Answer:
Nationalism was responsible for pushing the Balkans into wanting to expand, a move which was condemned by Austria-Hungary
Step-by-step explanation:
G = Germany
A-H = Austria-Hungary
F = France
B = Great Britian
R = russia
____________________________________________________
Balkans = unstable
- Turkey = ruler of Balkans
- Turkey was once it was a great empire but now ‘the sick man of Europe’
- Declining status = power declining too
- National groups in Balkans wanted independence
- Russia and A-H wanted to take advantage of Turkey’s weak position
- Wanted the land in Balkans
1) Bosnian crisis
- 1908 - A-H took advantage of chaos in Balkans
- Added Bosnia-Herzegovina to empire
- Created another international crisis
- Mostly Serbs lived here
- Disliked Austria
- Serbia wanted to add Bosnia to ‘Greater Serbia’
- Russia + Serbia condemned move
- When G showed it supported A-H, R backed down
- Did not want to risk war
- Did not end in open war
- However, impacted international situation
- R would not back down now - intensified rearing programme
- Wanted revenge on Austria - closer to B and F
- Serbia angry too and wanted revenge
- Austria very confident since believed that G would support them in the future too
2) Balkan wars 1912-13
- Series of local wars
- Key result = Serbia doubled in size
Consequences:
● Serbia more determined to unite Serbs
● Growing threat of Serbia - A-H more determined to crush them
● Franz Ferdinand was sent to reach agreements in Serbia, however he was assassinated
Reaction:
1) A-H
- Outrage
- Blamed Serbia for the terrorist attack
- Perfect to punish Serbia by crushing the country
- But needed to know that G had their back
- Russia might rush to the aid of Serbia and A-H would obvio lose without G’s help
- 5 July Berlin
- G said sure mann I got your back, after all, we’re brosss
- Known as the Blank Cheque
- Drew up an ultimatum to present to the Serbian govt
- Intended to be so harsh that Serbia would not accept the demands
- Presented on 23rd July
- Agreed to all of the demands except for the harshest
- Not enough for A-H
- Declared war on Serbia
- Started by bombarding Belgrade
2) Russia
- Determined to support Serbia
- 30 July
- Tsar ordered full mobilisation of troops
- Accelerated pace of events
- Harder to reach peaceful settlement
3) Germany
- Had to act now with Russia mobilising
- According to the Schlieffen plan, they had to attack/defeat France before they move on
to Russia
- 31 July
- Germany gave French ultimatum - stay neutral or war
- Germany also gave Russia an ultimatum - demobilise in the next 12 hours or face my
wrath!
- Ultimatum for Russia expired - declared war on them
- French rejected ultimatum and mobilised
- 2 August - G represented Belgium with an ultimatum - demanding passage for their
troops
4) Britain
- Ally of both Russia and France - likely to get involved
- Trigger for involvement = Germany’s invasion of Belgium following B’s rejection of the
ultimatum
- Britain = signatory of the Treaty of London in 1839
- Guaranteed Belgium’s neutrality - if it was invaded, they would help
- The Kaiser considered this to be just a scrap of paper
- 4 Aug - kept promise and declared war on Germany
- 5 weeks - Balkans war turned to a European war
- Eventually it became a world war