Massie states that Austria believes it’s fractured and disintegrated state will be cured by annihilating the source of all of its problems, Serbia. (Doc K). What caused the war between Serbia and Austria was no accident, it was the Seven Point Ultimatum passed 24 July 1914. The Seven Point Ultimatum was rejected and war outbroke due to the fact that the seven point ultimatum took away the sovereignty of Serbia by calling for the help of Austria’s forces to investigate for the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand within Serbia. The seventh point enraged Serbia and since the ultimatum was rejected Austria declared war on Serbia 28 July 1914, thus, the war began
The Germans started having second thoughts about the war and urged their ally to negotiate with Russia. Russia realized that an agreement would hurt their position in the Balkans. This basically created a stand still and the countries involved could no longer back out, The Germans started their plan to gain European dominance on July 31st. The Germans sent ultimatums to St. Petersburg and Paris telling them that the Russians need to stop mobilizing their troops and demanded a pledge of neutrality from France. They did not receive a satisfactory reply and they declared war on Russia and France.
A few years later, a crisis arose in the Balkans, as a result of which, the Dreikaiserbund was terminated. In 1877, the Russo-Turkish war broke out with Russia defeating the Turks in 1878. After fierce resistance, the Turks surrendered and signed the Treaty of San Stefano. By signing this treaty, Russia acquired greater influence in the Balkans. Nevertheless, Austria-Hungary did not accept this settlement but on the other hand Bismarck was eager to prevent a
Nationalism was needed to unify Germany, but Metternich, the Austrian Chancellor of State, suppressed nationalism to prevent the breakup of the Austrian empire. With the downfall of Metternich, Austria was weakened and thus made it easier for Prussia to defeat Austria and gain complete control over the unification process, making a unified Germany under Prussian rule possible. Bismarck formed alliances, obtained land, and used realpolitik which were more policies/actions to support Prussia. However, to a lesser degree, he used the Zollverein, or German Customs Union to exclude Austria from Germany. He, therefore, would be considered more of a Prussian nationalist.
These tensions started to disrupt their dual alliance with Austria-Hungary, even with a ‘Blank Cheque’ being given to them. With the Kaiser believing that foreign policy and civil war was increasingly the same, it can be assumed that aggressive foreign policy may have been set to distract the German public away from things at home and more onto how to become a strong world power. A factor that both strengthens and weakens the argument of aggressive foreign policy being the reason for the outbreak of war in 1914 is that of encirclement. Source V mentions ‘They felt encircled not merely by the Triple Entente, but also by the forces of change.’ First of all, Germany became sceptical about the alliance between Britain, France and Russia, the Triple Entente, they thought it was not going to work and did not fear it until they tried to cause problems between France and Britain with the ownership of the Balkan islands, which was unsuccessful. When Germany realised that the entente was a
Why did the opposition grow between August 1914 and December 1916? “The events that took place on the Eastern Front...would have a profound impact upon world history for the remainder of the century.” This reference shows that the facts and historic value of the tsars ruling had a profound effect on history that century. In August 1914 Russia was facing hardship. June 28th Franz Ferdinand was assassinated which later started a war between Germany and Russia. The opposition against the Tsar grew due to the loss of war and other factors such as; the Tsar controlling the army, the refusal to co-operate with the Dumas and Rasputin being an advisor.
The Treaty came about after the “Three Emperors’ League” (Germany, Austria and Russia), collapsed because of disagreements between Austria-Hungary and Russia for spheres of influence in the Balkans. Each party would remain neutral if the other became involved in a war with a third great power; however this would not apply if Germany attacked France or if Russia attacked Austria. Although bad relations
When Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated it set off the July Crisis, which were negotiation meetings to try to prevent war. Austria was outraged that their heir had been assassinated. Germany had promised their support to Austria if an event like this was to happen. Following the July Crisis, Austria delivered the July Ultimatum, which were 10 outrageous demands directed towards Serbia. When Serbia only met 8 of the 10 demands, Austria immediately declared war on Serbia.
Decline and Fall of the Romanovs Why did Russia enter World War 1? Russia entered World War One for many reasons. One was to come to the defence of its ally Serbia after it was attacked by Austria-Hungary because of an assasination believed to have been commited by Serbia. Another reason was when Germany declared War on the 1st of August 1914 for mobilizing its troops the day beforehand. The final reason was Russia’s involment in the Triple Entente, an loose agreement between Russia, France and the United Kingdom .
The assassination of the Archduke of Austria had prompted Austria-Hungary to retaliate by declaring war on Serbia, with the support of Germany. Serbia too, had the powerful Russia as its ally. Therefore, when Russia