What was the July Crisis?

The first important person in this story was the man who was waiting to inherit the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

His name was Franz Ferdinand, and in July 1914, he was 51 years old.

At this time, the Austrian-Hungarian empire was struggling to handle so many different people groups that existed under their control.

There were many regions in the Balkans that really wanted to break away from Austrian-Hungarian control to be their own nation.

One of the regions that wanted their freedom was called Bosnia. Bosnia was home to a mix of ethnic groups, including Bosniaks (Bosnian Muslims), Serbs, and Croats.

The annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina by Austria-Hungary in 1908, known as the Bosnian Crisis, significantly heightened tensions between Serbia and Austria-Hungary.

Very close by to Bosnia was a country called Serbia, that the Bosnian Serbs wanted to join instead of being controlled by the Austrio-Hungarians. 

To try and meet with the people of Bosnia and try to settle the growing anger against the Austrian-Hungarian empire, Franz Ferdinand decided to visit the capital city of Bosnia, called Sarajevo.

His visit was planned for the 28th of June, 1914.

This visit was public information, because Franz Ferdinand wanted people to see him drive through the city on his way to City Hall, in order for them to get to know him and, hopefully, make the crowds like him better.

However, since everyone knew Franz Ferdinand was coming, some terrorists thought it would be a good time to try and attack him.

A particular group of Serbians, who wanted Bosnia to be free from the Austrian-Hungarians, planned a coordinated attack on the cars Franz Ferdinand would be using to drive through the streets of Sarajevo.

The group was called 'The Black Hand'. Officially known as 'Unification or Death', the Black Hand was a secret Serbian society committed to the creation of a Greater Serbia.

Seven young men from this group agreed to undertake the attack, and they armed themselves with crude bombs, pistols and, if they had to take their own lives to avoid being arrested, cyanide poison pills. 

As planned, Franz Ferdinand made his visit to Sarajevo on June 28. A lot of people lined the streets along the route his cars were due to travel, and scattered in the crowds were the assassins from The Black Hand.

The first two attackers were unable to throw their grenades because the streets were too crowded.

The third attacker did throw a grenade, but it exploded under the car behind the one the archduke was in.

Those that were injured in the blast were taken in a car to hospital, but the archduke kept driving and arrived safely at City Hall.

It appeared that the assassination attempt had been a failure. As the crowds started heading home, so did the rest of the assassins.

However, when Franz Ferdinand had finished his meeting at City Hall, he decided that he should visit the people who had been injured in the bomb blast.

So, getting back in his car, he ordered his driver to go to the hospital.

On the way, however, his driver took a wrong turn and had to stop the car in order to reverse. 

By sheer chance, the car had stopped in front of one of the assassins, Gavrilo Princip, who was walking home.

Realising that he had a second chance to carry out the planned assassination, Princip raised his pistol and fired two shots at the archduke before he was stopped. 

The first shot hit Franz Ferdinand in the neck, and the second shot hit his wife, Sophie, in the abdomen.

Both died shortly after the attack.

The 19-year-old Gavrilo Princip was quickly arrested and imprisoned. Following the assassination, the Sarajevo Trial was held, where Gavrilo Princip and his co-conspirators were tried and convicted, with Princip receiving a 20-year prison sentence due to his being underage at the time of the assassination.

However, the death of a member of a European royal family as a result of a nationalist group was something that other European countries couldn't ignore. Many of them would see this as an opportunity to start a war.

The Austro-Hungarian government had been trying to think of a reason to attack Serbia for years, and they saw the death of Franz Ferdinand as a legitimate reason to invade.

Serbia was a tiny country compared to the Austrian-Hungarian empire, so it seemed like any war would be a quick and easy conquest for the empire.

The only cause for pause was the knowledge that Serbia had an alliance with Russia, who had promised to protect them if they were attacked.

Despite Austria-Hungary's size, Russia was even bigger.

Therefore, Austria-Hungary was worried that Russia would declare war on them, if they declared war on Serbia. 

So, to ensure that they were sufficiently protected against Russia, Austria-Hungary went to their own ally, Germany, and asked if they would protect them against a Russian attack. 

After Austria-Hungary asked for Germany's assistance, one of the first steps of the July Crisis was taken.

The German Kaiser, Wilhelm II, promised Germany's 'unconditional support' for Austria-Hungary if they attacked Serbia.

With this statement, the Austrian-Hungarians felt far more confident that they could survive any Russian counterattacks following an invasion of Serbia.

This is often called a 'blank cheque' promise. However, cheques are rarely used now, so most people don't know what this means. 

In today’s terms, you could compare it to giving someone unrestricted access to your online bank account.

Imagine if you gave your friend your online banking login details and said they could transfer as much money as they wanted to themselves.

This is what Germany was offering: unlimited support for whatever they decided to do.

On the 23rd of July, 1914, Austria-Hungary issued a formal list of demands to Serbia.

They stated that if the demands were not met, then Serbia would be attacked. The wording of the ultimatum was carefully thought out by the Austrian-Hungarians so that it was almost impossible for Serbia to accept them without having to fall under the control of the Austrian-Hungarian empire.

Serbia agreed to most of the demands but sought international arbitration for a few points. 

It was finally decided that Serbia could not comply with all of the demands in the ultimatum, and that they had to prepare for war.

After the deadline had passed and Serbia had not accepted every one of the demands, Austria-Hungary formally declared war on Serbia and began moving its troops to invade.

On the 30th of July, Russia mobilised its armed forces in preparation for war. The Russian mobilization was a significant escalation in the crisis, as it signaled Russia's willingness to enter into a conflict in defense of Serbia.

Germany sent a formal demand to Russia to demobilise their army, which would be a sign that Russia wouldn't attack Austria-Hungary. Russia ignored this demand.

Both the armies of Germany and France ordered their troops to mobilise in preparation for war.

Russia had signed an agreement with France that, in the event that they were attacked, France would support Russia.

The mobilisation of French troops concerned Germany. By the end of the day, Germany had declared war on Russia.

As a way of neutralising the French threat, Germany planned to invade France by racing through the country of Belgium and into northern France.

However, Germany needed to be sure that Belgium wouldn't attack them and slow down their advance.

Therefore, on the 2nd of August, Germany delivered an ultimatum to Belgium, demanding that they stay out of the war by officially declaring themselves 'neutral'.

The day after Germany's ultimatum to Belgium, Britain declared that it would defend Belgian if they were attacked.

It was made clear that if German troops entered Belgium's territory, it would be considered an attack on Belgium.

Germany now realised that if they attacked Belgium, they would be at war with Britain as well.

Following Britain's announcement, Belgium officially rejected Germany's ultimatum.

Then, on the 4th of August, German troops invaded Belgium. As promised, Britain declared war on Germany.

The July Crisis was now over, and World War One had begun.