Military History of the First World War
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The run-up to the war: The July Crisis, 1914
On 28th June 1914, Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the throne, was assassinated at Sarajevo in Bosnia. The assassination was organised by the Serbian General Staff. The Austrians, however, were not able to respond swiftly. For example, the Hungarian primeminister, Tisza, delayed matters by insisting on all protocols being adhered to. He insisted that no Slavs should actually be taken over until German support was guaranteed. On 5 July, however, the Kaiser issued his 'blank cheque' - unequivocal support for Austria in the Balkans. Thus the Germans gave full support to Austria-Hungary. Germany was fully aware of the ultimatum being prepared against Serbia. The Germans did believe that war would be triggered by Russian mobilization. On 19th July the text of an ultimatum was agreed upon and on 23rd July the ultimatum was sent to Serbia. It required: (1) the Serbian government to forbid activities against Austria on Serbian territory; (2) The Serbain government was required to ban a nationalist organisation; (3) Austrian officials would be allowed to take part in an enquiry into the assassination of the Archduke. The ultimatum was delivered on 24th July. On 24th July the Russian foreign minister Sazanov learnt of the terms of the ultimatum. On 25th July the Serbs appealed to the Tsar for help. At this time the French president, Raymond Poincare, and Prime Minister Rene Viviani were returning from Russia. They left on July 24th and only returned on July 30th. The Tsar ordered mobilisation. Because of military plans, mobilisation was forced to take place along the whole frontier of Russia. The Serbs were prepared to negotiate with the Austrians, but the Austrians gave them only 48 hours to decide and they opted to fight. On 27th July Grey endeavoured to obtain German support for a diplomatic solution to the crisis, but Berlin rejected this. On 28 July Austria declared war on Serbia and Belgrade was bombarded by gunboats. The Kaiser began to have second thoughts, but German chief of staff, Moltke, had already called for Austria's immediate mobilisation. On 30th July Russia issued a full mobilisation order.
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Contents of
Military History of the First World War
1 The Central Powers and the Entente
2 The run-up to the war: The July Crisis, 1914
3 Military Planning in Advance of the War
4 Serbia and the Eastern Front, 1914
5 The Battle for the Marne
6 The Race to the Sea and the First Battle of Ypres
7 First Battle of Ypres
8 The Pacific
9 Africa
10 The Eastern Front during 1915
11 Italy enters the war
12 The Balkans
13 The Western Front
14 Gallipoli
15 The Western Front, 1916
16 Verdun
17 The Battle of the Somme
18 The Trentino Offensive
19 The Brusilov Offensive
20 Romania
21 The Russian Front in 1917
22 Mesopotamia
23 The Nivelle Offensive
24 The Third Battle of Ypres (The Battle of Passendaele)
25 Cambrai
26 Caporetto
27 German offensive in Russia, 1918
28 Ludendorff's offensive in the West
29 Allied counter-offensive
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