The Road to World
War 1
Problems in the Balkans (1906 –
1912)

Many different ethnicities in
the Balkans

Wars to get Ottoman Empire
out of Balkans

Conflicts over land disputes

Country borders do not take
in Ethnic boundaries


Serbia wants 1) economic
independence from A.H. 2)
Greater Serbia Nation
A.H. treats minority groups
poorly
Franz Ferdinand



Current leader of A.H.
not sympathetic to
Serbia, Serbs in A.H
and Serbs in Bosnia.
His nephew, Franz
Ferdinand in line for the
thrown
Ferdinand wants to give
minorities more say and
autonomy, but still
under A.H.
Sarajevo Crisis – Assassination
of Franz Ferdinand




June 28th, 1914
Franz Ferdinand and wife
Sophia visit Sarajevo in
effort to better the relations
with Bosnian Serbs
Serbian Nationalist group The
Black Hand, wanted to take
this opportunity to
assassinate Franz Ferdinand
19 yr old, Princip was
successful in assassinating
the archduke and his wife
during an accidental wrong
turn by Ferdinand’s driver.
July Crisis 1914


A.H. suspected Serbian government to
be behind the assassination
A.H. knowing war is looming looked to
get support from major ally, Germany
July Crisis, 1914
Germany’s Blank Check
A.H. Prime Minister Berechtold meets the
Kaiser about backing A.H. in a potential war
against Serbia
 Kaiser Wilhelm gives A.H. a “BLANK CHECK”
on July 5th
 Germany willing to risk war
now, because afraid after
1916, Russia would be too
strong

Germany’s Blank Check
Kaiser Wilhelm
Prime Minister Berchtold
July Crisis, 1914
A.H. Ultimatum to Serbia
Sent an Ultimatum to Serbia on July 19th,
delivered July 23rd
 Serbs given 48 hours to respond


WITH A PARTNER: Read Ultimatum,
answer:
1) List the demands Austria has for Serbia
 2) Do you think Austria’s demands are just?

July Crisis, 1914
A.H. Ultimatum to Serbia
Sent an Ultimatum to Serbia on July 19th,
delivered July 23rd
 Serbs given 48 hours to respond
 Austria demands a lot of Serbia
 Serbia agrees to ALL except 1 key element:

Serbia refused to allow the involvement of A.H.
in the investigation of the assassination within
Serbia
 This threatened Serbia’s sovereignty

Escalation to War
July 25th
 Austria breaks off relations with Serbia
July 28th
 A.H. declares war on Serbia
July 30th
 Czar issues mobilization order
August 1st
 Germans mobilize, declare war on Russia
August 3rd
 France declares war on Germany
 Germany invades Belgium
August 4th
 Great Britain declares war on Germany
th
4 ,
By August
1914,
all Great European
Powers are involved
and World War 1 has
begun