Motives for Austria-Hungary to Join the War
Part of the reason Austria-Hungary or Austria, was involved in the war was because Gavrilo Princip, a Serbian terrorist, shot Archduke Franz Ferdinand, but that barely was it. The war really started when Austria presented Serbia with a ultimatum designed to be rejected. And when Serbia responded negativley, Austria declared war on Serbia on July 28, without consulting its ally Germany. The war cotinued with more countries joining. After Russia’s decision to mobilize on July 30 Germany was in trouble, because the German war strategy depended on avoiding a two-front war, Germany had to defeat France before Russia could fully mobilize. Thus, Germany responded to Russia’s mobilization by immediately declaring war on France and Russia. On August 4, Britain declared war on Germany. On August 6, Austria-Hungary declared war on Russia. Finally, on August 12, France and Britain declared war on Austria-Hungary. And that is basically the start of World War One, and how Austria practically started it all.