The July Crisis
The July Crisis is the name given to a period of diplomatic maneuvering and military planning among the Great Powers of Europe in the early summer of 1914, culminating in the outbreak of World War I. It began on June 28, with the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo, Bosnia, and is normally considered to have ended on August 4, with Great Britain's declaration of war on Germany. After this date, the Triple Entente of Britain, France, and Russia were formally in hostilities with the Central Powers, Germany and Austria-Hungary, with other combatants later joining on both sides.
The crisis was sparked by Austria-Hungary's determination to punish Serbia, which it believed to be behind the assassination of the archduke, which triggered the alliance systems and war plans of the other powers. The degree to which any one power was especially responsible for this chain of events has been hotly debated among historians and politicians since 1914, though Germany is most often singled out for culpability. Because of its results, including the war itself and the later aftermath of that conflict, the crisis is widely regarded as one of the most significant periods in 20th-century European and even world history.
Background
See also: Causes of World War I
As 1914 began, the major European powers were divided into two rival alliance systems: the Triple Entente of Britain, France, and Russia, and the Triple Alliance of Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy. (However, the exact nature of these alliances differed from one case to another: Germany and Italy, for example, were only pledged to go to war in support of Austria-Hungary if Austria-Hungary was attacked by another power, not if she herself launched an aggressive war.) These alliances reflected the long-running grievances that existed between many nations: the French, for example, resented German occupation of Alsace-Lorraine, while Germans were angered over what they saw as British efforts to deny them their fair share of colonial territory in Africa. Militant nationalism, naval arms races, and imperialism all played a role in these tensions.
In the eyes of many statesmen and diplomats, the greatest danger spot was in the Balkans, where the deterioration of the Ottoman Empire in the late 19th and early 20th centuries had led to heated competition between Russia and Austria-Hungary to dominate the region. Further complicating matters was the emergence of several small nations from Ottoman control, such as Bulgaria, Montenegro, and above all Serbia, all eager to establish their own position in southeastern Europe. Despite being client states of Russia from time to time, these nations fought a series of conflicts between themselves, known as the Balkan Wars, to gain territory and resources at each other's expense; these had only concluded in autumn 1913. Relations were also severely strained between Serbia and Austria-Hungary, due to the latter's annexation in 1908 of Bosnia, which was multiethnic but included a heavy contingent of Serbs. This complex political situation, and its readiness to break into open conflict at any moment, led some observers to warn that peace on the continent was very precarious, and that it would likely be a Balkan incident which dragged everyone into war. Still, as the summer of 1914 began, a general European war did not seem any more likely than it had in the preceding few years.
