110 years ago today, on June 28, 1914, the assassination of Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand took place in Sarajevo. The murder of Ferdinand and his wife by a Serbian student proved to be the spark responsible for igniting World War I. Despite not being a popular or well-regarded member of the Austrian monarchy, the fact remained that Ferdinand was heir presumptive to the throne of Austria-Hungary. A reply from Vienna was expected and given the bad blood that existed between Serbia and the Austro-Hungarian empire, a rather heavy-handed response was anticipated to be imminent. Having said this, very few European leaders, diplomats, and general officers seriously believed that the Sarajevo Incident would blossom into a continent-wide conflagration. The assassination was chalked up as the latest in a string of crises and minor conflicts to spring from the Balkans in recent years.
As June turned to early July this appeared to be the direction the crisis was taking, at least on the surface. Austria was slowly formulating its response, at a pace that most of Europe had come to expect from Vienna on matters of international significance. Underneath the waves, however, a series of events, some anticipated and others not, were taking place that were destined to guarantee the outbreak of a major conflict. Informal talks between diplomats inevitably brought about the Blank Check from Berlin. Diplomatic debate, misunderstanding and rivalries flaring led to the Ultimatum, delivered from Vienna to Serbia. The weight of formal alliances, webs of relations between numerous nation-states, indecisiveness on the part of one monarch and premature overconfidence on the part of his opposite number all combined to pave the road to war.
At this stage the senior military officials of every major European power urged their respective national leaders to authorize mobilization immediately. The matter at hand was not purely getting ahead of the opposing nations. Mobilization and deployment plans of 1914 covered every perceivable detail. Schedules for mobilization of units, transportation and staging demanded precision and adherence to the pre-war timelines. Seconds counted and most general officers in Europe were inexorably wedded to their own schedules and the part he and his respective units were set to play in the great choreographed ballet that was a national mobilization in 1914.
Between now and 1 August, I will post 3-4 entries on different aspects of the July Crisis.
Today's Defense & International Relations Topics 