Immediate Aftermath of Assassination
Milan Ciganovitch
• Minor Serbian official
• Member of The Black Hand.
• Recruited Princip
• Serbian officials let him
escape
• Kept sending him money
under an assumed name.
• Serbians prevented Austrians
from learning more details
about his involvement.
Question: Why would Serbia hide this man?
The “Blank Check”
• One week later Austrian and German officials
met secretly.
• Germany urged the Austrians to take a firm
stand.
• Germans promised they would support Austria to
the hilt.
• “Blank Check on the resources of the German
Empire”.
• Austria had backed down on previous crises in
the Balkans so Germany felt this encouragement
was necessary.
The Ten Demands
• Austrian officials sent a blistering note to Serbia.
• Accused Serbia of stirring up hostility.
• Blamed the Serbs for doing nothing to prevent the
assassination.
• Gave Serbia 48 hours to meet the following demands:
Responses to Austria’s Demands
• Before replying Serbia asked assurances of support from
Russia.
• Russia’s Foreign Prime minister mobilized for war.
• Serbia wrote up a conciliatory response to Austria’s demands.
It promised to heed some demands and asked for
clarification on others. The only demand rejected outright
was allowing Austria to participate in the trial of alleged
conspirators.
• Worrying about Austria’s response Serbia called up reserves.
• When Austria received Serbia’s response they immediately
recalled their ambassador.
• Three days later Austria declared war on Serbia and shelled its
capitol Belgrade.
Germany Tries to Stem the Tide of War.
• During the crisis Emperor
William I of Germany was on his
yacht.
• This mean Foreign Minister
Bethmann-Hollweg would
continue to advise Austria to
take decisive action.
• When William returned and read
Serbia’s response he was
pleased.
• He then tried to reverse the
military forces.
• He asked Austria to reconsider
war or at least promise not to
take territory.
• His pleas were ignored.
• What is the one thing he could
have done to get their
attention?
Germany Continues to Stem the Tide of
Impending War.
• William contacted Russian Tsar Nicholas II and asked
him to stop mobilizing.
• Fearing a war from both countries Nicholas ordered
mobilization to slow down.
• His generals argued that this would be too confusing.
• Nicholas then learns about Belgrade being bombed.
• He reversed his orders again.
War Begins
• Germany was last to begin
mobilizing.
• Germany’s defense
depended on its ability to
land a knockout punch
against France first before
turning to Russia.
• William sent telegrams
again to Russia and to
France with a deadline
asking them to stop
mobilizing.
• When he was ignored he
had to declare war.
Germany Attacks France
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Germany had been developing plans to attack France since 1892.
Called for them to attack through Neutral Belgium.
Germany had publicly declared to respect neutrality though.
Belgium held out for 18 days.
France wasn’t ready for this, but Belgium got them the time to prep.
France tried to attack Germany’s Lorraine but lost the battle and her best
soldiers.
Germans almost took Paris.
France attacked at the Marne. Germany forced to retreat.
Germans stopped retreating at dug into trenches.
500,00 dead in conflict.
Stalemate on the Western Front
• Warfare changed with machine guns and trenches.
• Trenches stretched 600 miles.
• “No-Mans Land”
Stalemate on the Eastern Front
• Austrians/Germans fighting Russians
Desperation
• The “War of Attack” had become a “War of
Attrition”.
• Trade with neutral nations became a
necessity.
Activity
1. Timeline – sum up events that lead to WWI
2. Paragraph – Who do you blame the most for
World War I?
3. Bulleted Answer: Objectively speaking, what
actions by both sides could be judged
irresponsible and be blamed for starting
World War I?