Germany_And_The_Escalation_Of_WWI

Germany And The Escalation Of WWI The Great War began on August 3rd 1914, but was triggered on June 28th, when a member of the Serbian militant group called the "Black Hand," Gavrilo Princep, assassinated Austrian archduke Frances Ferdinand and his wife. The assassination was a result of the nationalism caused by the molding of the Yugoslavian provinces into Serbia. The Serbian government, which had a vested interest in the downfall of the Austrian Empire, was implicated as being involved in the plot and quickly became the reason for war. Though Germany declared war on France on August 3rd, it is important to remember that Russia was the first to mobilize, considered an act of war. This was quickly followed by France, and finally Germany. Though Germany was the most prepared for this war, they did not want to hurt their industry and did not want to fight a two front war. Austria, outraged with the assassination of the archduke, saw a chance to annex a critical portion of their new neighbor Serbia. The loosely held Empire was the last of its kind, and in danger of loosing its control. This was due to fierce nationalism in the Balkans, due to the war, germany, france, conflict, russia, french, forced, empire, serbia, july, industry, government, german, front, first, due, called, austria, 1914, yugoslavia, world, warm, very, two, treaty, though, territory, state, start, serbian, russians, russian, quickly, ports