part0028

Industrial Europe had enjoyed a mostly peaceful period of economic growth, scientific discovery, and spiritual evolution, but it did not last. Political structures were changing throughout the continent; the Ottoman Empire shrank away from Greece and the Eastern Mediterranean, and the Prussian Empire experienced devolutionary forces from within. Following a disastrous visit by Archduke Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary to its capital city of Sarajevo in 1914, allied nations quickly took up arms against one another. [178]

The violence was set off by Yugoslav nationalist Gavrilo Princip, a Serbian national in Bosnia, which was under the occupation of Austria-Hungary. Princip was a member of Young Bosnia with contacts in the Black Hand society. Young Bosnians were mostly teen and young adult students opposed to Austro-Hungarian authority over the Slavic people of the realm who had been under the administration of the empire since the late 19th century. The group actively campaigned for the empire to release the Slavs and Serbs from within their political grasp and allow the two cultures to establish their own nations.

Archduke Ferdinand was the heir presumptive to the Austria-Hungarian crown in 1914, which was comprised of an emperorship of Austria and kingship of Hungary. Operating as the Dual Monarchy since 1867, the two realms were under the control of Franz Joseph I. [179] The presumptive succession of his realms lay on the shoulders of his nephew, Franz Ferdinand, after following the suicide of his only son Rudolph in 1889. [180] Ferdinand was publicly supportive of administrative reforms that would give the ethnic minorities of his realm more independence within the state. These political beliefs, diplomatic as they were, would prove to be his downfall. With social unrest mounting in Serbia and among Serbs within Austria-Hungary, it was no longer the will of all the people that a peaceful solution be found. The Black Hand, a secret Serbian society that employed violence to obtain freedom for Serbs, made the fateful decision that would throw Europe into one of the worst wars in its history.

The Black Hand, centered across the border in Serbia, supported the nationalist ideals of Gavrilo Princip and the Young Bosnians, as well as any other anti-Austro-Hungarian movements within their powerful neighbor. The unofficial leader of the Black Hand, Colonel Dragutin Dimitrijević, decided that the only way to ensure a revolution was to kill Archduke Ferdinand. Since Ferdinand was attempting to appease the Serbs diplomatically, Dimitrijević worried that his countrymen would be pacified and coaxed into accepting monarchal reforms instead of demanding their freedom; with the Archduke out of the way, a revolt would be much more likely. The Black Hand equipped Gavrilo and others with weapons and instructed them to kill the heir presumptive of the empire during his state visit to Sarajevo. [181]

The Archduke traveled to Sarajevo that fateful day in June of 1914 in order to inspect the military ranks stationed there. He arrived in the capital with his wife, Duchess Sophie Chotek. They were attacked with a hand grenade while touring in an open-top car on the morning of June 28th . The attempted assassination failed, injuring members of another car driving behind that of the Archduke and the Duchess. Undercover assassins spread out to cover various parts of the city, and the couple later reentered the open-top car to visit the victims of the attack at the local hospital. Serendipitously, traffic slowed the car down in the same spot where Gavrilo Princip was waiting. [182] He walked across the street, brandished his gun, and shot both Ferdinand and Sophie before fleeing the scene. The victims died shortly afterward. [183]

The ensuing political upheaval proved too great for mere diplomatic meetings between Serbia and Austria-Hungary. One month after the assassination, on July 28th , the Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia. [184] Germany gave its full support to the Austro-Hungarian Empire; Russia gave its own to Serbia. That very night, Austria-Hungary began firing on the Serbian capital city of Belgrade.

Ironically, the German leader, Kaiser Wilhelm II, favored diplomatic discussions in place of war. His military generals disagreed, however, and having felt his authority waver in recent years, Wilhelm was compelled to go along with the war effort. His nation joined the Triple Alliance: Austria-Hungary, Germany, and Italy in opposition of the Triple Entente of Great Britain, France, and the Russian Empire. These six nations were the central combatants of the First World War, even though the original feud had only been between Serbia and Austria-Hungary. Within the year, more than a dozen nations had officially sided with the Triple Entente against Kaiser Wilhelm II, including the United States, China, and Japan.

Fighting was fully under way by August, with Austro-Hungarians marching into Serbia, German soldiers in Luxemburg, and French and German armies facing off in the Duchy of Lorraine. Emperor Taishō of Japan put his own military resources on the line after forming an agreement with Great Britain that stated Japan could take Germany’s holdings in the Pacific Ocean. The Ottoman Empire, under the subjugate leadership of Ismail Enver Pasha—representing Emperor Mehmed V—officially sided with Germany. Land claims and alliances on either side of the war effort were countless, as countries from every inhabited continent put a stake in the outcome of the massive power struggle.

Most of the battles took place in Western Europe, and during the first month, victories were numerous for Germany and Austria-Hungary. Later in the year, Britain provided relief troops via Canada and New Zealand which immensely helped to keep German forces from capturing Paris. Germany established itself as the major warmongering nation among all those within the Allies and the Axis. In 1915, the German army launched a chlorine attack on enemy troops, marking the beginning of the age of chemical warfare. [185] It was a tactic that the Allied forces quickly adopted for themselves, and after four years of fighting, nearly 1 million people had been killed or wounded from the use of chemical weapons. [186]

Almost immediately after the war began, Serbia was invaded by Austria-Hungary, Germany, and Bulgaria. Its own national troops were evacuated to Greece before rejoining the fight the following year when Montenegro fell victim to Austria-Hungary as well. Nearly all of 1916 was spent in violent bloodshed in the ongoing Battle of Verdun in France, while Britain and Germany faced off in the seas off the coast of Denmark. [187] It was the first all-out use of modern warfare and equipment, and France suffered the most damage of any nation under the treads and guns of tanks, cannon fire, and chlorine and mustard gas blasts. President Woodrow Wilson of the United States of America, having refrained from joining the feud, officially declared war on Germany in April of 1917 and headed arbitration discussions between the Allies and the Axis. [188]

By 1918, Wilson was able to convince Germany to accept an armistice, much to the chagrin of German troops who believed they had been winning the war. [189] Diplomacy was shaky, but it held for the time being, particularly because the Russian Empire had pulled out months prior to the ceasefire agreement on November 11, 1918. [190] At that point, Tsar Nicolas II had more pressing matters to attend to on the home front.