The July Crisis free essay sample

The July Crisis: Key Events from 28th June 1914 to 15th August 1914 Aayush Singal MESCH 10 A Due Date: 10/4/13 Word Count: 967 There were a lot of crucial events that took place between the time period of 28th June 1914 and 15th August 1914 that a made small, local war between Austria-Hungary and Serbia into an immense and brutal World War. To be detailed, the World War did not start as a big world war. It all started when Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary was assassinated by a Serbian terrorist group named Black Hand on June 28th 1914. After the assassination, started a local war, then by the help of alliances became a big European war and it eventually due to the colonies and more alliances become a world war. This essay will be explaining the events that took place to make a local war in to the disastrous World War I. The first event or the trigger event of the war is the assassination of the Habsburg Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife on 28th June 1914 by a Bosnian-Serb guy named Gavrilo Princip who belonged to an extreme nationalist group named â€Å"The Black Hand†. We will write a custom essay sample on The July Crisis or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page After the assassination, Austria-Hungary got mad at Serbia and wanted to investigate the matter meticulously. Serbia agreed to them and started the process of investigation on this issue. While this was going on, the German Empire gave a â€Å"Blank Check† to Austria-Hungary. This was basically a promise of the Germans to the Austria-Hungarians that they would give unconditional support to them in any action Germany wants to take against Serbia. Looking at this support, Austria-Hungary became more powerful and it sent an ultimatum to Serbia. Despite of the fact that this ultimatum had many unacceptable clauses, Serbia agreed to 9 out of the 10 demands to prevent war on 25th July. Serbia, in their reply, also requested for some more time and some further clarifications. But, because of Germany’s support, Austria-Hungary rejected the response of Serbia and declared war against them on 28th July. On 29th July, Austria-Hungary started the war with the bombardment of the Serb capital Belgrade. Here is the first the first phase of the World War which was, at the start of war, called the Habsburg-Serbian War. After this war started, the alliances kicked in and they started to join the war one by one in the same manner how the dominoes fall when they are arranged consecutively. On 31st July, Russia started to mobilize its army to support Serbia against Germany and Austria-Hungary. Hearing this, Austria-Hungary too started to mobilize their army to the Russian frontiers while Germany sent an ultimatum to Russia to demobilize their army. This ultimatum was rejected by Russia on 1st August. France knew that Germany would come to them for war, so on the 1st August; they also started to mobilize their army. Also, looking at these situations, Germany got ready and started to mobilize their army. And since Russia had rejected Germany’s ultimatum, Germany declared war on Russia. At this moment, a small local war between Austria-Hungary and Serbia became a Larger European war. On the same day, Italy declared itself to be neutral in this war. Not only that, but they also left the Triple Alliance saying that this alliance is just a Mutual Defense Alliance (MDA) and Italy will not support its allies with aggressive actions. On 2nd August, Germany sent an ultimatum to Belgium demanding to use to territory to execute their Schlieffen Plan. The next day, after Belgium read the ultimatum, rejected it. Germany on the other hand looking at France mobilizing, declared war on France. Looking at their Schlieffen Plan failing due to the fast mobilization of Russia, Germany made a secret treaty of alliance with the Ottoman Empire to fight against Russia. On the other hand, due to the violation of the Belgian Neutrality Treaty which Germany had signed on itself, Great Britain sent an ultimatum to Germany to stop using the territory of Belgium. Soon after the ultimatum reaches Germany, it rejected the ultimatum. As a result of this, Great Britain declared war against Germany. Due to Great Britain joining the war, this war became into big World War instead of just being a Large European War. This was because of the amount of colonies and more allies that Great Britain had. On the 6th of August, declaring of war was still going on. Austria-Hungary declared war on Russia, and Serbia declared war on Germany. Since Japan was an ally on Great Britain, it also joined the war by first sending an ultimatum to Germany for seizing some of its islands and then later actually declaring war on Germany on the 23rd of August. In conclusion, you can see through the paragraphs above how the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand leads to a local war between Austria-Hungary and Serbia. And then later, it became a Larger European War between some of the big European Powers when Germany gave a â€Å"Blank Check† to Austria-Hungary. And at the end, because of Germany’s Schlieffen Plan, they invaded Belgium violating the Belgian Neutrality Treaty which made them receive an ultimatum by Great Britain. When Germany refused to agree to the ultimatum, Great Britain declared war on Germany making it into the horrendous World War I. Bibliography * Ellis, E. G. , amp; Esler, A. (2009). Prentice Hall world history. Boston, Mass. : Pearson Prentice Hall. * First World War. com Feature Articles The July Crisis. (n. d. ). First World War. com A Multimedia History of World War One. Retrieved April 6, 2013, from http://www. firstworldwar. com/origins/julycrisis. htm [ 1 ]. An ultimatum is a demand backed by a threat and/or use of force [ 2 ]. The â€Å"Blank Check† given by the Germans was a promise of unconditional support for any action Austria-Hungary takes against Serbia.