The “JulyxCrisis”, following the assassination of the heir to the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Franz Ferdinand, came to a head on Thursday the 23rd. Emboldened, as we have seen, by Germany’s promise of immediate support, whatever course of action it might decide to take, Vienna sent a six-point ultimatum to Serbia, making demands that Belgrade could not possibly accept. War was to be the answer. The aim was to crush Serbia in a lightning attack, a fait accompli before the Russians had time to react. (The British First Lord of the Admiralty at this time, Winston Churchill, considered the ultimatum to be “the most insolent document of its kind ever devised”!)

     Surprisingly, the Serbs did agree to five of the demands, but the rejection of one was sufficient. Under no circumstances would they allow Austrian police into Serbia to take part in the initial enquiry into the assassination. They regarded this as a violation of their constitution and their law of criminal procedure. They proposed arbitration to settle the dispute but, at the same time, began the mobilization of their troops. And, contrary to expectations, Russia – having, as always, long term designs on the Boshphorus and the Mediterranean beyond – swiftly came out in open support of Serbia, and ordered a limited mobilisation as a precaution.

     On July 26th, in a last-ditch attempt to keep the peace, Britian called for a meeting of the major European powers to resolve the dispute. France, Italy and Russia agreed to attend the conference, but Germany, threatened by Russia’s partial mobilisation, refused. Two days later the Austro-Hungarian Empire declared war on Serbia, and on the 30th July Russia put its army on a war footing, and Austrian warships bombarded Belgrade.

By the beginning of August the First World War was under way.

THExULTIMATUM:  JULY 1914

THExFIRST WORLD WAR - THE MAJOR PARTICIPANTS

    SirxEdward Grey (also known as Viscount Grey of Falloden) was born in 1862 and died in 1933. A relative of the 2nd Earl Grey, the prime miniser who carried through the Reform Bill of 1832, he sat in the House of Commons as a Liberal from 1885-1916, and from 1923 to 1924 he led the Liberal opposition in the House of Lords. He began his service as foreign secretary in December 1905, and held this post for eleven years, the longest uninterrupted holder of this office in the history of British politics. He it was who let it be known that in the event of a German attack, Britain would go to the aid of France.

The First World War is under way.     

Acknowledgements

Timeline: slideplayer.com. Map of Europe: bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides Diagram: en.wikipedia.org. Rise as One: by the American illustrator Gregory Manchess, MuddyColours.com Sir Edward Grey: flamboroughmanor.co.uk photographer unknown.

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     For no valid reason save for jingoism, many on both sides were confident that it was going to be a short, sharp conflict. Certainly in the West the troops were going to be “home for Christmas”. For those who survived the slaughter, they would indeed be home for Christmas, but the fifth Chistmas not the first! Britain’s foreign secretary, Sir Edward Grey had a clearer vision. “The lamps are going out all over Europe” he said. “We shall not see them lit again in our life time.” He died in 1933, just six years away from the outbreak of the Second World War, a truly global conflict and much more costly in dead and wounded. Some historians have argued that there were not two world wars, only one (1914-1945), with a long ceasefire period in between (1918-1939)!

      Incidentally, and purely coincidentally, the English composer GustavexHolst, famous for his orchestral piece The Planets, completed his first sketch of Mars, “the Bringer of War”, in July!

THE MAJOR PARTICIPANTS

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THE GERMAN EMPIRE

    As we have seen, after a series of European wars engineered by the Prussian statesman Otto von Bismarck, the German Empire – the eventual unification of all the small German states – was proclaimed in 1871. Under Kaiser Wilhelm I and his successor, Wilhelm II, Germany then embarked on a massive programme of expansion. From 1884 onwards it became a colonial power in Africa and the Far East, and, beginning in 1898, developed a navy to rival that of France, Russia and – in a given area of operations like the North Sea – Great Britain itself. Meanwhile, on the continent, in addition to producing a most powerful and efficient army, it saw the need for a bulwark against the one country it feared the most – the vast Czarist state of Russia. To reduce this threat the Kaiser formed an alliance with Austria-Hungary in 1879, and this became the Triple Alliance when Italy joined the pact in 1882. When war broke out in 1914, Germany felt very confident, despite the need to fight on two fronts. Such confidence was to prove somewhat misplaced.

THE AUSTRIAN-HUNGARIAN EMPIRE

    The Austrian-Hungarian Empire was formed in June 1867, after the defeat of Austria in the Austro-Prussian War of 1866. It was seen as a means of overcoming the widespread Hungarian dissatisfaction with rule from Vienna in what had been the Austrian Empire. This compromise brought an element of stability for a short while, but the two realms also contained a large number of minority ethnic groups – including Czechs, Poles, Slovenes and Serbs – and the unrest that this generated was intensified in 1878 when, by the Treaty of Berlin, the Dual Monarchy was tasked with the temporary administration of Bosnia and Herzegovina (Ottoman possessions at that time). Matters came to a head in October 1908 – the so-called Bosnian Crisis – when the Dual Monarchy decided to annex these two areas. Russia, won over by the promise of “improved access to the Turkish Straits”, made no objection, but the Serbs, aiming to enlarge their state from revolts within these two countries, were outraged. As we have seen, the assassination of Franz Ferdinand in June 1914 gave them the opportunity to right the wrong in a war which, in fact, was to bring an end to the Austrian-Hungarian Empire.

THE KINGDOM OF ITALY

     Although a member of the Triple Alliance, Italy – not a unified and recognised state until 1871 - did not actually take part in the First World War when it began in 1914. In fact, it had joined the alliance back in 1882, to gain the protection of Germany against the ambitions of Austria-Hungary. Now, faced with a call to arms, it argued that it was choosing to remain neutral on the grounds that the Dual Monarchy had not itself been attacked, a requirement of the agreement. And when, in 1915, Italy did enter the war, it chose to join the Triple Entente! Given the promise of a certain amount of territory come the victory, it opened up a front against its former ally, Austria Hungary, and made a useful contribution to the Entente’s war effort.

THE KINGDOM OF BULGARIA

    It was in 1396 that Bulgaria was invaded by the Ottoman Empire. As a Turkish province it suffered under brutal Ottoman rule for close on 500 years, the occupation only coming to an end with the infamous Bulgarian Atrocities of 1876. Taking advantage of this situation, Russia attacked the Turks the following year, forced them to concede, and by the Treaty of Stefano in March 1878, some 60% of the Balkan Peninsula was given over to Bulgaria. But it was not to be. The prospect of a large Russian satellite in the Balkans was not acceptable to the Great Powers. They met later that year at the Congress of Berlin, and Bulgaria was cut to size, becoming a small principality in what now became a mixed bag of nations – created with no regard to religion or race, and seething with discontent. Not surprisingly, there followed the First and Second Balkan Wars (1912-1913), attempts to gain further land from the Turks. Bulgaria aimed to gain control of Macedonia, seen as an integral part of their territory, but failed to do so. In 1914 it supported Germany in the hope that Macedonia would come with victory.

THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE

    The Ottoman Empire, one of the world’s most powerful empires, arose out of Anatolia (today’s Turkey) in the late 13th century. Having conquered the Byzantine Empire in 1456, over the next four hundred years it spread its control and Muslem faith over much of South East Europe, Western Asia and North Africa. In its early years it showed a surprising degree of religious tolerance, and contributed greatly to science and, in particular, the cultural fields of art and architecture. However, with the rise of nationalism – a threat to its very survival – it gained a reputation for its dependence on slavery and its cruelty to religious minorities . By the mid-19th century the empire had lost much of its territory and was fast becoming the “Sick Man of Europe”. Thus, with the coming of the First World War, neither power bloc valued its contriubution. However, one nation did. In August 1914 Germany – with an eye to the future – formed a secret treaty with the ailing Empire because it gave Germany access to its African colonies, then under threat, and a future trade route to India when the war had been won.

THE REPUBLIC OF FRANCE

    Needless to say, the Franco-Prussian War of 1871-2 was an humiliating defeat for the French. They were not going to forget it, and they wanted revenge for it. Above all, they were particularly angered by the seizure of Alsace and Lorraine, two territories which, since 1648 and 1766 respectively, had been part of France. For the French government, the need was to raise some sizeable support in Europe and, at the same time, regain some measure of prestige by expanding her colonial empire in Africa and South East Asia. In pursuance of her first aim, France formed an alliance with Russia in 1894. Politically, the two countries had nothing in common, but both had a fear of Germany and that was of overriding importance. And in her colonial policy, France trod carefully. The Fashoda Incident of 1898, for example – centred around the control of the Nile waters – could well have ended in a war with her age-old rival Great Britian - but France backed down. This paved the way for the Entente Cordiale of 1904. This was nothing more than an “understanding” between the two nations, but it gave promise of support. When war broke out in 1914, France was finally going to take her revenge, but she was going to pay dearly for it.

GREAT BRITAIN

    The establishment of the German Empire in 1871, following its decisive victory over France, shattered the balance of power in Europe. Germany’s determination to become the strongest nation on the continent and a world power to boot, posed a serious threat to peace, as did Germany’s pact with Austria Hungary in 1879, and with Italy three years later. The Triple Alliance encompassed the whole of central Europe, from the Baltic to the Mediterranean. In addition, in the 1890s Germany launched an ambitious programme to increase its naval power and – at the very least – outnumber the British home fleet. It is not surprising that Britain needed to readjust the balance, at almost any cost. As a result, in 1902, abandoning its historical policy of “splendid isolation”, it joined an alliance with Japan, thereby reducing its naval commitment in the Pacific. Then followed the Entente Cordiale with France in 1904 – a momentous change of diplomatic alignment – and the Entente with Russia in 1907, giving Germany a war on two fronts if war were to come. In fact, when it did come, as we shall see, it was not the Entente agreements that brought Britain into the war, but a defence pact made with Belgium back in 1839.

THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE

    It is not surprising that by the end of the 20th century both Germany and its ally, Austria-Hungary, were concerned about the threat from their vast neighbour Imperial Russia, especially in the Balkans. The country covered about one sixth of the world’s land surface; the population was estimated by some at 166 million; and Czar Nicholas II was busy rebuilding and modernizing his army. But, in its turn, Russia feared the growing might of the German Empire under its ambitious Kaiser, Wilhelm II. The Czar was pleased to form an alliance with France in 1894 and, following Russia’s disastrous defeat at the hands of the Japanese in 1905, welcomed an entente with Great Britain in 1907. These treaties were of some comfort, but they were to be of no value in Russia’s internal problems, witnessed in the attempted coup of 1905. These were to be the major cause of Czarist Russia’s downfall.

SERBIA

    After almost three centuries under the rule of the Ottoman Empire, Serbia gained independence in 1878, and the Kingdom of Serbia was proclaimed four yeas later. Then in 1903, following the overthrow of its monarch, King Milan I, Serbia (with the support of Russia), led the growing demand for the union of all Slavic peoples within the Balkan peninsula. For the Serbs, this was envisaged as a likely means of increasing the size and the importance of Serbia itself. Matters came to head in October 1908 – the Bosnian Crisis – when Austria-Hungary, having been put in temporary charge of the Ottoman states of Bosnia and Herzogovina back in 1878, annexed both these territories. These two countries were closely related to Serbia, both geographically and ethnically, so action needed to be taken. Serbia protested and mobilized its army. Initially, Russia gave support, but when Germany came out in support of the annexation, Russia felt it prudent to drop its opposition. With the loss of Russian support, Serbia was also forced to stand down. But not so the revolutionary movements in Belgrade, notably Young Bosnia and The Black Hand. Their day was to come.

The Great War of 1914-1918 was unprecedented in the extent of its slaughter and

destruction. And it was to see, too, the fall of four great dynasties – the empires of

Germany, Russia, Austria-Hungary and the Ottomans – and the rise of Bolshevism.

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The lamps are going out all over Europe, we shall not see them lit again in our life-time.

British Foreign Secretary Sir Edward Grey, 3rd August 1914

All war is a symptom of man’s failure as a thinking animal – John Steinbeck