Austria's Rebellion Against Serbia: What Caused It?

On June 28, 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and his wife were assassinated by a Serbian nationalist in Sarajevo. This event threatened to destabilise the already tumultuous Balkans region of Europe, and 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 suppressed, and that Austria-Hungary be 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. On July 28, 1914, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia, effectively beginning the First World War.

The Bosnian crisis of 1908-09

In 1878, the Treaty of Berlin gave Austria-Hungary the right to occupy and administer Bosnia and Herzegovina, which were officially possessions of the Ottoman Empire. In 1908, the Young Turks staged a revolution in Constantinople, and Aehrenthal resolved to annex Bosnia and Herzegovina before the new Turkish regime could regain control over them. To that end, he met with Izvolsky at Buchlau, in Moravia, on September 16, 1908. They agreed that Russia would not object to the annexation if, in return, Austria did not object to opening the Bosporus and Dardanelles straits to Russian warships.

On October 7, 1908, Austria-Hungary annexed Bosnia and Herzegovina. Izvolsky was unprepared for the immediate action and was unable to control the strong popular opposition to the annexation that developed in Russia. Serbia, which was closely related to Bosnia and Herzegovina geographically and ethnically, was outraged by the annexation and demanded that Austria cede a portion of Bosnia and Herzegovina to Serbia. Izvolsky, pressured by anti-Austrian opinion in Russia, was forced to support the Serbian claims. Austria, however, firmly supported by its ally Germany, threatened to invade Serbia if it persisted in its demands.

Russia, having failed to secure equally strong support from its ally France, could not risk a war against both Austria-Hungary and Germany for Serbia’s sake. In March 1909, Izvolsky notified Germany that Russia accepted Austria’s annexation. Although the crisis was resolved without immediate warfare, the resulting embittered relations between Serbia and Austria-Hungary, and Russia’s resentment at having been deceived and humiliated, contributed to the outbreak of World War I.

The Balkan Wars of 1912-13

The First Balkan War

The First Balkan War began on October 8, 1912, when the Balkan League member states attacked the Ottoman Empire. The Balkan allies were victorious, defeating the main Ottoman forces in Thrace and laying siege to Adrianople (Edirne). The war ended eight months later with the signing of the Treaty of London on May 30, 1913.

The Second Balkan War

The Second Balkan War began on June 16, 1913, when Bulgaria, dissatisfied with its loss of Macedonia, attacked its former allies in the First Balkan War. The combined forces of Serbia and Greece, with their superior numbers, repelled the Bulgarian offensive and counter-attacked Bulgaria from the west and the south. Romania, which had not taken part in the First Balkan War, invaded Bulgaria from the north. The Ottoman Empire also attacked Bulgaria and advanced in Thrace, regaining Adrianople. The war ended with the Treaty of Bucharest, which partitioned Macedonia, changed Balkan borders, and established the independent state of Albania.

The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand

On 28 June 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir presumptive to the Austro-Hungarian throne, and his wife, Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg, were assassinated in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. The assassination was carried out by a Bosnian Serb student, Gavrilo Princip, who was part of a group of six Bosnian assassins. The political objective of the assassination was to free Bosnia and Herzegovina of Austria-Hungarian rule and establish a common South Slav ("Yugoslav") state.

Archduke Franz Ferdinand was an advocate of increased federalism and widely believed to favour trialism, under which Austria-Hungary would be reorganised by combining the Slavic lands within the Austro-Hungarian empire into a third crown. A Slavic kingdom could have been a bulwark against Serb irredentism, and Franz Ferdinand was therefore perceived as a threat by those same irredentists.

The day of the assassination, 28 June, is the feast of St. Vitus in Serbia, called Vidovdan, and commemorates the 1389 Battle of Kosovo against the Ottomans, at which Sultan Murad I was assassinated in his tent by a Serb. Princip, Čabrinović and other members of the Young Bosnia were inspired by the heroism of Miloš Obilić, reenacting the Kosovo Myth.

The assassins and key members of the clandestine network were tried in Sarajevo in October 1914. In total, twenty-five people were indicted. All six assassins, except Mehmedbašić, were under twenty at the time of the assassination; while the group was dominated by Bosnian Serbs, four of the indictees were Bosnian Croats, and all of them were Austro-Hungarian citizens, none from Serbia.

The assassination precipitated the July Crisis, which led to Austria-Hungary declaring war on Serbia and the start of World War I.

The July Crisis

The assassination of the Archduke and his wife was immediately perceived as a Serbian provocation in Vienna. However, actual evidence of Serbian involvement in the plot was hard to come by. The decision-makers in Vienna and Berlin kept their colleagues in the dark about the nature of their plan. They were convinced that a war with Serbia was bound to come and that a diplomatic victory was worthless. They were motivated by a growing awareness of Austria-Hungary’s increasing loss of prestige and by a fatalism of what the future would hold.

On 5 July, Count Alexander von Hoyos, an envoy from Vienna, travelled to Berlin to establish the level of German support for Austrian action against Serbia. Kaiser Wilhelm II and Chancellor Theobald von Bethmann Hollweg encouraged Austrian action and Germany issued a 'blank cheque', promising unconditional support to their ally.

On 7 July, the Austro-Hungarian Ministerial Council convened and decided on a deliberately unacceptable ultimatum to Serbia to initiate military action or Serbia’s humiliation. The ultimatum was timed to be delivered when the French President and Prime Minister were absent from France, on a state visit to Russia.

On 23 July, Austria issued an ultimatum to Serbia, giving Serbia 48 hours to reply. Serbia replied to the ultimatum, surprisingly meeting almost all demands. Nonetheless, Austria-Hungary broke off diplomatic relations with Serbia. Britain proposed a mediation conference; ignored by Berlin and Vienna. On 25 July, partial mobilisation of four Russian districts was ordered.

On 28 July, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia. Wilhelm II proposed a 'Halt in Belgrade'. Bethmann Hollweg attempted to restrain Austria-Hungary for the first time during the crisis. On 30 July, Tsar Nicholas II authorised Russian general mobilisation for the next day.

On 1 August, Germany declared war on Russia. France and Germany began general mobilisation. German troops invaded Luxembourg as part of its deployment plan. Germany issued an ultimatum to Belgium. The British cabinet approved protection of the French coast and of Belgian neutrality.

On 2 August, German troops invaded Belgium; Germany’s declaration of war on France. Italy decided to stay neutral. On 4 August, Britain declared war on Germany.. On 6 August, Austria-Hungary declared war on Russia.

The Serbian Campaign

The First Campaign

The first campaign began after Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia on 28 July 1914. The campaign was led by Austrian General Oskar Potiorek and was euphemistically dubbed a "punitive expedition" by the Austro-Hungarian leadership. It ended after three unsuccessful Austro-Hungarian invasion attempts were repelled by the Serbians and their Montenegrin allies. The victory of the Royal Serbian Army at the Battle of Cer is considered the first Allied victory in World War I, and the defeat of the Austro-Hungarian Army by Serbia has been called one of the great upsets of modern military history.

The Second Campaign

The second campaign was launched, under German command, almost a year later, on 6 October 1915. Bulgarian, Austro-Hungarian, and German forces, led by Field Marshal August von Mackensen, successfully invaded Serbia from three sides, pre-empting an Allied advance from Salonica to help Serbia. This resulted in the Great Retreat through Montenegro and Albania, the evacuation to Greece, and the establishment of the Macedonian front. The defeat of Serbia gave the Central Powers temporary mastery over the Balkans, opening up a land route from Berlin to Constantinople, allowing the Germans to re-supply the Ottoman Empire for the rest of the war.

The Bosnian Crisis

Austria-Hungary precipitated the Bosnian Crisis of 1908-09 by annexing the former Ottoman territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which it had occupied since 1878. This angered the Kingdom of Serbia and its patron, the Pan-Slavic and Orthodox Russian Empire. Russian political manoeuvring in the region destabilized peace accords that were already unravelling in what was known as "the powder keg of Europe."

The Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand

On 28 June 1914, Gavrilo Princip, a Bosnian Serb student and member of an organization of national revolutionaries called Young Bosnia, assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, in Sarajevo, Bosnia. Though the political objective of the assassination was the independence of the southern Austro-Hungarian provinces mainly populated by Slavs from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, it also inadvertently triggered a chain of events that embroiled Russia and the major European powers. This began a period of diplomatic manoeuvring among Austria-Hungary, Germany, Russia, France, and Britain called the July Crisis.

The July Ultimatum

Austria-Hungary delivered the July Ultimatum to Serbia, a series of ten demands intentionally made unacceptable to provoke a war with Serbia. When Serbia agreed to only eight of the ten demands, Austria-Hungary declared war on 28 July 1914. The dispute between Austria-Hungary and Serbia escalated into what is now known as World War I, drawing in Russia, Germany, France, and the British Empire. Within a week, Austria-Hungary had to face a war with Russia, Serbia's patron, which had the largest army in the world at the time. The result was that Serbia became a subsidiary front in the massive fight that started to unfold along Austria-Hungary's border with Russia.

The First Invasion of Serbia

The first Austrian invasion of Serbia was launched with numerical inferiority. The able Serbian commander, Radomir Putnik, brought the invasion to an early end by his victories on the Cer Mountain (August 15-20) and at Šabac (August 21-24). In early September, Putnik's subsequent northward offensive on the Sava River had to be broken off when the Austrians began a second offensive against the Serbs' western front on the Drina River. After some weeks of deadlock, the Austrians began a third offensive, which had some success in the Battle of the Kolubara, and forced the Serbs to evacuate Belgrade on November 30. By December 15, a Serbian counterattack had retaken Belgrade and forced the Austrians to retreat.

The Entry of Turkey

The entry of Turkey into the war as a German ally was a significant success of German wartime diplomacy. Since 1909, Turkey had been under the control of the Young Turks, over whom Germany had skillfully gained a dominating influence. German military instructors permeated the Turkish army, and Enver Paşa, the leader of the Young Turks, saw an alliance with Germany as the best way of serving Turkey’s interests, particularly for protection against the Russian threat to the straits. He, therefore, persuaded the grand vizier, Said Halim Paşa, to make a secret treaty pledging Turkey to the German side if Germany should have to take Austria-Hungary’s side against Russia. The unforeseen entry of Great Britain into the war against Germany alarmed the Turks, but the timely arrival of two German warships, the Goeben and the Breslau, in the Dardanelles on August 10 turned the scales in favour of Enver's policy.

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