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- Triple Alliance was a secret agreement between Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy.
- It renewed periodically until WWI.
- It provided that if France attacked Italy or Germany, without Italy or Germany's provocation, other countries will assist them.
- If Austria-Hungary and Russia have a war, Italy promised to remain neutral.
- This abstention help freeing Austrian troops, which were needed to guard the Austrian-Italian border.
- Italy entered WWI in May 1915 in opposition to Germany and Austria-Hungary, although the alliance was again renewed in 1907 and 1912.

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Triple Alliance | Definition, Countries, Facts, & Significance

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Triple Alliance, secret agreement between Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy formed in May 1882 and renewed periodically until World War I when, despite renewals of the pact in 1907 and 1912, Italy entered into the war in opposition to Germany and Austria-Hungary. Read here to learn more about the Triple Alliance.

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- France and Russia decided to become an Alliance because they feared the rising power of Germany, which had already formed alliances with Austria-Hungary and Italy. (set a standard for international competition and rivalry).
- It was a secret alliance. It will have the same duration as the Triple Alliance.
- It promised that if France or Russia is attacked by Germany, or another country supported by Germany, they will attack Germany with all available forces.

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The Franco-Russian Alliance Military Convention - August 18, 1892

France and Russia, being animated by a common desire to preserve peace, and having no other object than to meet the necessities of a defensive war, provoked by an attack of the forces of the Triple Alliance against either of them, have agreed upon the following provisions:

1. If France is attacked by Germany, or by Italy supported by Germany, Russia shall employ all her available forces to attack Germany.

If Russia is attacked by Germany, or by Austria supported by Germany, France shall employ all her available forces to attack Germany.

2. In case the forces of the Triple Alliance, or of any one of the Powers belonging to it, should be mobilized, France and Russia, at the first news of this event and without previous agreement being necessary, shall mobilize immediately and simultaneously the whole of their forces, and shall transport them as far as possible to their frontiers.

3. The available forces to be employed against Germany shall be, on the part of France, 1,300,000 men, on the part of Russia, 700,000 or 800,000 men.

These forces shall engage to the full with such speed that Germany will have to fight simultaneously on the East and on the West.

4. The General Staffs of the Armies of the two countries shall cooperate with each other at all times in the preparation and facilitation of the execution of the measures mentioned above.

They shall communicate with each other, while there is still peace, all information relative to the armies of the Triple Alliance which is already in their possession or shall come into their possession.

Ways and means of corresponding in time of war shall be studied and worked out in advance.

5. France and Russia shall not conclude peace separately.

6. The present Convention shall have the same duration as the Triple Alliance.

7. All the clauses enumerated above shall be kept absolutely secret.

Signature of the Minister:

Signature of the Minister:

General Aide-de-Camp

General of Division,

Chief of the General Staff

Councillor of State

Signed: OBRUCHEFF Sub-Chief of the General Staff of the Army

Signed: BOISDEFFRE

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Avalon Project - The Franco-Russian Alliance Military Convention - August 18, 1892

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The Franco-Russian Alliance Military Convention - August 18, 1892 France and Russia, being animated by a common desire to preserve peace, and having no other object than to meet the necessities of a defensive war, provoked by an attack of the forces of the Triple Alliance against either of them, have agreed upon the following provisions: 1.

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- German Naval laws were five separate laws passed by the German Empire. (Fist one was passed in 1898)
- Secretary of the Imperial Navy, Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz advocated it.
- It dramatically expanded the size of Germany’s battle fleet.
- It was for making Germans force superior to Britain’s Royal Navy. And it was also to turn Germany into a world power by building an overseas empire.

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World War I, which lasted from 1914 until 1918, introduced the world to the horrors of trench warfare and lethal new technologies such as poison gas and tanks. The result was some of the most horrific carnage the world had ever seen, with more than 16 million military personnel and civilians losing their lives.

It also radically altered the map, leading to the collapse of the sprawling Austro-Hungarian, Ottoman and Russian empires that had existed for centuries, and the formation of new nations to take their place. Long after the last shot had been fired, the political turmoil and social upheaval continued, and ultimately led to another, even bigger and bloodier global conflict two decades later.

The event that sparked the conflagration was the assassination of the heir to the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, in 1914. But historians say that World War I actually was the culmination of a long series of events, stretching back to the late 1800s. The path to war included plenty of miscalculations and actions that turned out to have unforeseen consequences.

"No one can say precisely why it happened," explains the narration to a film at the National World War I Museum and Memorial in Kansas City. "Which may be, in the end, the best explanation for why it did."

Here are eight of the events that led to the war.

1. Franco-Russian Alliance (1894)

Both Russia and France, which had been humiliated in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71, feared the rising power of Germany, which had already formed alliances with Austria-Hungary and Italy. So the two nations decided to join forces for mutual protection as well. It was the start of what would become the Allied side, the Triple Entente, in World War I.

"To my mind, it is the coming together of the Triple Entente in stages-the Franco-Russian Alliance in 1894, the British-French Entente Cordiale of 1904, and the Anglo-Russian Entente of 1907-that really solidified the system of diplomatic agreements that formed the main antagonistic blocs that went to war in 1914," Richard S. Fogarty, an associate professor of history at University at Albany, explains. "The alliance system was critical to shaping the war, and even in helping bring it on: it created a set of expectations about international rivalry and competition, determining what kind of war Europeans imagined and prepared for."

This legislation, advocated by Germany's newly-appointed Secretary of the Imperial Navy, Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz, dramatically expanded the size of Germany's battle fleet. It was the first of five laws dictating a buildup in which the Germans envisioned building a force that was superior to Britain's Royal Navy.

"Tirpitz aimed at forcing Britain into an alliance with Germany on German terms," explains Eugene Beiriger, an associate professor of history, peace, justice and conflict studies at DePaul University, and author of the 2018 book World War I: A Historical Exploration of Literature. Instead, the British responded by building even more ships, and by ending their late 1880s policy of "splendid isolation" to form alliances with Japan, France and Russia.

"The German Naval Laws created unintended consequences," Beiriger says in an email. "They ended up alienating both the government and public of Britain prior to the war."

3. The Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905)

Russia's Czar Nicholas II wanted to obtain a port that gave his navy and commercial ships access to the Pacific, and he set his sites on Korea. The Japanese saw Russia's rising aggressiveness as a menace and launched a surprise attack on Nicholas' fleet at Port Arthur in China. The resulting war, fought both at sea and on land in China, was won by the Japanese, and as Beiriger notes, it helped shift power the power balance in Europe.

Russia's allies France and Britain, which were allied with Japan, signed their own agreement in 1904 to avoid being pulled into the war. France later convinced the Russians to enter into an alliance with the British as well, laying the groundwork for their alliance in World War I. In addition, "Russia's expansion in the East had been stopped by Japan," Beiriger says. "This turned Russian ambitions westward, especially in the Balkans, and influenced hardliners within the government to not back down in future crises." That Russian combativeness helped trigger World War I less than a decade later.

4. Austria-Hungary's Annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (1908)

Under an 1878 treaty, Austria-Hungary was governing Bosnia and Herzegovina, even though technically they were still part of the Ottoman Empire. But after the Austro-Hungarian government annexed their territory, the move backfired. The two provinces' mostly Slavic population wanted to have their own country, while Slavs in nearby Serbia had the ambition of appropriating the provinces themselves.

"In multi-ethnic empires, nationalistic fervor fueled resistance to distant rulers," Doran Cart, senior curator of the National World War I Museum and Memorial, says. "Tension was powder-keg high in the Balkans, where Slavic people, aided by the Slavs of Russia, resisted the rule of Austria-Hungary." Additionally, the move drew Russia, which saw itself as Serbia's protector, toward a gradual showdown with the Austro-Hungarian regime.

5. The Second Moroccan Crisis (1911)

The French and Germans butted heads for several years over Morocco, where Germany's Kaiser Wilhelm II meddled in an attempt to pressure the French-British alliance. In the First Moroccan Crisis in 1905, he actually sailed to Tangiers to express his support for the sultan of Morocco against French interests. But instead of backing away from the conflict, the British rose in support of France.

In the Second Moroccan Crisis in 1911, the German foreign secretary, Alfred von Kiderlen- Wächter, sent a naval cruiser to anchor in a harbor on the Moroccan coast, in reaction to a tribal revolt that the Germans thought was being backed by France as a pretext for seizing the country. Again, the British backed the French, and eventually, Germany was forced to agree to recognize a French protectorate in Morocco. The two crises pushed the British and French closer together, and only hastened an eventual confrontation with the Germans.

6. Italy Invades Libya (1911)

The modern Italian state, which didn't begin until 1861, had been "largely left out of the scramble that built Britain, France, and other powers into worldwide empires," Fogarty explains. The Italian government set its sights on Libya, a North African country that hadn't been claimed by another Western European power, and decided to take it from the Ottoman Empire. The Italo-Turkish War ended with a peace treaty, but the Ottoman military left Libya and let the Italians colonize it. It was the first military conflict that featured aerial bombing, but as Fogarty notes, the real significance was that it exposed the shakiness of the Ottoman Empire and its slipping control over peripheral territories. That, in turn, was one of the factors that ultimately led to World War I, which Fogarty describes as "a war of empires, some expanding or seeking to expand, some keen to hold on to what they had, others trying desperately not to lose what they had left,"

7. The Balkan Wars (1912-13)

Serbia, Bulgaria, Montenegro and Greece, which had broken away from the Ottoman Empire during the 1800s, formed an alliance called the Balkan League. The Russian-backed alliance aimed to take away even more of the Turks' remaining territory in the Balkans.

In the First Balkan War in 1912, Serbia, Greece and Montenegro defeated Ottoman forces, and forced them to agree to an armistice. But the Balkan League soon disintegrated, and in the Second Balkan War, the Bulgarians fought the Greeks and Serbs over Macedonia, and the Ottoman Empire and Romania jumped into the fray against the Bulgarians as well.

Bulgaria ultimately was defeated. The Balkan Wars made the region even more unstable. In the power void left by the Ottomans, tensions grew between Serbia and Austria-Hungary. That, in turn, led Austria-Hungary and its ally, Germany, to decide that a war with the Serbs would be needed at some point to strengthen Austria-Hungary's position. "Many historians consider the Balkan Wars as the true beginning of the First World War," Fogarty says.

8. Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand (1914)

The archduke, who was heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, went to Sarajevo to inspect the imperial troops stationed in Bosnia and Herzegovina. He and his wife Sophie were shot to death in their car by a 19-year-old Serbian revolutionary, Gavrilo Princip.

"The assassination highlighted the nationalism that was pulling the Austro-Hungarian Empire apart at the seams," Fogarty explains, noting that Serbian extremists actually wanted Franz Ferdinand dead because they feared he was too moderate and would promote a power-sharing arrangement that would keep Slavic peoples in the empire.

"His assassination killed the idea, whether or not it was ever realistic to begin with, and radicalized Serbian defiance and Austrian determination to solve the nationalism problem for good, at least with respect to Serbia," Fogarty says.

Instead, the tension between European powers increased, as they took different sides in the crisis. As the U.K.'s Imperial War Museum notes, the killing put both Austria-Hungary and Russia, which saw itself as the Serbians' protector, in a bind. Neither one of them wanted to back down and appear weak. Fearing a fight that would draw in Russia, Austria-Hungary turned for help to Germany, which promised backing if the Austro-Hungarians used force against the Serbians. German support emboldened Austria-Hungary to declare war on Serbia on July 28.

Two days later, Russia's military mobilized, and the Germans saw that they too were in a bind. They didn't want to fight both Russia and its ally France on two fronts simultaneously, so it became imperative to knock the French military out of the war before Russia was ready to fight. Germany declared war on Russia on August 1, and two days later declared war against France. German forces gathered on the border of neutral Belgium, which they planned to cross in order to invade France. Belgium called for help, and on August 4, Great Britain declared war on Germany.

World War I had begun.

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8 Events that Led to World War I | HISTORY

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Imperialism, nationalistic pride and mutual alliances all played a part in building tensions that would erupt into war.

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Russia’s Czar Nicholas II wanted to establish new ports so he set a voyage to Korea. However Japan already took over Korea and they say Czar's voyage as a threat. After the war Japan won and the loss of Russia made a balance in power back in Europe.

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The Russo-Japanese War was a military conflict fought between the Russian Empire and the Empire of Japan from 1904 to 1905. Much of the fighting took place in what is now northeastern China. The Russo-Japanese War was also a naval conflict, with ships exchanging fire in the waters surrounding the Korean peninsula. The brutal conflict in the western Pacific, which was resolved with the Treaty of Portsmouth, changed the balance of power in Asia and helped to set the stage for World War I.
WATCH: The Russian Navy on HISTORY Vault
'World War Zero'

Russia was already a significant world power in the early 20th century, with vast territories in Eastern Europe and central Asia under its control, and Japan was widely viewed as the dominant force in Asia at the time.

Therefore, the war garnered significant global attention and its ramifications were felt long after the final shot was fired in 1905.

In fact, scholars have suggested that the Russo-Japanese War set the stage for World War I and, ultimately, World War II, as some of the central issues in the first conflict were at the core of the fighting during the latter two. Some have even referred to it as "World War Zero," given that it took place less than a decade before the start of World War I.

What Started the Russo-Japanese War?

In 1904, the Russian Empire, ruled by the autocratic Czar Nicholas II, was one of the largest territorial powers in the world. However, with the Siberian shipping center of Vladivostok forced to close for much of the winter months, the empire was in need of a warm-water port in the Pacific Ocean, both for purposes of trade as well as a base for its growing navy.

Czar Nicholas set his sights on the Korean and Liaodong peninsulas, the latter located in present-day China. The Russian Empire already leased a port on the Liaodong Peninsula from China-Port Arthur-but it wanted to have a base of operations firmly under its control.

The Japanese, meanwhile, had been concerned about Russian influence in the region since the First Sino-Japanese War of 1895. Russia provided military support to the Qing Dynasty in China during that conflict, which pitted the two Asian powers against each other.

With the Russians' history of military aggression, the Japanese initially sought a deal, offering to cede control of Manchuria (northeastern China). Under the terms of the proposal, Japan would have maintained influence over Korea.

However, Russia refused Japan's offer and demanded that Korea north of the 39th parallel serve as a neutral zone. As negotiations broke down, the Japanese opted to go to war, staging a surprise attack on the Russian navy at Port Arthur on February 8, 1904.

Russo-Japanese War Begins

Japan formally declared war against Russia on the day of the Port Arthur attack. But leaders of the Russian Empire did not receive notice of Japan's intentions until several hours after the Asian power had attacked Port Arthur, which served as the Russian navy's base of operations in the region.

Czar Nicholas had been told by his advisors that the Japanese would not challenge Russia militarily, even after negotiations between the two powers had collapsed.

Notably, international law did not require a formal declaration of war prior to launching an attack until the Second Hague Peace Conference of 1907, two years after fighting between the Russians and Japanese had ended.

Battle of Port Arthur

The attack by the Japanese Imperial Navy against the Russian Far East Fleet at Port Arthur was designed to neutralize the Russians.

Under the leadership of Admiral Togo Heihachiro, the Japanese Imperial Navy sent torpedo boats to attack Russian naval vessels, significantly damaging three of the largest: Tsesarevich, Retvizan, and Pallada.

The ensuing Battle of Port Arthur began the next day. Although the rest of the Russian Far East Fleet was largely protected within the harbor at Port Arthur, the attacks successfully dissuaded the Russians from taking the battle to the open seas, even though attempts to establish a Japanese blockade of the port failed.

However, the Russian ships that evaded the Japanese did not escape unscathed. On April 12, 1904, the Petropavlovsk and Pobeda battleships were able to leave Port Arthur but struck mines just after making it out to sea. Petropavlovsk sank, while Pobeda limped back to port heavily damaged.

While Russia avenged that attack with mines of its own, severely damaging two Japanese battleships, the Asian power retained the upper hand at Port Arthur, continuing to bombard the harbor with heavy shelling.

Battle of Liaoyang

After attempts to attack Russian fortifications on land failed, resulting in significant casualties for the Japanese, the Asian power's persistence eventually paid off.

In late August, forces from northern Russia sent to assist the fleet at Port Arthur were pushed back by the Japanese at the Battle of Liaoyang. And, from newly gained positions on land in the vicinity of the harbor, Japanese guns fired relentlessly on Russian ships moored in the bay.

By the end of 1904, the Japanese navy had sunk every ship in Russia's Pacific fleet, and had gained control of its garrison on a hill overlooking the harbor.

In early January 1905, Russian Major General Anatoly Stessel, commander of the Port Arthur garrison, decided to surrender, much to the surprise of both the Japanese and his bosses in Moscow, believing that the harbor was no longer worth defending in the face of humiliating losses.

With that, the Japanese had achieved a significant victory in the war. Stessel was later convicted of treason and sentenced to death for his decision, though he was ultimately pardoned.

The Russian Navy later sustained heavy losses during the Battle of the Yellow Sea, forcing the empire's leaders to mobilize their Baltic Fleet to the region as reinforcements.

Russo-Japanese War in Manchuria and Korea

With the Russians distracted and demoralized, Japanese ground forces set about controlling the Korean peninsula after landing at Incheon in modern-day South Korea. Within two months, they had taken over Seoul and the rest of the peninsula.

At the end of April 1904, Japanese ground forces began planning an attack on Russian-controlled Manchuria in northeastern China. During the first major land battle of the war, the Battle of Yalu River, the Japanese mounted a successful attack against the Russian Eastern Detachment in May 1904, forcing them to retreat back toward Port Arthur.

With fighting intermittent during the Manchurian winter, the next notable land battle in the conflict began on February 20, 1905, when the Japanese forces attacked the Russians at Mukden. Days of harsh fighting ensued.

Able to push back the Russians at the flanks, the Japanese eventually forced them into full retreat. On March 10, after three weeks of fighting, the Russians suffered significant casualties and were pushed back to northern Mukden.

Tsushima Straits

Although the Japanese had achieved an important victory during the Battle of Mukden, they too sustained significant casualties. Ultimately, it was their navy that would win them the war.

With Russia's Baltic Fleet finally arriving as reinforcements in May 1905, after sailing nearly 20,000 nautical miles-a monumental task, especially in the early 1900s-they still faced the daunting challenge of having to navigate the Sea of Japan to get to Vladivostok, with Port Arthur no longer open to them.

Opting to sail at night to avoid detection, the Russian reinforcements were soon discovered by the Japanese, after its hospital ships opted to burn their lights in the darkness. Again under the command of Admiral Togo Heihachiro, the Japanese navy attempted to block the Russians' path to Vladivostok and engaged them in battle at the Tsushima Straits late on May 27, 1905.

By the end of the next day, the Russians had lost eight battleships and more than 5,000 men. Only three vessels ultimately made it to their destination. The decisive victory forced the Russians to pursue a peace agreement.

Treaty of Portsmouth

In the end, the Russo-Japanese War was a particularly brutal one, foreshadowing the global conflicts that were to follow. It's believed that both sides sustained casualties mounting to more than 150,000 combined, and that some 20,000 Chinese civilians were killed as well.

Many of these civilian deaths were attributed to the harsh tactics of the Russians in Manchuria. Journalists covering the war suggested that the Russians looted and burned several villages, and raped and killed many of the women living there.

The fighting concluded with the Treaty of Portsmouth, which was mediated by U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt at Portsmouth, New Hampshire, during the spring and summer of 1905.

Negotiating for Russia was Sergei Witte, a minister in Czar Nicholas' government. Harvard graduate Baron Komura represented Japan. Roosevelt was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his role in the talks.

Aftermath of the Russo-Japanese War

Although Japan had won the war decisively, victory had come at a severe cost: the country's coffers were virtually empty.

As a result, Japan did not have the negotiating power many expected. Under the terms of the treaty, which was signed by both parties on September 5, 1905, Russia turned over Port Arthur to the Japanese, while retaining the northern half of Sakhalin Island, which lies off its Pacific coast (they would gain control of the southern half in the aftermath of World War II).

Importantly, Roosevelt sided with Czar Nicholas in his refusal to pay indemnities to Japan. The Japanese accused the Americans of cheating them, and days of anti-American rioting in Tokyo ensued. The Asian nation would later question America's role in Asian affairs during the lead-up to World War II.

The Russians also agreed to leave Manchuria and recognize Japanese control of the Korean peninsula. The Empire of Japan would annex Korea five years later, an act that would have important repercussions during and after World War II.

Russo-Japanese War Legacy

The costly and humiliating series of Russian defeats in the Russo-Japanese War left the Russian Empire demoralized, added to Russians' growing anger at the failed policies of Czar Nicholas II, and would fan the flames of political dissent that ultimately resulted in the overthrow of the government during the Russian Revolution of 1917.

Although tensions in the region were far from over, the Russo-Japanese War did shift the balance of global power, marking the first time in modern history that an Asian nation had defeated a European one in military combat. It would also mark the beginning of warfare involving global powers in the Pacific region.

Sources

"The Treaty of Portsmouth and the Russo-Japanese War, 1904-1905." US Department of State. Office of the Historian.
"Topics in Chronicling America - Russo-Japanese War." Library of Congress. Newspaper and Current Periodical Reading Room.
"The Russo-Japanese War in Political Cartoons." Japan-in-America. Indiana.edu.
"Treaty of Portsmouth ending the Russo-Japanese War." World War I Document Library. BYU.edu.
"Russo-Japanese War." Marquette University. MU.edu.
Wolff D, Steinberg JW. (2005). "The Russo-Japanese War in Global Perspective." Brill.

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The Russo-Japanese War was a military conflict fought between the Russian Empire and the Empire of Japan from 1904 to 1905. Much of the fighting took place in what is now northeastern China. The Russo-Japanese War was also a naval conflict, with ships exchanging fire in the waters surrounding the Korean peninsula.

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The Triple Entente was a result of the Franco-Russian alliance, Anglo-French entente, and an Anglo-Russian entente, that formed gradually and was formalized in 1894, it grew into a world power. It was supposed to be a counterbalance to the Triple Alliance, however, it was terminated when the Bolsheviks came into control in Russia in 1917.

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Austria-Hungary’s Annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (1908)

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Austria-Hungary’s Annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (1908)

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-Under an 1878 treaty, Austria-Hungary governed Bosnia and Herzegovina. (It was part of the Ottoman Empire).
- After the Austro-Hungarian government annexed their territory, Bosnia and Herzegovina resist.
- The two provinces’ mostly Slavic population wanted to have their own country, while Slavs in nearby Serbia had the ambition of appropriating the provinces themselves.
- In multi-ethnic empires, nationalistic fervor fueled resistance to distant rulers.
- Tension was powder-keg high in the Balkans, where Slavic people, aided by the Slavs of Russia, resisted the rule of Austria-Hungary.
- And this move drew Russia toward a gradual showdown with the Austro-Hungarian regime.

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On October 6, 1908, the Dual Monarchy of Austria-Hungary announces its annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, dual provinces in the Balkan region of Europe formerly under the control of the Ottoman Empire.

Though Bosnia and Herzegovina were still nominally under the control of the Ottoman Sultan in 1908, Austria-Hungary had administered the provinces since the Congress of Berlin in 1878, when the great powers of Europe awarded the Dual Monarchy the right to occupy the two provinces, with the legal title to remain with Turkey. As the provinces were coveted by many-in fact, both Austria and Hungary wanted Bosnia and Herzegovina for themselves-the decision was more or less a stopgap to preserve the delicate balance of power in Europe. To make matters more complicated, the largely Slavic population of the two provinces had nationalist ambitions of their own, while their fellow Slavs in nearby Serbia yearned to annex them to further their pan-Slavic ambitions.

When rebellion by the Committee of Union and Progress-the so-called Young Turks-took the Ottoman government by storm in 1908, Baron Aloys von Aerenthal, foreign minister of Austria-Hungary, saw his empire's chance to assert its dominance in the Balkans. Aside from the sultan's weakness, Russia, the Dual Monarchy's great rival for power in the Balkans, was also reeling, after a defeat in the Russo-Japanese War and internal revolution in 1905.

The announcement in October 1908 of Austria-Hungary's annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina upset the fragile balance of power in the Balkans, enraging Serbia and pan-Slavic nationalists throughout Europe. Though weakened Russia was forced to submit, to its humiliation, its foreign office still viewed Austria-Hungary's actions as overly aggressive and threatening, despite Aerenthal's assurances that he did not plan to take Macedonia, another disputed former Ottoman province, next. Russia's response was to encourage pro-Russian, anti-Austrian sentiment in Serbia and other Balkan provinces, provoking Austrian fears of Slavic expansionism in the region.

In January 1909, at the height of the Bosnia-Herzogovina crisis, Franz Conrad von Hotzendorff, the chief of staff of the Austrian army, approached Helmuth von Moltke, his German counterpart, to ask what Germany would do if Austria invaded Serbia and thus provoked Russia to intervene on the latter's behalf. Significantly, Moltke replied that-despite the purely defensive nature of their earlier alliance, concluded in 1879-Germany would back Austria-Hungary, even if it was the aggressor in such a conflict, and would not only go to war against Russia, but also against France, Russia's powerful ally in the west. In the summer of 1914, it would do just that, as the struggle for power in the tumultuous Balkans morphed into the devastating international conflict that would become known as the First World War.
READ MORE: Outbreak of World War I

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On October 6, 1908, the Dual Monarchy of Austria-Hungary announces its annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, dual provinces in the Balkan region of Europe formerly under the control of the Ottoman Empire.

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In the First Moroccan Crisis Kaiser Wilhelm II sailed to Morocco in an attempt to pressure the French-British alliance. But instead of backing away from the conflict, the British rose in support of France.
So in The Second Morroccan Crisis Alfred von Kiderlen Wächter, sent a naval cruiser to anchor in a harbor on the Moroccan coast, in reaction to a tribal revolt which they thought was being backed by France as a pretext for seizing the country, but the British backed the French, and Germany was forced to agree to recognize a French protectorate in Morocco. (Both crises just led to France and Britain establishing a stronger bond)

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Moroccan crises, (1905-06, 1911), two international crises centring on France's attempts to control Morocco and on Germany's concurrent attempts to stem French power.

In 1904 France had concluded a secret treaty with Spain partitioning Morocco and had also agreed not to oppose Britain's moves in Egypt in exchange for a free hand in Morocco. Germany, however, insisted upon an open-door policy in the area; and, in a dramatic show of imperial power, the emperor William II visited Tangier and, from his yacht on March 31, 1905, declared for Morocco's independence and integrity. The resultant international panic, the First Moroccan Crisis, was resolved in January-April 1906 at the Algeciras Conference, where German and other national economic rights were upheld and where the French and Spanish were entrusted with the policing of Morocco.

On February 8, 1909, a further Franco-German agreement reaffirmed Morocco's independence while recognizing France's "special political interests" and Germany's economic interests in North Africa.

The Second Moroccan Crisis (1911) was precipitated when the German gunboat Panther was sent to Agadir on July 1, 1911, ostensibly to protect German interests during a local native uprising in Morocco but in reality to cow the French. This "Agadir Incident" sparked a flurry of war talk during the summer and fall (the British even made preparations for eventual war), but international negotiations continued, and the crisis subsided with the conclusion of the convention of November 4, 1911, in which France was given rights to a protectorship over Morocco and, in return, Germany was given strips of territory from the French Congo. Spain at first objected; but, through the intervention of Great Britain, a Franco-Spanish treaty was concluded on November 27, 1912, slightly revising the previous Franco-Spanish boundaries in Morocco. The negotiations of 1911-12 between the powers also led up to the eventual internationalization of the Tangier zone, consisting of Tangier and its environs, in 1923.

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Moroccan crises, two international crises in 1905-06 and 1911 that centered on France's attempts to control Morocco and on Germany's concurrent attempts to stem French power. Both crises reassured French political interests in Morocco, while Germany received economic guarantees and territorial concessions.

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- Italy wanted to make poor Italians settle in Libya, to solve their high unemployment and emigration issues.
- The Italo-Turkish War ended with a peace treaty, but the Ottoman military left Libya and let the Italians colonize it.
- Italian government decided to take Libya from the Ottoman Empire.
- Italy did a naval blockade to prevent Ottoman reinforcements from reaching Libya
- It ended with the Peace Treaty of Ouchy, because of the outbreak of the First Balkan War.
- It was the first military conflict and it exposed the shakiness of the Ottoman Empire and its slipping control over peripheral territories.

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Reasons and Preparations ↑

The Italo-Turkish War (1911-1912) was fought over Ottoman Libya, populated by 1.5 to 2.5 million (mostly Arab and Berber Muslims) living in coastal cities (including some 1,000 Italian citizens) and those living mainly as tribesmen in the hinterland. The Ottoman military there numbered about 5,000 infantrymen and 350 cavalry.

The war broke out because Italy claimed that, as the heir of the Roman Empire, she was entitled to rule over former Roman territories. Since Libya was the sole Mediterranean region not claimed by another European power, it was the only territory Italy could dominate. Viewing it as her "Fourth Shore", Italy expected to solve her high unemployment and emigration issues by settling poor Italians there. Initially Italy tried to achieve this through peaceful penetration, but facing Ottoman restrictions, she claimed that her citizens were discriminated and that she had to gain control over Libya by force. In preparation for this, Italy concluded agreements with European powers allowing her a free hand in Libya. The timing of the war was set by Italian fears that international developments would prevent the realization of this aim.

An Italian ultimatum reached the Ottoman government on 28 September 1911, to be accepted within twenty-four hours. It stated Italy's decision to expand her authority over Libya, otherwise she threatened to use force. The Ottomans responded on 29 September trying to negotiate, which was unacceptable to the Italians, who declared war later that day.

A naval blockade was set by Italy to prevent Ottoman reinforcements from reaching Libya. Italy presumed that the occupation would be easy, believing that the indigenous population hated the Ottomans and would welcome the Italians. The occupying force (numbering some 44,500 troops) reached the Libyan coast on 1 October 1911.

Italy called on the Ottomans in Tripoli to surrender on 2 October 1911 and bombarded Tripoli the following day. Since the Italian naval guns were of a longer range than the Ottoman ground guns, the city defenses were destroyed. The Ottoman military command, realizing that the balance of power was against them, decided to retreat, and launch the resistance from the hinterland. Consequently, when on 4 October 1911 the Italians landed in Tripoli, they faced no resistance. The occupation of additional coastal cities followed, but stopped there, and despite her meager territorial control, Italy declared her sovereignty over Libya on 5 November 1911: it was regarded as a return to, not an annexation of, lost homeland territories.

The resistance benefitted from imperial and local sources. Although the Ottoman government opposed sending reinforcements to Libya due to pressing needs elsewhere, and despite the Italian naval blockade, several dozen Ottoman volunteers, equipment and funding reached Libya through Egypt, Tunisia and small hidden harbors, assisted by local Arab Muslim tribesmen and border patrol agents who supported the Libyan resistance. Prominent among the volunteers were Ismail Enver Pasha (1881-1922), the Minister of War during World War I, and Mustafa Kemal Atatürk (1881-1938), the founder of modern Turkey. The majority of the resistance was composed of 40,000 to 50,000 indigenous Libyans, some of whom had short military training and were aware of modern military tactics, but most of whom were accustomed only to guerrilla warfare in small tribal units led by their chiefs. The Ottomans became the top commanders building the resistance, training it, and planning operations carried out by companies populated on a tribal basis and commanded by professional officers and local chiefs.

On 23 and 26 October 1911, in the outskirts of Tripoli, the resistance attacked Italian troops killing several hundred. The attackers were repelled and Italy severely punished the indigenous population, killing over 4,000. This ended the illusion many Italians held regarding the attitude of the population towards them and the impression held by many Italians that occupying Libya would be easy; this also strengthened the resoluteness of the resistance to continue fighting.

The resistance prevented an Italian advance but was unable to ward off the Italians. On the other hand, the tribesmen were not accustomed to a lengthy static war, only to guerrilla warfare, and felt that they had agricultural tasks to perform. The Ottomans, too, felt that they could be of better use elsewhere, especially as violent opposition grew in the Balkans. Thus, over time, some volunteers left Libya and local fighters returned home. The Italians were frustrated that the occupation entered into a standstill, making it expensive and requiring a force reaching 100,000. Still, the situation in Libya did not change despite Italian military superiority, including the first use of the air force in combat for reconnaissance and bombardment, the first tactical use of armored cars, and the use of modern machine guns and wireless telegraphy. Both sides realized the need to find other ways to end the war.

The Ottoman government was aware of the difficulties in overcoming the occupation. But since Libya was the last Ottoman stronghold in Africa, and in view of the emerging Arab nationalism, they felt they could not relinquish Muslim Libya to a little regarded Christian nation who held only a small part of the region. Consequently, steadfast official statements against any surrender in Libya notwithstanding, the Ottoman government realized it had to reach an agreement with Italy, while keeping some authority over Libya.

Italy was ready to discuss terms with the Ottomans in order to end the war, but refused to lose Libya. Consequently, while talks went on in Europe, Italy decided to pressure the Ottomans by spreading the war and bombarding Ottoman targets, culminating with the occupation of Rhodes and the Dodecanese in May 1912.

Termination and Results ↑

The outbreak of the First Balkan War (8 October 1912) forced both parties to reach a diplomatic solution with the Peace Treaty of Ouchy (18 October 1912). It was interpreted differently by both sides, and Italy postponed parts of its implementation. The treaty entitled the Ottoman Empire to grant autonomy to the Libyan population under the Ottoman sultan in his role as the Caliph, and to appoint two Ottoman officials, but Italy accepted only the representative of the Sultan and not the religious appointee. Most of the Ottoman military left Libya, but since some remained, Italy refused to vacate the Dodecanese and Rhodes and return them to the Ottomans.

Until World War I broke out, Italy managed to occupy western Libya, but had difficulties in the east due to a strong local force headed by the Sanusi sufi order. These gains were lost once the war broke out: Italy focused on the European front, and the Ottomans renewed their involvement in Libya with German support, in cooperation with local forces. Only by the early 1930s did Italy conclude her occupation of Libya, which lasted for another decade. Considered weak as a result of the Italo-Turkish War, internal conflicts grew in the Ottoman Empire over national and ethnic divisions, with continuing internal fervor in the Balkans, being one of the causes for World War I.

Rachel Simon, Princeton University

Section Editor: Alexandre Toumarkine

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The Italo-Turkish War (1911-1912) was fought over Ottoman Libya, populated by 1.5 to 2.5 million (mostly Arab and Berber Muslims) living in coastal cities (including some 1,000 Italian citizens) and those living mainly as tribesmen in the hinterland. The Ottoman military there numbered about 5,000 infantrymen and 350 cavalry.

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Serbia, Bulgaria, Montenegro, and Greece(part of the ottoman empire) formed an alliance called the Balkan League.  In the First Balkan War in 1912, the League defeated Ottoman forces and forced them to agree to an armistice. But the League soon disintegrated, and in the Second Balkan War, the Bulgarians fought the Greeks and Serbs over Macedonia, but Bulgaria lost. The war led Austria-Hungary and Germany, to decide that a war with the Serbs would be needed at some point to strengthen Austria-Hungary’s position.

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The Balkan Wars were a series of two conflicts fought in the Balkan Peninsula in 1912 and 1913. In the first Balkan War the four Balkan states of Greece, Bulgaria, Serbia and Montenegro attacked and overpowered the Ottoman Empire. As a result, the Ottoman Empire lost a bulk of its European territory.

The second Balkan war saw Bulgaria attacked by four combatants of the First Balkan war and losing territory as a result.

The outcomes of both the wars would set the stage for World War I. How it came to be will be highlighted in this article. The information from this article would be useful in the IAS Exam.

Background of the Balkan Wars

The background of the Balkan wars lies in unrealised territorial ambitions of nation states that emerged from the Ottoman Empire in the later half of the 19th century. Serbia, Greece, Bulgaria and Montenegro had gained significant territories following their independence movement.

But they sought more territories from the Ottoman controlled region of Rumelia, which comprised of Eastern Rumelia, Albania, Macedonia and Thrace.

In addition there were other factors that led to the First Balkan Wars:

1. The Ottoman Empire was unable to respond effectively to the rising ethnic nationalism of its diverse peoples

2. The Italo-Ottoman war of 1911 showed a deep flaw in its military and administrative aspects. It made itself largely exposed to attack from others.

3. The Great Powers (At the time, Britain, France, Russia) squabbled among themselves and failed to force the Ottomans to implement the agreed upon reforms. Hence the Balkan states would impose their own solutions as an alternative.

4. The Christaian populations of the European territories of the Ottoman Empire were repressed to a large extent. This would not sit well with the Balkan states and thus they would respond as a result.

5. Above all the Balkan League was formed, and its members were confident that under those circumstances an organised and simultaneous declaration of war to the Ottoman Empire would be the only way to protect their compatriots and expand their territories in the Balkan Peninsula.

The cause of the second Balkan wars could be zeroed in on the territorial ambitions of Bulgaria. Although the Balkan states had united to fight their common enemy, they still nursed a mutual dislike of each other. Each side was wary of the other gaining too much of the Ottoman Empires Former territories.

As a result when Serbia and Greece announced their intention of keeping the territories they conquered to themselves rather than equally divide it, the Tsar of Bulgaria invaded his former allies. But the Bulagarians were defeated as a result and lost even more territory as a result.

Events of the Balkan Wars

The outbreak of the war in October 1912, in which Greece and Montenegro joined the original allies, was followed by the speedy expulsion of the Turks from all of European Turkey, except the Constantinople area.

After the conclusion of hostilities Serbia showed intentions of annexing a large part of Albania, in order to gain an outlet on the Adriatic, but this step toward a Greater Serbia was opposed by Austria-Hungary and Italy and by the Albanians, who had proclaimed their independence.

Conferences of the ambassadors of the Great Powers at London created (1913) an independent Albania of fair size, thus cutting Serbia off from the sea. Dissatisfied with these terms, Serbia demanded of Bulgaria a greater share of Macedonia. Bulgaria thereupon attacked (June, 1913) Serbia, only to be attacked by Romania, Greece, and Turkey. As a result of this Second Balkan War, Bulgaria lost territory to all her enemies by the Treaty of Bucharest.

Aftermath of the Balkan Wars

The Balkan Wars brought an end to centuries of Ottoman Rule of the Balkan Peninsula with the exception of the Balkan Peninsula. The Young Turk Regime, which had taken power in the years before the conflict, continued as a dictatorship and retained their power as a result. There was a large exodus of Turks from the lost territories to the Ottoman Healand, swelling the Empire's population by 2.5 million. The aggregate dead would be around 122,000 killed in action, with 20,000 injured from wounds and 82,000 infected with disease.

The major issue was the partitioning of these territories between the allies, which would lead to the outbreak of the second Balkan War. Various nationalities such as the Greeks, Bulgarians, Serbs, Albanians and other nationalities occupied the territories conquered by Greeks and Serbs, once their respective countries were established, the Greek and Serbs were asked to leave. Serbia lost an outlet to the Adriatic Sea and Greece would never again gain North Epirus.

Although the Austro-Hungarian Empire stayed out of the conflict, it was vehemently against the idea of a powerful Serbia. A powerful Serbia would lead to insurrections among the Slavic populace of the Empire, ultimately spreading the Balkan wars to its own backyard. It was shocked and disappointed at the outcome of the both the Balkan wars. Though Serbia wasn't crushed, its influence was gaining ground.

By 1913, the Austro-Hungarian Empire and by extension Germany had decided that a pre-emptive strike against Serbia would restore the balance of power in the region. In addition Russia was almost certain to back Serbia in any such conflict, a third war in the Balkans would most likely proceed directly to a general European one, with Germany and Austria-Hungary facing off against Serbia, Russia, Russia's primary ally, France, and possibly Britain.

For the time being, however, both Kaiser Wilhelm, emperor of Germany, and Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austrian throne, continued to see the possibility of a peaceful resolution of the Balkans question, though they disputed the means of achieving it. Franz Ferdinand's assassination, by a Serbian nationalist, in Sarajevo on June 28, 1914, however, put an end to any such negotiations and toppled Europe, already teeming with unresolved conflict and irreconcilable differences between the great powers headlong into World War I

Frequently Asked Questions about the Balkan Wars

What Caused the Balkan Wars?

The Balkan Wars had their origin in the discontent produced in Serbia, Bulgaria, and Greece by disorder in Macedonia. The Young Turk Revolution of 1908 brought into power in Constantinople (now Istanbul) a ministry determined on reform but insisting on the principle of centralized control.

What was the long term consequence of the Balkan Wars?

The Balkan Wars were marked by ethnic cleansing with all parties being responsible for grave atrocities against civilians and helped inspire later atrocities including war crimes during the 1990s Yugoslav Wars.

How is the Balkan Wars viewed in today's context?

The Balkan Wars was a major disaster as far as the citizens of Turkey are concerned. It lost a large number of people and territory as a result. Nazım Pasha, Chief of Staff of the Ottoman Army, was held responsible for the failure and was assassinated on 23 January 1913 during the 1913 Ottoman coup d'état.

In Greece, the Balkan Wars are regarded as a period of epic achievements. They managed to liberate and gain territories that had been inhabited by Greeks since ancient times and doubled the size of the Greek Kingdom.

To know more about other Government Exams, visit the linked article. For more preparation materials they can refer to the links given in the table below:

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Balkan Wars | Ottoman Empire | Austro-Hungarian Empire

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The Balkan Wars were a series of two conflicts fought in the Balkan Peninsula in 1912 and 1913. In the first Balkan War the four Balkan states of Greece, Bulgaria, Serbia and Montenegro attacked and overpowered the Ottoman Empire. As a result, the Ottoman Empire lost a bulk of its European territory.

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Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand (1914)

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Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand (1914)

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Ferdinand and his wife Sophie were shot to death in their car. As result, the tension between European powers increased, as they took different sides in the crisis. Two days later, Russia’s military mobilized, and two days later Germany declared war on Russia on August 1, and two days later declared war against France. In response, Great Britain declared war on Germany on August 4.

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World War I, which lasted from 1914 until 1918, introduced the world to the horrors of trench warfare and lethal new technologies such as poison gas and tanks. The result was some of the most horrific carnage the world had ever seen, with more than 16 million military personnel and civilians losing their lives.

It also radically altered the map, leading to the collapse of the sprawling Austro-Hungarian, Ottoman and Russian empires that had existed for centuries, and the formation of new nations to take their place. Long after the last shot had been fired, the political turmoil and social upheaval continued, and ultimately led to another, even bigger and bloodier global conflict two decades later.

The event that sparked the conflagration was the assassination of the heir to the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, in 1914. But historians say that World War I actually was the culmination of a long series of events, stretching back to the late 1800s. The path to war included plenty of miscalculations and actions that turned out to have unforeseen consequences.

"No one can say precisely why it happened," explains the narration to a film at the National World War I Museum and Memorial in Kansas City. "Which may be, in the end, the best explanation for why it did."

Here are eight of the events that led to the war.

1. Franco-Russian Alliance (1894)

Both Russia and France, which had been humiliated in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71, feared the rising power of Germany, which had already formed alliances with Austria-Hungary and Italy. So the two nations decided to join forces for mutual protection as well. It was the start of what would become the Allied side, the Triple Entente, in World War I.

"To my mind, it is the coming together of the Triple Entente in stages-the Franco-Russian Alliance in 1894, the British-French Entente Cordiale of 1904, and the Anglo-Russian Entente of 1907-that really solidified the system of diplomatic agreements that formed the main antagonistic blocs that went to war in 1914," Richard S. Fogarty, an associate professor of history at University at Albany, explains. "The alliance system was critical to shaping the war, and even in helping bring it on: it created a set of expectations about international rivalry and competition, determining what kind of war Europeans imagined and prepared for."

This legislation, advocated by Germany's newly-appointed Secretary of the Imperial Navy, Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz, dramatically expanded the size of Germany's battle fleet. It was the first of five laws dictating a buildup in which the Germans envisioned building a force that was superior to Britain's Royal Navy.

"Tirpitz aimed at forcing Britain into an alliance with Germany on German terms," explains Eugene Beiriger, an associate professor of history, peace, justice and conflict studies at DePaul University, and author of the 2018 book World War I: A Historical Exploration of Literature. Instead, the British responded by building even more ships, and by ending their late 1880s policy of "splendid isolation" to form alliances with Japan, France and Russia.

"The German Naval Laws created unintended consequences," Beiriger says in an email. "They ended up alienating both the government and public of Britain prior to the war."

3. The Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905)

Russia's Czar Nicholas II wanted to obtain a port that gave his navy and commercial ships access to the Pacific, and he set his sites on Korea. The Japanese saw Russia's rising aggressiveness as a menace and launched a surprise attack on Nicholas' fleet at Port Arthur in China. The resulting war, fought both at sea and on land in China, was won by the Japanese, and as Beiriger notes, it helped shift power the power balance in Europe.

Russia's allies France and Britain, which were allied with Japan, signed their own agreement in 1904 to avoid being pulled into the war. France later convinced the Russians to enter into an alliance with the British as well, laying the groundwork for their alliance in World War I. In addition, "Russia's expansion in the East had been stopped by Japan," Beiriger says. "This turned Russian ambitions westward, especially in the Balkans, and influenced hardliners within the government to not back down in future crises." That Russian combativeness helped trigger World War I less than a decade later.

4. Austria-Hungary's Annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (1908)

Under an 1878 treaty, Austria-Hungary was governing Bosnia and Herzegovina, even though technically they were still part of the Ottoman Empire. But after the Austro-Hungarian government annexed their territory, the move backfired. The two provinces' mostly Slavic population wanted to have their own country, while Slavs in nearby Serbia had the ambition of appropriating the provinces themselves.

"In multi-ethnic empires, nationalistic fervor fueled resistance to distant rulers," Doran Cart, senior curator of the National World War I Museum and Memorial, says. "Tension was powder-keg high in the Balkans, where Slavic people, aided by the Slavs of Russia, resisted the rule of Austria-Hungary." Additionally, the move drew Russia, which saw itself as Serbia's protector, toward a gradual showdown with the Austro-Hungarian regime.

5. The Second Moroccan Crisis (1911)

The French and Germans butted heads for several years over Morocco, where Germany's Kaiser Wilhelm II meddled in an attempt to pressure the French-British alliance. In the First Moroccan Crisis in 1905, he actually sailed to Tangiers to express his support for the sultan of Morocco against French interests. But instead of backing away from the conflict, the British rose in support of France.

In the Second Moroccan Crisis in 1911, the German foreign secretary, Alfred von Kiderlen- Wächter, sent a naval cruiser to anchor in a harbor on the Moroccan coast, in reaction to a tribal revolt that the Germans thought was being backed by France as a pretext for seizing the country. Again, the British backed the French, and eventually, Germany was forced to agree to recognize a French protectorate in Morocco. The two crises pushed the British and French closer together, and only hastened an eventual confrontation with the Germans.

6. Italy Invades Libya (1911)

The modern Italian state, which didn't begin until 1861, had been "largely left out of the scramble that built Britain, France, and other powers into worldwide empires," Fogarty explains. The Italian government set its sights on Libya, a North African country that hadn't been claimed by another Western European power, and decided to take it from the Ottoman Empire. The Italo-Turkish War ended with a peace treaty, but the Ottoman military left Libya and let the Italians colonize it. It was the first military conflict that featured aerial bombing, but as Fogarty notes, the real significance was that it exposed the shakiness of the Ottoman Empire and its slipping control over peripheral territories. That, in turn, was one of the factors that ultimately led to World War I, which Fogarty describes as "a war of empires, some expanding or seeking to expand, some keen to hold on to what they had, others trying desperately not to lose what they had left,"

7. The Balkan Wars (1912-13)

Serbia, Bulgaria, Montenegro and Greece, which had broken away from the Ottoman Empire during the 1800s, formed an alliance called the Balkan League. The Russian-backed alliance aimed to take away even more of the Turks' remaining territory in the Balkans.

In the First Balkan War in 1912, Serbia, Greece and Montenegro defeated Ottoman forces, and forced them to agree to an armistice. But the Balkan League soon disintegrated, and in the Second Balkan War, the Bulgarians fought the Greeks and Serbs over Macedonia, and the Ottoman Empire and Romania jumped into the fray against the Bulgarians as well.

Bulgaria ultimately was defeated. The Balkan Wars made the region even more unstable. In the power void left by the Ottomans, tensions grew between Serbia and Austria-Hungary. That, in turn, led Austria-Hungary and its ally, Germany, to decide that a war with the Serbs would be needed at some point to strengthen Austria-Hungary's position. "Many historians consider the Balkan Wars as the true beginning of the First World War," Fogarty says.

8. Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand (1914)

The archduke, who was heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, went to Sarajevo to inspect the imperial troops stationed in Bosnia and Herzegovina. He and his wife Sophie were shot to death in their car by a 19-year-old Serbian revolutionary, Gavrilo Princip.

"The assassination highlighted the nationalism that was pulling the Austro-Hungarian Empire apart at the seams," Fogarty explains, noting that Serbian extremists actually wanted Franz Ferdinand dead because they feared he was too moderate and would promote a power-sharing arrangement that would keep Slavic peoples in the empire.

"His assassination killed the idea, whether or not it was ever realistic to begin with, and radicalized Serbian defiance and Austrian determination to solve the nationalism problem for good, at least with respect to Serbia," Fogarty says.

Instead, the tension between European powers increased, as they took different sides in the crisis. As the U.K.'s Imperial War Museum notes, the killing put both Austria-Hungary and Russia, which saw itself as the Serbians' protector, in a bind. Neither one of them wanted to back down and appear weak. Fearing a fight that would draw in Russia, Austria-Hungary turned for help to Germany, which promised backing if the Austro-Hungarians used force against the Serbians. German support emboldened Austria-Hungary to declare war on Serbia on July 28.

Two days later, Russia's military mobilized, and the Germans saw that they too were in a bind. They didn't want to fight both Russia and its ally France on two fronts simultaneously, so it became imperative to knock the French military out of the war before Russia was ready to fight. Germany declared war on Russia on August 1, and two days later declared war against France. German forces gathered on the border of neutral Belgium, which they planned to cross in order to invade France. Belgium called for help, and on August 4, Great Britain declared war on Germany.

World War I had begun.

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8 Events that Led to World War I | HISTORY

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Imperialism, nationalistic pride and mutual alliances all played a part in building tensions that would erupt into war.

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Austro-Hungarian invasion of Serbia (28 July 1914 – 24 November 1915)

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Austro-Hungarian invasion of Serbia (28 July 1914 – 24 November 1915)

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- Austria sent an ultimatum to Serbia at 6 p.m. on 23 July, stating 10 requirements.
- The external reason was the Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, but it was actually a power war in the Balkans.
- Serbia's rejection of the demands of the Austro-Hungarian Empire gave them an opportunity to invade Serbia.
- On July 28, Austria declared war on Serbia.
- The result, was not the quick and glorious triumph. It was a cataclysmic fight that devastated Europe and ended the Austro-Hungarian empire.

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TWE Remembers: Austria-Hungary Issues an Ultimatum to Serbia

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Be careful what you wish for, you just might get it. That adage applies to governments as well as to people. A case in point is the ultimatum that Austria gave Serbia on July 23, 1914. Austrian offic…