15.2: The Start of the War

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Franz Ferdinand was the heir to the Habsburg throne, a respected Austrian politician who also happened to be friends with the German Kaiser. He, also, tended to favor peaceful diplomacy over the potential outbreak of war. In 1914, he was assassinated by a young Serbian nationalist, named Gavrilo Princip, a member of the terrorist group, The Black Hand. This event was the immediate cause of World War I.

Serbia was a new nation. (It had fought its way to independence from the Ottoman Empire in 1878.) The Serbs hoped to conquer and unite the Balkans in one Serbian-dominated country. Austria stood in the path of this ambition since Austria controlled neighboring Bosnia (in which Serbs were a significant minority of the population). Thus, the last thing Austrian politicians wanted was an anti-Austrian movement launched by the ambitious Serbs.

Serbian nationalists were proud of their Slavic heritage, and Russia became a powerful ally in large part because of the Slavic connection (i.e. they spoke related languages and the Russian and Serbian Orthodox churches were part of the same branch of Christianity). Russia was also a rival of Austria. However, the Serbs did not believe that Austria would risk a full-scale war with Russia in order to hold on to Bosnia.

Group photographer of the Serbian officers who led the Black Hand. — Figure 7.2.1: The leaders of the Black Hand, the conspiracy responsible for the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and sparking the beginning of World War I.

After the assassination, the Austrian government demanded that Serbia allow Austrian agents to carry out a full-scale investigation of the assassination. Serbian honor would never allow such a thing. Austrian troops started massing near the Serbian border, and the great powers of Europe started calling up their troops. Germany, believing that its own military and industrial resources were such that it would be the victor in a war against France and Russia, promised to stand by Austria regardless of what happened. Russia warned that Austrian intervention in Serbia would cause war. France assured Russia of its loyalty. Only Britain was as-yet unaccounted for.

No one was completely certain that a war would actually happen; but if it did, each of the great powers was confident that they would be victorious in the end. A desperate diplomatic scramble ensued as diplomats, parliaments, and heads of state tried at the last minute to preserve the peace; but in the end, it was too late. On July 28, Austria declared war on Serbia, activating the pre-existing system of alliances. By August 4, all of the great powers in Europe were involved.

Two primary 'sides' emerged.

Central Powers--Germany, Austrian Empire, and Ottoman Empire
Triple Entente--Great Britain, France, and Russia. (Other countries, such as Italy, Japan, China, and the United States joined later.)