| We begin in Austria-Hungaria. More specifically, in the Bosnian reason. Now, we have Archduke Francis Ferdinand. This guy is heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, and the king is about to die, so he is gearing up for his new policy. The Archduke isn't the most popular Austro-Hungarian politicain because he has a radical idea. He regards the Serbs in the Bosnia area so poorly, that he wants to drop them from the empire because he doesn't want to have to deal with them. In effect, the Archduke wants to free Bosnia from Austria-Hungaria. Ok, so the Archduke heads down to Bosnia to parade about his upcoming promotion, and then maybe announce his new idea. However, before he can, a radical Serbian, Gavrilo Princip shoots him and his wife dead. Austria-Hungaria, not wanting to take on Russia, Serbia's ally, alone, calls the Kaiser of Germany. They ask if, hypothetically speaking of course, Austria-Hungaria went to war with Serbia, would Germany back them up. The Kaiser, not wanting to be disturbed, as he was on vacation, told them yes. Austria-Hungaria then sent Serbia the July Ultimatum, which required Serbia
- To suppress any publication which incites to hatred and contempt of the Austrian Monarchy
- To dissolve immediately the society styled Narodna Odbrana (National Defence), and to proceed in the same manner against the other societies which engage in propaganda against Austria
- To eliminate without delay from public instruction in Serbia, both as regards the teaching body and the methods of instruction, all that serves or might serve to foment propaganda against Austria-Hungary
- To remove from the military service and the administration in general all officers guilty of propaganda against Austria-Hungary, names of which were to be provided by the Austro-Hungarian government
- To accept the collaboration in Serbia of organs of the Austro-Hungarian government in the suppression of the subversive movement directed against the territorial integrity of the monarchy
- To take judicial proceedings against the accessories to the plot of June 28th who are on Serbian territory, with the help and direction of organs delegated by the Austria-Hungarian government
- To immediately arrest two named persons implicated by the preliminary investigation undertaken by Austria-Hungary
- To prevent by effective measures the cooperation of Serbia in the illicit traffic in arms and explosives across the frontier
- To furnish Austria-Hungary with explanations regarding statements from high Serbian officials both in Serbia and abroad, who have expressed hostility towards Austria-Hungary
- To notify Austria-Hungary without delay of the execution of these measures.
Serbia agreed to all except to take judicial proceedings against the accessories to the plot of June 28th who are on Serbian territory, with the help and direction of organs delegated by the Austro-Hungarian government. Austria-Hungaria declared war on Serbia on July 28, five days after issuing the ultimatum.
Serbia called on its ally, Russia for aid and support. Russia, who was rather frustrated with having to bail Serbia out again for its lack of self control, decided to help anyway. Russia was, naturally, paranoid, and believed that Austria-Hungaria declaring war on Serbia was somehow proof of a German plan to take over the world. Russia subsequently called France, asked them to advance (defined as to retreat in the direction of the enemy, Russia probably told them Spain was invading from the west) towards Germany. The Kaiser, who was still on vacation, suddenly found two major countries mobilizing on him. When he asked Russia or France, they both said they were mobilizing against Austria-Hungaria, but the Russian advance was too far north, and France didn't even border Austria-Hungaria. Germany decided they had one option; they had to quickly take out France, and then turn their attention on Russia. The Kaiser asked Austria-Hungaria to cover their flank while they attacked France.
Austro Hungaria jumped to disobey orders, and marched on Serbia into well-placed artillery kill zones rather than cover Germany's flank against the advancing Russian army, so Germany was forced to fight a two front was for a short amount of time. Germany, wanting to avoid France's main defense and take advantage of French lack of hindsight by moving through Belgium, like they had several years prior in the Franco-Prussian War. Germany asked Belgium to allow them passage, promising not to conquer any of Belgium on the way. Belgium refused, saying it would violate their neutrality. Several days later, Germany invaded Belgium.
Britain looked at Europe and realized this was war. Britain, not knowing who to side with, chose France because French trade was better than German trade. Britain used Belgium as an excuse to declare war on Germany. Britain would, however, later break several rules of war that are overlooked.
America, being America, saw the bright side of the war. By remaining neutral and bending the rules, America was trading with both sides, and making lots of money. However, trade was slowly leaning towards the Allies because Britain had created the Hunger Blockade, which stopped any food from neutral or central countries from reaching Germany. Britain used its above surface fleet to block ships physically and then confiscate the supplies. Germany decided to fight fire with fire, and soon German U-boats would surface next to supply ships en route to Britain, tell them they had five minutes to abandon ship, and then torpedo them when the five minutes were up. Britain, always one to break the rules, began issuing weapons on supply boats, so that when German subs surfaced to warn them, they could just shoot the relatively thin-hulled ships and cause them to either sink, or remove the ability to submerge. Germany, in response to this breach of naval rules, stopped warning ships of imminent torpedo attacks, reasoning that a torpedo left plenty of time to abandon ship, and the sub could surface after the ship sank and retrieve survivors. However, Germany limited this submarine warfare to ships flying British flags, so Britain broke the rules again. British ships began flying neutral flags, and when German subs surfaced to warn them off, they would sink them. The Germans, angry at the British lack of respect for the rules of sea warfare, declared unrestricted submarine warfare, which stated that any ship that came within a certain distance of Britain would be sunk, no questions asked. America, angry that they could no longer trade with Britain, reprimanded Germany for breaking the rules, but refused to acknowledge British breaches of conduct. Germany ended unrestricted submarine warfare for a short while, but soon the Hunger Blockade began to take its toll. Germany redeclared unrestricted submarine warfare, and again America reprimanded them. However, Germany ignored.
The British luxury ship, the RMS Lusitania, sailed between Britain and America. Germany realized that the ship was ferrying war supplies, and targeted it. Knowing there were probably Americans considering boarding, Germany got a front page article in a popular American newspaper warning Americans that the Lusitania would be sunk, and that there would be casualties. Americans, being Americans, ignored this warning, and were shocked to find out that the Germans went through with it. America was angry, even though the Germans had photographic proof that proved the Lusitania had been smuggling war supplies. American, however, really liked the power of being "neutral", and remained so.
Germany, realizing that America would most likely join the Allies soon, pushed to keep them busy. German ambassador to Mexico proposed that Mexico and Germany ally, mainly for oil reasons, and that if Mexico helped Germany, Germany would return the favor and help Mexico retake some of the land America "bought" from it. America intercepted the letter, and was quick to accuse Germany. Still, they remained neutral.
America entered the war after a string of American merchant ships off the coast of Britain were sunk. The American troops were fresh, and helped turn the tide of the war.
In the end, Germany, in order to get the cease fire they wanted, and end the Hunger Blockade, had to accept responsibility for the war. If that was not enough, they had to virtually pay for France and Britain's war machines, because France and Britain both owed America a lot of money. Wilson allowed this, even though it went against his 14 Points plan, because Europe had agreed to the League of Nations, and he wanted that money from France and Britain too. America, and most of Europe went into depression, but Germany's depression was far worse than any others. In Germany, it was cheaper to line the walls of a house than buy wallpaper, or to burn money than to buy firewood. Eventually, the Germans would follow Hitler, which was probably the worse mistake they ever made.
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