July Crisis
The July Crisis was the 37-day diplomatic cascade from the Sarajevo assassination on 28 June to the general mobilisations and declarations of war in early August 1914. Austria-Hungary's leadership, determined to use the assassination as a pretext to crush Serbia, secured Germany's unconditional backing — the famous 'blank cheque' — from Kaiser Wilhelm II and Chancellor Bethmann Hollweg on 5-6 July. Armed with this assurance, Vienna dispatched an ultimatum to Belgrade on 23 July containing ten demands, several of which were designed to be unacceptable to any sovereign state. Serbia's reply on 25 July was conciliatory on almost all points but refused to allow Habsburg police to operate inside Serbian territory. Austria deemed the reply unsatisfactory and declared war on 28 July. Russia, unwilling to abandon Serbia as it had in 1908, began partial mobilisation, then general mobilisation on 30 July. Germany issued ultimatums to Russia and France, declared war on Russia on 1 August and on France on 3 August, and invaded Belgium on 4 August, drawing Britain into the war that same day. Britain's Foreign Secretary Edward Grey attempted mediation but found that interlocking mobilisation timetables — particularly Germany's Schlieffen Plan, which required immediate invasion of France through Belgium — left statesmen less in control than they had imagined. Within 37 days, a regional Balkan dispute had become a continental and then global war.
- Year: 1914 CE
- Category: Diplomatic
