KEY FIGURES OF 12 WORLD WAR region into a single state Slavs living in Austria Hungary would be included and Austria Hungary strongly opposed this Austria Hungary decided to use the assassination as an excuse to settle its quarrel with Serbia Germany promised to back Austria Hungary On July 23 Austria Hungary presented a warlike ultimatum to Serbia allowing only 48 hours for an answer Serbia responded by July 25 but suggested that some of Austria Hungary s demands be referred to the other European powers Austria Hungary refused Serbia's suggestion and on July 28 it declared war on Serbia This declaration of war activated the European alliances and within a week all Europe was at war OTHER NATIONS INVOLVED On July 29 Russia mobilized its troops near the Austrian and German borders purportedly to keep Serbia from being crushed However Russia had plans in the Ottoman Empire that had been blocked by Austria Hungary and Germany Russia wanted to control Constantinople and the straits from the Black Sea to the Aegean Sea On July 31 Germany demanded that Russia stop its war mobilization measures and delivered an ultimatum to France to declare itself neutral in the event of war between Russia and Germany Both Russia and France ignored the German demands Fighting began on the German Russian frontier on August 1 Germany declared war on France on August 3
WORLD WAR BEGINS 13 BRITAIN DECLAR ES WAR Britain and Germany had been growing more and more unfriendly before 1914 Germany claimed that Britain was trying to keep it from becoming a world power With the start of the war Germany made clear that it planned to invade France through Belgium Britain along with Germany and France had signed a treaty in 1838 guaranteeing the independence and neutrality of Belgium On August 4 Britain declared war on Germany to protect Belgian neutrality The rest of the British Empire immediately prepared to send troops Japan entered the war on the side of the Allies on August 23 Italy decided to remain neutral for the time being despite its membership in the Triple Alliance THE WAR DURING 1914 All the major powers had war plans designed for quick victories but no plans for a long drawn out stalemate The German Schlieffen Plan named after Count Alfred von Schlieffen a noted military strategist was designed to avoid a long costly war on two fronts It called for the German left flank to hold the French army on the Rhine River The right flank was to sweep through Belgium and northern France toward Paris After defeating France the Germans then planned to quickly move these troops east by rail to defeat
KEY FIGURES OF 14 WORLD WAR Belgian troops battle the Germans in
WORLD WAR BEGINS 15 The French had agreed to respect Belgian neutrality Therefore they could not go through Belgium to attack Germany Instead they intended to concentrate their troops on the center and right flanks They then planned to strike a blow 1 against the Rhine front The Russians planned to drive a wedge between Austria Hungary and Germany They then intended to make a direct attack on Berlin Although all these war plans failed the German Schlieffen Plan came close to succeeding The right flank of the German army almost reached Paris but was thrown back by the French in the First Battle of the Marne one of the few decisive battles of the
