9781422286029

World War I

12

plotters had received help from military officers in neighboring Serbia. Austrian officials had long con- sidered the Kingdom of Serbia a mortal threat. Serbia was a small country, but Serbian leaders were bent on expanding their borders. They believed any area with a sig- nificant ethnic Serb population should be part of Serbia. That included Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Archduke Franz Ferdinand is pictured with his wife, Sophie, moments before his assassination in Sarajevo. The killing on June 28, 1914, caused an international crisis that would lead Europe to war.

But the Serbs were only one of a handful of Slavic peoples in Austria- Hungary. In all, Slavs made up nearly half of Austrian emperor Franz Josef’s approximately 50 million subjects. Austrian officials worried that Serbian successes might inspire broader Slavic nationalism . And that could tear Austria-Hungary apart. The assassination of Franz Ferdinand presented Austria with an opportunity to punish Serbia. But there was a problem: Serbia enjoyed close relations with Russia. Russia had been stirring up Slavic nation- alism on the Balkan Peninsula, where Serbia and Bosnia-Herzegovina were located. It was unclear how Russia would react if Austria attacked Serbia. Before going to war with Serbia, Austrian officials wanted a guarantee of German support in the event Russia came to the aid of Serbia. Kaiser Wilhelm secretly gave such a guarantee on July 5. War! On July 23, Austria-Hungary presented Serbia with an ultimatum , or set of demands. Serbia was given 48 hours to accept the ultimatum in its entirety. Failure to do so, it was understood, would result in war.