The July Crisis
1914
The Story of How WW1 Began
28 June 1914
The assassination of
Arch Duke Franz
Ferdinand, the heir
to the AustroHungarian throne, in
Sarajevo by Serbian
nationalist Gavrilo
Princip.
6 July 1914
The Germans issue the infamous 'blank cheque' to AustriaHungary.
“His Majesty will faithfully stand by Austria-Hungary, as
is required by the obligations of his alliance and of his
ancient friendship.”
- Chancellor von Bethmann-Hollweg
7 July 1914
The Austro-Hungarian cabinet draft the
infamous ultimatum to Serbia, which is
purposely designed to be unacceptable.
They delay the delivery of it until the
23rd of July.
Austrian Emperor Franz
Joseph
21 July 1914
Russia warns that they will
not stand for Austrian
action against Serbia.
25 July 1914
The Serbian cabinet surprisingly yields on almost all the
ultimatums demands. The response is delivered with just five
minutes to spare. That night both Austria-Hungary and Serbia
begin mobilisation. Just three days later, Austria declares war.
29 July 1914
A flurry of telegrams
begins to fly around
Europe. Germany urges
Russia to halt
mobilisation, Britain
warns that they cannot
guarantee their
neutrality
1 Aug 1914
Germany fully mobilises and declares war on Russia. France has
committed to help Russia.
3 Aug 1914
Germany declares war on France, as
called for in the Schlieffen plan. The
Belgians refuse free passage to
German forces, but German forces
enter Belgian territory regardless.
4 Aug 1914
The British issue an ultimatum to Germany regarding Belgium.
They never receive a response and shortly are forced to declare
war on Germany - the July Crisis is over and the world is now at
war.