franz Ferdinand June 28th, 1914 Franz Ferdinand and wife Sophia visit Sarajevo in effort to better the relations with Bosnian Serbs Serbian Nationalist group The Black Hand, wanted to take this opportunity to assassinate Franz Ferdinand 19 yr old, Princip was successful in assassinating the archduke and his wife during an accidental wrong turn by Ferdinand’s driver.

July Crisis 1914 A.H. suspected Serbian government to be behind the assassination A.H. knowing war is looming looked to get support from major ally, Germany

July Crisis, 1914 Germany’s Blank Check A.H. Prime Minister Berechtold meets the Kaiser about backing A.H. in a potential war against Serbia Kaiser Wilhelm gives A.H. a “BLANK CHECK” on July 5th Germany willing to risk war now, because afraid after 1916, Russia would be too strong

Prime Minister Berchtold Germany’s Blank Check Kaiser Wilhelm Prime Minister Berchtold

July Crisis, 1914 A.H. Ultimatum to Serbia Sent an Ultimatum to Serbia on July 19th, delivered July 23rd Serbs given 48 hours to respond WITH A PARTNER: Read Ultimatum, answer: 1) List the demands Austria has for Serbia 2) Do you think Austria’s demands are just?

July Crisis, 1914 A.H. Ultimatum to Serbia Sent an Ultimatum to Serbia on July 19th, delivered July 23rd Serbs given 48 hours to respond Austria demands a lot of Serbia Serbia agrees to ALL except 1 key element: Serbia refused to allow the involvement of A.H. in the investigation of the assassination within Serbia This threatened Serbia’s sovereignty

Escalation to War July 25th Austria breaks off relations with Serbia A.H. declares war on Serbia July 30th Czar issues mobilization order August 1st Germans mobilize, declare war on Russia August 3rd France declares war on Germany Germany invades Belgium August 4th Great Britain declares war on Germany

By August 4th, 1914, all Great European Powers are involved and World War 1 has begun