Thursday, 27 October 2011

The Start of the Great War

On June 28 1914 Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife, who were the heir to the throne in Austria-Hungary, were assassinated by a member of the Black Hand, Garvrilo Princip. The country's reaction was to stamp its authority upon the Serbian government by issuing an ultimatum which demanded that the assassins be brought to justice. 

Russia announced mobilisation of an army to defend Serbia. Germany was allied to Austria-Hungary and thought the mobilisation was an act of war against the country. France was bound to Russia by a treaty and soon found itself war against Germany. As a result Germany invaded Belgium who was neutral so that they could reach Paris as quickly as possible. Britain was loosely allied to France by a treaty which placed a moral obligation upon her to defend France.

Britain then declared war against Germany but since Germany invaded Belgium, Britain decided to defend Belgium. Britain was also at war with Austria-Hungary while defending Belgium against Germany. Australia, Canada, India, New Zealand and Union of South Africa provided military assistance for Britain.

Japan had an agreement with Britain and declared war on Germany on 23 August 1914. Austria-Hungary seeing that Japan was dealing with Germany decided to invade Japan. Although Italy was allied to Germany and Austria-Hungary, the country avoided entering the war, only to defend both countries in 'defensive' war.


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3 comments:

  1. Ailin and Ding3 November 2011 at 16:55

    Hi guyss! Your blog looks good :) First post is verry informative. Good job with the pics. We like your background a lot :D

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  2. Ela and Athena3 November 2011 at 17:03

    The layout is aesthetically pleasing. Very detailed summary with quality information (no oxymoron intended). the writing is emotionally powerful. Glorious! <3

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  3. mcwilkins6 November 2011 at 20:16

    A very good account of the beginning of World War One. It is amazing how a system that was created to stop war actually created the very thing it was trying to stop. It would have been good to comment on why the archduke was assassinated as it seems as though it is just a random attack. The alliance system is very well described but the other main factors are not mentioned (i.e. militarism and nationalism). Excellent picture, though the map is slightly unclear. Well done overall (H)

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