1. Aim: Could WWI have been avoided? (Immediate Causes)
Archduke Ferdinand & Family

2. The Balkans at the Start of WWI 1914

3. Gavrilo Princep
Gavrilo Princep was a member of the “Black Hand” (a secret Slavic nationalist group)

4. The Point of No Return: The Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand
Austria blamed Serbia for Ferdinand’s death and declared war on Serbia.
Germany pledged their support for Austria –Hungary. (Example of Pan-German nationalism)
Russia pledged their support for Serbia.

5. The Point of No Return: Germany declares war on Russia.
France pledges their support for Russia.
Germany declares war on France.
Germany invades Belgium on the way to France and opens up the western front.
Great Britain supports Belgium and declares war on Germany.

7. Key Vocabulary
Archduke Francis Ferdinand Balkans Black Hand Nedjelko Cabrinovic Gavrilo Princip Serbia