assassination in sarajevo

  • Austria-Hungary had taken over (annexed) part of the balkans called Bosnia-Herzegovina in 1908j

    • a sizeable part of the Bosnian population were Serbs (from Serbia)

    • The Bosnian Serbs were tired of their Austro-Hungarian rulers

      • they wanted to live in an independent Slavic state

    • many wanted to join with the neighbouring state of Serbia to form a ‘Greater Serbia’

  • One Bosnian Serb was Gavrilo Princip

    • He was a student who joined a terrorist group called the Black Hand

      • this terrorist group was committed to the unification of Bosnia-Herzegovina with Serbia

      • They trained in Serbia using weapons supplied by the Serb military intelligence chief

        • He was the head of the terrorist group

  • The heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, planned to visit Sarajevo (the Bosnian capital) on the 28th June 1914

    • This was also a chance to inspect troops in Bosnia and a gift to his wife, Sophie, to celebrate their wedding anniversary

    • Princip and other young members of the black hand travelled to Sarajevo to assassinate the Archduke

  • The Archduke said “It is nothing” as he lay dying

    • at first, the assassination looked like it would result in nothing, despite it being shocking

    • the German Kaiser, who was yachting at the time, was unsure whether he needed to cancel the race he was attending

    • At first no one saw it as a spark to war

      • it was over a month before Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia

  • it took time for Austro-Hungarian officials to implicate the Serbian state in the assassination

    • The Germans sent assurances that they would support them

    • this promise is sometimes referred to as the ‘blank cheque’ — the German government said it would support Austria-Hungary no matter what actions it decided to take over the assassination

    • Emperor Franz Joseph and the Austro-Hungarian government thought that as long as Germany supported their attack on Serbia, the Russians would not get involved

  • There weeks after the assassination, Austria-Hungary sent Serbia an ultimatum

    • The Austrians held Serbia responsible for the assassination and demanded that the Serb government round up anti-Austro-Hungarian agitators

    • The Austro-Hungarians knew that Serbia could not agree to the terms of the ultimatum

    • The refusal of Serbia to grant the demands would provide Austria-Hungary with the reason they wanted to declare war

  • in 1914, Europe was primed for war

    • it was not only the politicians who were anticipating war — rearmament and frequent war scared had caused European society to become increasingly militaristic and nationalistic

    • many people not only expected war, but welcomed it

    • each side had long prepared for war

    • they had written plans, books and policies on what to do

    • these plans also played a part in the outbreak of large-scale war in 1914

  • the most influential plan was that of Germany — the Schlieffen plan

    • it was an ambitious plan designed to avoid Germany having to fight a two-front war against France and Russia

    • the plan was to invade France and capture Paris before the Russians could mobilise

    • it relied on three things

      • German speed

      • Slow Russian mobilisation

      • Britain staying out of the war

  • Britain’s position in 1914 was complicated

    • despite having alliances with France and Russia, Britain had made no firm promises to help them in the war

    • however, Britain had promised to protect the neutrality of Belgium if it was ever attacked

    • the Schlieffen plan required the German army to attack France through Belgium

    • The German generals gambled that Britain would not keep its promise to defend Belgium

    • “For a scrap of paper, Great Britain is joint to make war?” - German Chancellor Theobald von Bethmann-Holleweg

  • The Schlieffen plan was supposed to win the war for Germany

    • However, things did not go according to plan

    • The French and Belgian forces offered stiff resistance, helped by the small but effective British Expeditionary Force (BEF)

    • The Germans were not able to reach Paris in the six weeks they had planned

    • By 4th september 1914, the Germans were in sight of Paris, but were forced to turn back

    • The French had been able to divert troops to defend it thanks to the French rail network

    • The Germans were stopped at the Battle of the Marne and Paris was saved

  • Whilst German advance in the west was grinding slowly on, the Russian army was mobilising with surprising speed

    • Germany had expected Russian mobilisation to take six weeks

    • Russian forces entered German territory on 17th August — just 16 days after Germany had declared war

    • The Schlieffen plan had failed and a quick victory was now impossible

    • Both sides in the west were forced to dig in for trench warfare

    • German general Helmuth von Moltke, on hearing of the Russian mobilisation, told the Kaiser “The war is lost”