Archduke Ferdinand Causes

Introduction:
Undoubtedly, the final spark that led to the Great War was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, presumed heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, and his wife Sophia on July 28, 1914. No other murder in history has triggered a chain of events of such scale – a world war, the collapse of imperialism, and socialist revolution. The assassination of Archduke Ferdinand ultimately led to Austria-Hungary declaring war on Serbia on July 28, 1914. But the move to war was more than just anger and retaliation over the assassination, it was the culmination of tensions over instability and conflict in the Balkan region. It can be argued that the first World War actually began with the Balkan Wars, which resulted directly from European powers’ continual reach for power in the Balkan Peninsula. The age of imperialism was drawing to a close and ideas of nationalism and self-determination were beginning to take hold, especially in the Balkans, who had
for too long been stuck under the thumb of foreign powers.
Importance of the Region
The Balkan Peninsula, or the Balkans, refers to the region situated in southeastern Europe between the Black Sea, the Aegean, the Adriatic, and the Mediterranean. Due to its central location between Europe, Africa, and Asia, and its easy accessibility, it is an important region for the movement of peoples, is subject to influences from all sides by neighboring areas, and it functions as a bridge or battle ground of empires and cultures. At the beginning of the 20th Century, the Balkans were significantly undeveloped compared to western Europe, and it was not economically desirable due to its lack of natural resources. However, because of its geographic location, it was of strategic importance to the three major powers at the time, the Austria-Hungarian, Russian, and Ottoman Empires. Control of the region has always been in dispute since the Romans conquered it in the third and second centuries B.C., and the constant invasion and domination by different groups had left its impact throughout the region. With each new wave of invaders, a new set of pressures was applied to the peoples of the region, and the struggles against foreign domination became increasingly complicated by internal ethnic, religious, and linguistic differences. This internal fragmentation preserved social and economic systems, yet allowed external forces to easily assert military and political dominance of the region. At the turn of the century, the Balkans were under the control of a weakening Ottoman Empire.
Political Climate prior to the Balkan Wars When determining the factors that led to the Balkan Wars, it is important to note the prevailing mindset at that point in history. The political landscape at the turn of the century can be characterized at tumultuous political disorder. The once great empires of the past are being pulled apart internally by individual states seeking autonomy and the recognition of their own nations. Seeking self-determination, these new states routinely entered into conflict with the ailing empires. Such was the case between the Balkans and the Ottoman Empire. The Ottoman Empire had controlled the region for nearly half a century, but recently had been demonstrating its inability to control the diverse array of ethnicities and religions within its boundaries.
The Ottoman Empire was losing control of the Balkan peninsula, and by the end of the 1800s, Greece, Serbia, and Montenegro had all obtained independence from Ottoman rule.
The collapse of the Ottoman Empire excited the major powers of the region, particularly Russia, Britain, Germany, and Austria-Hungary, who all had foreign policy concerns about the consequences of the collapse of the Ottoman Empire. Each state had its own objective when poised with regard to the ‘Eastern Question’. Russia sought Balkan territory as a means of controlling the Bosphorus, which would allow them shipping access between the Black Sea and the Aegean Sea. Britain opposed Russian expansion into the Mediterranean and the Middle East, therefore supporting the continuation of the Ottoman Empire. Germany sought to acquire the Balkan region for colonization. Like England, Austria-Hungary did not want to see Russia gain access to the Black Sea, nor was it in favor of watching a fellow kingdom (the Ottoman Empire)
dissolve. While the Ottoman Empire was losing its hold on the Balkan Peninsula, Balkan nationalism was gaining strength. Between 1821 and 1832, the Greeks fought a War of Independence, and with the help of several European powers, Greece finally gained its independence from the Ottoman Empire in July 1832 with the signing of the Treaty of Constantinople. From 1877 to 1888, the Balkan region engaged in Russo- Turkish War. The war was fought between the Ottoman Empire and a coalition led by the Russian Empire and composed of Bulgaria, Montenegro, Romania, and Serbia. This war was an attempt by the Russians to re-establish control in the Black Sea, regain territory loss in the Crimean War, and free Balkan countries from the Ottoman Empire. The war resulted in Romania, Serbia, and Montenegro declaring their independence from the Ottoman Empire and the re-establishment of the Principality of Bulgaria, which was resented by the Russians. In 1878, as a result of the Congress of Berlin following the Russo- Turkish War, Austria-Hungary was given occupation of and rule over Bosnia-Herzegovina even though it would remain under the sovereignty of the Ottoman Empire.
In 1908, the Young Turk Revolution disbanded the Ottoman constitutional monarchy and restored the Ottoman constitution of 1876. The Young Turk party promised regeneration of the Ottoman Empire and sought modernization modeled after Western Europe. While the new regimes initial idealism policies were appealing, they would not last, and several countries sought to capitalize on the weakness of the new regime. Both the Austria-Hungary and Russia, who were both competing for power in the Balkans, saw this opportunity to achieve some of their goals before Young Turk reforms were put into effect, and they mutually agreed to support the other’s goals. Austria-Hungary wanted full control over Bosnia-Herzegovina, and Russia wanted control over Bosphorus. In what is known as the Bosnian Crisis, Austria-Hungary, acting unilaterally, rejected Ottoman sovereignty over Bosnia-Herzegovina, and in defiance of the Treaty of Berlin (1878) on October 8, 1908, annexed the country. This move was timed to coincide with Bulgaria’s declaration of independence from the Ottoman Empire on October 5, 1908. Austria-Hungary’s move to secure Bosnia-Herzegovina strained relations with Russia, as well as the Serbians. The Serbians already had a tenuous relationship with Austria-Hungary, and this annexation of Bosnia-Herzegovina, quelled any hopes they had at acquiring what they believed were national lands in hopes of creating a greater Serbian state. Serbian nationalists appealed to Russia for help, but Russia, following a defeat by Japan in 1905 and facing internal revolution, was in no position to offer assistance to Serbians. Facing external pressures, Serbia begrudgingly took on a political position of acceptance regarding Austria-Hungary’s annexation of Bosnia-Herzegovina. These events marked the end of cooperation between the Austria-Hungarian and Russian empires, and likely would have led to war had not Russian been already weakened from its war with Japan in 1905. Britain and Germany refrained from intervention, thinking that “these Balkan troubles might be of some use” in promoting Anglo-German cooperation in Europe.
The alliance between Austria-Hungary and Russia now broken, Russia took on a stance of encouraging all Balkan states, both those still inside the Ottoman Empire and those outside, to form alliances against further Austrian-Hungarian encroachment. In attempts at protecting themselves against further encroachment, Serbia sought an alliance with Bulgaria. The alliance initially faltered due to disagreements over the future territorial division of Macedonia and Bulgarian report with Austria-Hungary, but the communication between Balkan states paved the way for future alliances to be made independent of the great powers at the time. With Russian encouragement, the Balkan states began to understand that when combined militarily, they could expel the Ottoman Empire from their lands, regardless of whether or not they had support of the European powers. While Russia was championing agreements between the Balkan states, negotiations quickly progressed beyond its control.
On the Brink of War
When Russia realized in 1910 that Bulgaria had no interest in an alliance with the Ottoman Empire, it pushed for an alliance between Serbia and Bulgaria, as an anti-Austrian-Hungarian measure. Serbia and Bulgaria were at odds with regard to Macedonia. Bulgaria supported an autonomous national state while Serbia wanted to partition the territory. An alliance between the two countries would surely provoke Ottoman hostility, a situation a weakened Russia was eager to avoid. Neither country had incentive to compromise, until two events occurred: the Italo-Turkish War, and the treatment of the Albanians by the Ottoman Empire.
First, from 1911 – 1912, the Italo-Turkish War was fought between the Ottoman Empire and the Kingdom of Italy in an attempt for Italy to gain colonies in North Africa in what is present-day Libya. The defeat of the Ottoman Empire not only exposed the weakness of the Ottoman Empire, but fueled the nationalist-expansionist sentiment that would prevail over the following decades. As the Ottoman Empire showed its weakness, Russia increased its efforts to see a Balkan alliance, now also to include Greece and Montenegro. Negotiations continued and on March 7, 1912 and treaty was signed, which not only split Macedonia between Serbia, and Bulgaria, but also provided for military cooperation, openly against the Austria-Hungarian Empire, and secretly against the Ottoman Empire. In May, Greece and Bulgaria, and Serbia and Montenegro, made similar pacts, but without any territorial division. With these agreements, both formal and informal, the Balkan League was complete and ready to fight for national unity.
The second reason for compromise was on behalf of the Albanians. Up until this point, Albanians were a major ethnic group without a state within Ottoman provinces, and had been staunch supporters of Ottoman rule and had been granted special liberties and privileges. Although they initially supported the new regime in Constantinople, they quickly became concerned that the Young Turks’ centralization policies would lead to a loss of their privileges and forced assimilation into the Ottoman Empire. From 1910 – 1911, a series of Albanian revolts broke out, which were never able to be fully suppressed by the Ottoman Empire before the outbreak of the Balkan Wars. The brutality in which the regime tried to suppress the rebellions surpassed that of the old Ottoman regime. Eventually fed up with their treatment, the Albanians, encouraged by Montenegro who sought to weaken both parties, openly rebelled against the Ottoman Empire. Constantinople promised reform but dragged its feet. Out of patience, the Albanians seized Skopje in Macedonia in 1912. The Ottoman government finally relented and began drawing up plans for Albanian autonomy, but it was too late. The Albanian push for autonomy disrupted Serbian plans for territorial gains as they sought to expand all the way through to the Adriatic Sea. As the weary Albanians pronounced their freedom from the Ottomans, Bulgaria, Serbia, and Greece decided to attack. The main agenda of the Balkan League was to go to war with the Ottoman Empire, and ultimately drive them out of Europe completely.