Austria-Hungary

In my opinion, Austria-Hungary should be blamed the most for the outbreak of World

War One due to the fact that first, Austria-Hungary took over Bosnia and blamed Bosnians for

the assassination of Franz Ferdinand. Secondly, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia due

to their agreement with only two terms of the ultimatum. Lastly, Austria-Hungary decided to

cooperate with Germany for war preparation, which ended up with the the major involvement of

Germany and other European countries as well.

First of all, Austria-Hungary took over Bosnia in 1908. The Bosnian Crisis enraged many

Serbians who believed Bosnia should be a part of Serbia. The awful relationship made between

Austria-Hungary and Serbia created major conflicts between the two countries.
On June 8th,

1914, a terrorist group called the Black Hand, who decided that Archduke should be

assassinated took action during his visit to Sarajevo. Thus, several young men began to attack

Franz Ferdinand’s car with grenades but missed. However, a man called Gavrilo Princip,

successfully shot Franz Ferdinand, and his wife Sofie Chotex to death. Austria-Hungary was

then extremely mad about the case which ended up deciding to blame Serbia. The Annexation

with Bosnia and the blaming of Serbia was the beginning of a horrible relationship between the

two countries, which led to the war in the future.

Next, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia since they only agreed to two terms of the

ultimatum. A month later from the assassination of Franz Ferdinand, on July 24, 1914,

Austria-Hungary sent an ultimatum to Serbia with three main terms indicating that Serbia must

agree to all three terms or war will be declared. The three terms included first, Serbia must put

down all nationalist hatred against Austria-Hungary. Second, Serbia must punish all those in the

assassination of the Archduke and his wife. Finally, Serbia must allow Austro-Hungarian police

to help get rid of the Black hand. On July 26,1914, Serbia gave Austria-Hungary a response to

only Accepting two terms instead of all terms of the ultimatum. Because Serbia did not satisfy

what Austria-Hungary has expected, thus on July 28th, 1914, Austria-Hungary declared war on

Serbia. Both of them then stepped their feet into the beginning of the war.

Last but not least, Austria-Hungary cooperated with Germany in order to fight with Serbia.

This decision led to many involvements of other countries which officially started World War

One. After the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, Austria-Hungary desired to declare

war on Serbia. However, they needed help. On July 5th, 1914, In Germany, Berlin,

Kaiser Wilhelm II, German emperor promised his unconditional support for Austria-Hungary by

sending a “blank check”, which indicated how Germany and Austria Hungary came along to fight

with Serbia. Furthermore, On July 6th,1914, a German Foreign Minister, Bethmann told the

Austrians, “Austria must judge what is to be done with Serbia. But whatever Austria’s decision,

you can count upon it that German will stand by you as an ally.” He added, “If war must break

out, better now than in one or two years’ time when the Triple Entente will be stronger.” The

quote clearly stated that Germany was looking forward to work with Austria-Hungary for war

against Serbia.
Consequently, Austria-Hungary strongly agreed to work with Germany. Which

can be proven by the time period took for war preparation after the death of Franz Ferdinand

until the date of declaration of war on Serbia. Right after the assassination on June 28th,1914,

Germany encouraged Austria-Hungary to work together on July 6th, which proved that the two

countries already had some agreements with each other. On July 26th, about a month later
Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia confidently. A question that can be asked is what

happened during that few weeks before the war on Serbia? A source from Raffael Scheck, the

history professor of Colby College said:”Austria-Hungary was Germany’s last ally and thus

seemed to deserve support at all cost.” Which again proved there was a strong alliance between

Germany and Austria-Hungary. The evidences supported the argument that Austria-Hungary

and Germany were preparing for war during the month of July in order to declare war on
Serbia

at the end. Soon the war began with Serbia, many other countries such as Russia, France and

the Great Britain got involved. Thus, the wars between many countries began, which

automatically started the first World War.

In conclusion, started off with the Bosnia Crisis that led to the death of Franz Ferdinand, to

a horrible relationship with Serbia, Austria-Hungary thirsted for war. By sending the ultimatum to

Serbia, Austria-Hungary found a great excuse to get Germany involved and work together to

take down Serbia. And with the participation of other countries soon after the war started with

Serbia. Austria-Hungary was definitely the Starter of World War one, and therefore should be

blamed the most for the outbreaking of the first World War in history.