Austria-Hungary declares war on Serbia
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Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire or the Dual Monarchy, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867 and was dissolved shortly after its defeat in the First World War.
At its core was the dual monarchy which was a real union between Cisleithania, the northern and western parts of the former Austrian Empire, and the Kingdom of Hungary. A third component of the union was the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia, an autonomous region under the Hungarian crown, which negotiated the Croatian–Hungarian Settlement in 1868. From 1878, jointly governed Bosnia-Herzegovina, which it annexed in 1908. Austria-Hungary ruled by the House of Habsburg and constituted the last phase in the constitutional evolution of the Habsburg Monarchy. The union was establishing by the Austro-Hungarian Compromise on 30 March 1867 in the aftermath of the Austro-Prussian War. Following the 1867 reforms, the Austrian and Hungarian states were co-equal in power. The two states conducted common foreign, defense, and financial policies. But all other governmental faculties divided among respective states.
Structure
The Compromise turned the Habsburg domains into a real union between the Austrian Empire (“Lands Represented in the Imperial Council”, or Cisleithania) in the western and northern half and the Kingdom of Hungary (“Lands of the Crown of Saint Stephen”, or Transleithania). in the eastern half. The two halves shared a common monarch, who ruled as Emperor of Austria over the western and northern half portion and as King of Hungary over the eastern portion. Foreign relations and defense were managed jointly, and the two countries also formed a customs union. All other state functions were to be handled separately by each of the two states.
Certain regions, such as Polish Galicia within Cisleithania and Croatia within Transleithania, enjoyed autonomous status, each with its own unique governmental structures (see: Polish Autonomy in Galicia and Croatian–Hungarian Settlement).
The division between Austria and Hungary so marked that there was no common citizenship: one was either an Austrian citizen or a Hungarian citizen, never both. This also meant that there were always separate Austrian and Hungarian passports, never a common one. However, neither Austrian nor Hungarian passports were used in the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia. Instead, the Kingdom issued its own passports, which wrote in Croatian and French, and displayed the coat of arms of the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia-Dalmatia on them. Croatia-Slavonia also had executive autonomy regarding naturalization and citizenship, defined as “Hungarian-Croatian citizenship” for the kingdom’s citizens. It is not known what kind of passports were used in Bosnia-Herzegovina, which was under the control of both Austria and Hungary.
Summary of Austria-Hungary declares war on Serbia
- Year
- 1914
- Month Day
- July 28
On July 28, 1914, one month to the day after Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and his wife were killed by a Serbian nationalist in Sarajevo. Austria-Hungary declares war on Serbia, effectively beginning the First World War.
Threatened by Serbian ambition in the tumultuous Balkans region of Europe, Austria-Hungary determined that the proper response to the assassinations was to prepare for a possible military invasion of Serbia. After securing the unconditional support of its powerful ally, Germany, Austria-Hungary presented Serbia with a rigid ultimatum on July 23, 1914; demanding, among other things, that all anti-Austrian propaganda within Serbia be suppressing, and that Austria-Hungary allowed to conduct its own investigation into the archduke’s killing. Though Serbia effectively accepted all of Austria’s demands except for one, the Austrian government broke diplomatic relations with the other country on July 25 and went ahead with military preparedness measures. Meanwhile, alerted to the impending crisis, Russia—Serbia’s own mighty supporter in the Balkans—began its own initial steps towards military mobilization against Austria.
In the days following the Austrian break in relations with Serbia, the rest of Europe, including Russia’s allies, Britain and France, looked on with trepidation, fearing the imminent outbreak of a Balkans conflict that; if entered into by Russia, threatened to explode into a general European war. The British Foreign Office lobbied its counterparts in Berlin, Paris and Rome with the idea of an international convention aimed at moderating the conflict; the German government, however, set against this notion, and advised Vienna to go ahead with its plans.
On July 28, 1914, after a decision reached conclusively the day before in response to pressure from Germany for quick action—apart from Kaiser Wilhelm II; who by some accounts still saw the possibility of a peaceful diplomatic resolution to the conflict. But was outmaneuvering by the more hawkish military and governmental leadership of Germany—Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia. In response, Russia formally ordered mobilization in the four military districts facing Galicia, its common front with the Austro-Hungarian Empire. That night, Austrian artillery divisions initiated a brief, ineffectual bombardment of Belgrade across the Danube River.
“My darling one and beautiful, everything tends towards catastrophe and collapse,” British naval official Winston Churchill wrote to his wife at midnight on July 29. He proved right over the next several days. On August 1, after its demands for Russia to halt mobilization met with defiance, Germany declared war on Russia. Russia’s ally, France, ordered its own general mobilization that same day, and on August 3, France and Germany declared war on each other. The German army’s planned invasion of neutral Belgium, announced on August 4, prompted Britain to declare war on Germany. Thus, in the summer of 1914, the major powers in the Western world—with the exception of the United States and Italy, both of which declared their neutrality, at least for the time being—flung themselves headlong into the First World War.
Why Did Austria Declare War On Serbia?
In order to fully understand Austro-Hungarian declaration of war on Serbia, an event that sparked the World War 1. We need to go back a while and take a look at the situation in Europe and Balkans especially at the beginning of the 20th century.
In 1903, a secret military organization called the Black Hand performed a coup in Serbia, killing King Alexander Obrenovic and his wife; Queen Draga and brought Petar Kara djordjevic to the Serbian throne. The move was meeting with severe judgment from several European powers, especially Austria-Hungary; who hold a great influence on the late King Alexander. The new King Petar was a Russophile and immediately started working on establishing closer ties with Saint Petersburg and Tsar Nikolai.
At the time, this was a conglomerate of nationalities. The three largest were German, Hungarian and Czech. The fourth largest group were Serbs. More than 5.6 million Serbs lived within the borders of the empire, making about 10% of the population. This made Vienna court extremely sensitive to any clamors of liberation and attempts on part of Serbia to claim those parts of empire inhabited with Serbs.
The first attempt to bring Serbia to heel made in 1906, when Austria-Hungary imposed crippling tariffs on Serbian imported goods, especially pork; which was the main export for Serbia, starting the Customs War or Pig War, as it called in Serbia. By 1908, Serbia managed to find other markets for its pork and other commodities; effectively defeating the purpose of sanctions imposed by Vienna. As a result of these events, irredentist movements in Serbian parts of Austria-Hungary grew and started to create serious trouble for the empire. Vienna tried to crush the movement with repression, but that only made it worse.
Which point of Austria’s ultimatum did Serbia reject and why?
Serbia’s response effectively accepted all terms of the ultimatum but one. The one would not accept Austria-Hungary’s participation in any internal inquiry; stating that this would be a violation of the Constitution and of the law of criminal procedure.
Why was Archduke Franz Ferdinand assassinated Quizlet?
Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated in June 1914 in Sarajevo, Bosnia. Archduke was a target of assassination, because he was next in line to the throne, and was very wealthy. He was a target because many people in the Balkans were angering by Austria’s annexation of Bosnia a few years earlier.
How did Austria declare war on Serbia start ww1?
The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and his wife by the hands of a Serbian nationalist in Sarajevo led to the Austrian-Hungarian Empire declaring war. The Austrian-Hungarian Empire had the support of Germany, offering Serbia an ultimatum on July 23, 1914.
Why did Germany declare war on Serbia?
On , Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, and his wife were assassinating by a Serbian-backed terrorist. Austria-Hungary, with German encouragement, declared war on Serbia on 28 July. Russia’s support of Serbia brought France into the conflict.
Did it control Serbia?
Serbia was a Balkan nation sandwiching between Austria-Hungary and other states previously controlling by the Ottoman Empire. It gained national independence from the Ottomans in the 1800s but came under the political and economic control of Austria.
Why did Russia declare war on Austria-Hungary at the beginning of WWI?
However, Russia had the support of France and feared that a failure to defend Serbia would lead to the loss of Russian credibility, constituting a major political defeat in its goal of controlling the Balkans. Tsar Nicholas II mobilized Russian forces on to threaten this if it invaded Serbia.
What were accusations made by it to Serbia?
Austria-Hungary accused Serbia of allowing criminal actions, unrestrained language by the press, and glorification of those associated in criminal actions. It demanded that the Serbian government condemn propaganda against the Monarchy and to accept representatives from the Austria-Hungarian government.
