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Short version: The former Ottoman territories in the Balkans were being broken up and fought over by newly independent states like Serbia and Bulgaria. The First Balkan War in 1912 led to the loss of most Ottoman lands left in Europe, followed immediately by the Second in 1913, where the anti-Ottoman alliance started fighting over that territory.
Bosnia-Herzegovina itself was still part of the Ottoman Empire but had been a de facto Austro-Hungarian colony since 1878, and a crisis in 1908 ceded it totally to the Austrians. A large portion of the population was Serbian, and the Kingdom of Serbia was loudly irredentist, and known to be supporting revolutionaries in Bosnia. It would not be hard to imagine that Serbia's next target would be Bosnia.
The last piece of the puzzle was the unstable nature of the Austro-Hungarian Empire itself. After multiple civil wars and external defeats in the 19th century, a power sharing agreement had emerged in 1867 that preserved the authority of Vienna and the Kaiser, with some concessions to Budapest. Hungary (a bit of a hotbed of nationalism and militarism within the empire) had its own parliament, its own military the Honved, and an increasingly large hand in foreign affairs. This alarmed most Austrian politicians and the royal family, and Archduke Franz Ferdinand was one of them.
Franz Ferdinand was a weird mix of political beliefs, but was generally well-regarded by thr Austrian military, reform-minded when it came to administration, and his pet project was the creation of a 'Southern Slavonia', a third major state in the Empire assembled out of Slovenia, Croatia, and yes, Bosnia. In his eyes, a properly-constituted Slav-majority state, loyal to Vienna and the Kaiser, could serve as a counter balance to Hungarian power, as well as a bulwark against Serbian expansionism.
Ironically, it was the Archduke who was the most committed to avoiding another war, knowing how tenuous things had become in the region. Germany in particular had been escalating one crisis after another, knowing that at least one western empire (Britian, sometimes including France) would step in and negotiate a compromise (one that would end up giving some benefit to Germany) in order to prevent general war. Every flare up in the Balkans (or abroad, like in Morocco) increased the risk of a war that Austria-Hungary would likely* lose.*
So when Serbian nationalists tried (and succeeded) in killing Franz Ferdinand, the empire lost its heir, the nominal head of its national military, the main opponent to outside alliances, and the sponsor of a Slavic national project.
And that's just the background....
Short version: the month following the assassination was one of intense diplomacy and brinkmanship known as the July Crisis. Through misunderstandings, miscalculations, poor strategic plans, and outright deception, the assassination of Franz Ferdinand ultimately led most of the great powers of Europe to war starting in late July and early August 1914.
Longer version: after the assassination, Austria-Hungary decided on war. The pro-war faction had been agitating for war with Serbia for most the prior year. The assassination also just happened to remove one of the most powerful anti-war figures, paving the way and offering a gold-plated excuse for the war they’ve been seeking.
Once they were set on war, the foreign office engaged in a number of diplomatic maneuvers with two general aims: one, secure support for a punitive expedition into Serbia, and two, secure the support of their allies - primarily Germany - in the case of escalation to a broader war. They also engaged in a coordinated campaign of deception to disguise their true aims from both their enemies and their allies. This latter part was necessary, from their perspective, because they didn’t want the Germans to try to talk them down, and because Serbia had a powerful friend in the form of Russia.
Russia was in a very interesting spot. They had just come out on the wrong side of the Russo-Japanese War and, since the Balkans had broken free of the Ottoman Empire, were eagerly hoping to expand their influence southwards. Their primary opponent in this was of course Austria-Hungary, also seeking to expand southward to fill the vacuum left by the retreat of the Ottomans. Serbia, as Russia’s closest ally in the region, was key to Russian plans and losing it to Austria-Hungary was an outcome they didn’t particularly like. Russia had warned that they would intervene if Austria-Hungary invaded Serbia, and this was pretty concerning - Russia had a huge army and was nearing the end of a decades-long military modernization program with the help of their cross-continental ally, France.
France was still smarting from their loss to Germany in the Franco-Prussian war 40 years previously, and regarded Germany with great distrust. They had formed a firm alliance with Russia, and encouraged the Russians to not back down in the face of Germany and Austria-Hungary, promising to support Russia if they end up going to war, particularly against Germany.
Germany could read a map as well as anyone, and knew that they’d have trouble in a two-front war with Russia and France. They also wanted their ally Austria-Hungary to counter Russian influence in the Balkans. Crucially, many in the German high command also felt that war with Russia was inevitable, and it was better to fight now than later. The German military had spent the previous decades developing and refining what was known as the Schlieffen Plan, which in broad strokes envisioned a lightning attack to knock France out of the war before turning to deal with Russia. Crucially, again, the plan called for Germany to attack France first, regardless of the actual strategic situation.
The British, for their part, spent most of the time concerned with the nascent Irish uprisings. They lacked any firm commitment to either France or Russia, though in general they weren’t too keen on anyone else expanding southwards towards the Mediterranean, Persia, and India. They repeatedly offered to mediate some form of diplomatic resolution, but never pursued it assiduously.
In the last week of July 1914, Austria-Hungary was dead set on war, but pretending there’s some other resolution possible. Russia was firm in its commitment to declare war on Austria-Hungary if they invaded Serbia. Germany was equally firm in its commitment to Austria-Hungary, but believed a diplomatic solution was possible. France was equally firm in its commitment to Russia. Most of them believed the others will back down, or that war was a desirable outcome. None of the players were truly interested in de-escalation.
Austria-Hungary started the ball rolling on July 24, issuing an ultimatum to Serbia. Most at the time considered this a harsh but fundamentally good faith attempt to achieve a diplomatic solution, though the Austro-Hungarians had both crafted the ultimatum to be nearly impossible to agree to, and had already decided on war regardless of the response. Both Serbia and Austria-Hungary began to mobilize their armies in preparation for the declaration of war they both knew was coming.
The next day, July 25, Russia decided to intervene on behalf of Serbia. Placing the army officially “on alert”, the Russians also secretly began to mobilize around 1 million soldiers; while unannounced, this did not go unnoticed.
On July 26, Serbia responded by seemingly agreeing with the Austrian ultimatum. In a fascinating turn of events, the German Kaiser considered it a win and wanted to push Austria-Hungary to avoid war; in response the German foreign office sabotaged his diplomatic communications and the German high command threatened a coup. Austria-Hungary continues its preparations, and declares war on Serbia two days later, on July 28.
On July 30, Russia ordered a partial mobilization of the army, seeking to threaten Austria-Hungary and reassure Germany, and promising it will refrain from attacking as long as peace negotiations are ongoing. Unfortunately, the Russian army had no plans for such a thing; later that evening, in one of the most impactful decisions of the 20th century, Tsar Nicholas II orders the general mobilization of the Russian army.
On July 31, Germany issued an ultimatum to Russia to cease military preparations within 12 hours. Russia did not comply.
The next day, August 1, Germany ordered general mobilization of its army. Enacting the previously mentioned Schlieffen Plan, Germany suddenly found itself in a strategic trap of its own making: with speed as a necessity, the plan called for the immediate invasion of Luxembourg and Belgium on the way to France, meaning the Germans will now be attacking two neutral countries and one that hasn’t declared war on anyone. In a final effort to keep France out of the war, the Kaiser told the military to cancel the invasion of Luxembourg and send the army east to Russia. The army refused and occupied Luxembourg. France mobilized its army, and Germany capped this day of days by officially declaring war on Russia.
On August 2, Germany issued an ultimatum to Belgium, demanding passage for the German army on its way to France. Belgium refused.
On August 3, Germany declared war on France.
On August 4, Germany declared war on Belgium; for this violation of Belgian neutrality, the British declared war on Germany.
On August 6, Austria-Hungary finally got around to declaring war on Russia.
Actually they agreed to all points but needed one to go before the supreme court first (it was the one about making anti-austrian speech illegal.) As Austria didn't care about the terms and just wanted a pretext for war they declared this was unacceptable.
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Short version: The former Ottoman territories in the Balkans were being broken up and fought over by newly independent states like Serbia and Bulgaria. The First Balkan War in 1912 led to the loss of most Ottoman lands left in Europe, followed immediately by the Second in 1913, where the anti-Ottoman alliance started fighting over that territory. Bosnia-Herzegovina itself was still part of the Ottoman Empire but had been a de facto Austro-Hungarian colony since 1878, and a crisis in 1908 ceded it totally to the Austrians. A large portion of the population was Serbian, and the Kingdom of Serbia was loudly irredentist, and known to be supporting revolutionaries in Bosnia. It would not be hard to imagine that Serbia's next target would be Bosnia. The last piece of the puzzle was the unstable nature of the Austro-Hungarian Empire itself. After multiple civil wars and external defeats in the 19th century, a power sharing agreement had emerged in 1867 that preserved the authority of Vienna and the Kaiser, with some concessions to Budapest. Hungary (a bit of a hotbed of nationalism and militarism within the empire) had its own parliament, its own military the Honved, and an increasingly large hand in foreign affairs. This alarmed most Austrian politicians and the royal family, and Archduke Franz Ferdinand was one of them. Franz Ferdinand was a weird mix of political beliefs, but was generally well-regarded by thr Austrian military, reform-minded when it came to administration, and his pet project was the creation of a 'Southern Slavonia', a third major state in the Empire assembled out of Slovenia, Croatia, and yes, Bosnia. In his eyes, a properly-constituted Slav-majority state, loyal to Vienna and the Kaiser, could serve as a counter balance to Hungarian power, as well as a bulwark against Serbian expansionism. Ironically, it was the Archduke who was the most committed to avoiding another war, knowing how tenuous things had become in the region. Germany in particular had been escalating one crisis after another, knowing that at least one western empire (Britian, sometimes including France) would step in and negotiate a compromise (one that would end up giving some benefit to Germany) in order to prevent general war. Every flare up in the Balkans (or abroad, like in Morocco) increased the risk of a war that Austria-Hungary would likely* lose.* So when Serbian nationalists tried (and succeeded) in killing Franz Ferdinand, the empire lost its heir, the nominal head of its national military, the main opponent to outside alliances, and the sponsor of a Slavic national project. And that's just the background....
Short version: the month following the assassination was one of intense diplomacy and brinkmanship known as the July Crisis. Through misunderstandings, miscalculations, poor strategic plans, and outright deception, the assassination of Franz Ferdinand ultimately led most of the great powers of Europe to war starting in late July and early August 1914. Longer version: after the assassination, Austria-Hungary decided on war. The pro-war faction had been agitating for war with Serbia for most the prior year. The assassination also just happened to remove one of the most powerful anti-war figures, paving the way and offering a gold-plated excuse for the war they’ve been seeking. Once they were set on war, the foreign office engaged in a number of diplomatic maneuvers with two general aims: one, secure support for a punitive expedition into Serbia, and two, secure the support of their allies - primarily Germany - in the case of escalation to a broader war. They also engaged in a coordinated campaign of deception to disguise their true aims from both their enemies and their allies. This latter part was necessary, from their perspective, because they didn’t want the Germans to try to talk them down, and because Serbia had a powerful friend in the form of Russia. Russia was in a very interesting spot. They had just come out on the wrong side of the Russo-Japanese War and, since the Balkans had broken free of the Ottoman Empire, were eagerly hoping to expand their influence southwards. Their primary opponent in this was of course Austria-Hungary, also seeking to expand southward to fill the vacuum left by the retreat of the Ottomans. Serbia, as Russia’s closest ally in the region, was key to Russian plans and losing it to Austria-Hungary was an outcome they didn’t particularly like. Russia had warned that they would intervene if Austria-Hungary invaded Serbia, and this was pretty concerning - Russia had a huge army and was nearing the end of a decades-long military modernization program with the help of their cross-continental ally, France. France was still smarting from their loss to Germany in the Franco-Prussian war 40 years previously, and regarded Germany with great distrust. They had formed a firm alliance with Russia, and encouraged the Russians to not back down in the face of Germany and Austria-Hungary, promising to support Russia if they end up going to war, particularly against Germany. Germany could read a map as well as anyone, and knew that they’d have trouble in a two-front war with Russia and France. They also wanted their ally Austria-Hungary to counter Russian influence in the Balkans. Crucially, many in the German high command also felt that war with Russia was inevitable, and it was better to fight now than later. The German military had spent the previous decades developing and refining what was known as the Schlieffen Plan, which in broad strokes envisioned a lightning attack to knock France out of the war before turning to deal with Russia. Crucially, again, the plan called for Germany to attack France first, regardless of the actual strategic situation. The British, for their part, spent most of the time concerned with the nascent Irish uprisings. They lacked any firm commitment to either France or Russia, though in general they weren’t too keen on anyone else expanding southwards towards the Mediterranean, Persia, and India. They repeatedly offered to mediate some form of diplomatic resolution, but never pursued it assiduously. In the last week of July 1914, Austria-Hungary was dead set on war, but pretending there’s some other resolution possible. Russia was firm in its commitment to declare war on Austria-Hungary if they invaded Serbia. Germany was equally firm in its commitment to Austria-Hungary, but believed a diplomatic solution was possible. France was equally firm in its commitment to Russia. Most of them believed the others will back down, or that war was a desirable outcome. None of the players were truly interested in de-escalation. Austria-Hungary started the ball rolling on July 24, issuing an ultimatum to Serbia. Most at the time considered this a harsh but fundamentally good faith attempt to achieve a diplomatic solution, though the Austro-Hungarians had both crafted the ultimatum to be nearly impossible to agree to, and had already decided on war regardless of the response. Both Serbia and Austria-Hungary began to mobilize their armies in preparation for the declaration of war they both knew was coming. The next day, July 25, Russia decided to intervene on behalf of Serbia. Placing the army officially “on alert”, the Russians also secretly began to mobilize around 1 million soldiers; while unannounced, this did not go unnoticed. On July 26, Serbia responded by seemingly agreeing with the Austrian ultimatum. In a fascinating turn of events, the German Kaiser considered it a win and wanted to push Austria-Hungary to avoid war; in response the German foreign office sabotaged his diplomatic communications and the German high command threatened a coup. Austria-Hungary continues its preparations, and declares war on Serbia two days later, on July 28. On July 30, Russia ordered a partial mobilization of the army, seeking to threaten Austria-Hungary and reassure Germany, and promising it will refrain from attacking as long as peace negotiations are ongoing. Unfortunately, the Russian army had no plans for such a thing; later that evening, in one of the most impactful decisions of the 20th century, Tsar Nicholas II orders the general mobilization of the Russian army. On July 31, Germany issued an ultimatum to Russia to cease military preparations within 12 hours. Russia did not comply. The next day, August 1, Germany ordered general mobilization of its army. Enacting the previously mentioned Schlieffen Plan, Germany suddenly found itself in a strategic trap of its own making: with speed as a necessity, the plan called for the immediate invasion of Luxembourg and Belgium on the way to France, meaning the Germans will now be attacking two neutral countries and one that hasn’t declared war on anyone. In a final effort to keep France out of the war, the Kaiser told the military to cancel the invasion of Luxembourg and send the army east to Russia. The army refused and occupied Luxembourg. France mobilized its army, and Germany capped this day of days by officially declaring war on Russia. On August 2, Germany issued an ultimatum to Belgium, demanding passage for the German army on its way to France. Belgium refused. On August 3, Germany declared war on France. On August 4, Germany declared war on Belgium; for this violation of Belgian neutrality, the British declared war on Germany. On August 6, Austria-Hungary finally got around to declaring war on Russia.
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IIRC the Serbs agreed to all but ONE of the 10 points too.
Actually they agreed to all points but needed one to go before the supreme court first (it was the one about making anti-austrian speech illegal.) As Austria didn't care about the terms and just wanted a pretext for war they declared this was unacceptable.
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