Origins of the First World War

In June 1914, Franz Ferdinand the Arch Duke and heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary and his wife, were assassinated while on an official visit to Sarajevo. The group responsible for this was a Serbian Nationalist movement which had ties with the Serbian government. The Austrian government saw this as an opportunity to crush Serbian nationalism. On July 23rd, they served an ultimatum to Serbia. About three hours before the deadline was due, the Serbian government ordered the army to mobilize to face the ultimatum. On the 28th of July, Austria declared war on Serbia. On the same day, Russi…