Us-Austria-Hungary Relations: Allies Or Enemies Before 1914?

Austria-Hungary was one of the Central Powers in World War I, alongside Germany, Bulgaria, and the Ottoman Empire. The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, on June 28, 1914, was the catalyst for the war. Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia on July 28, 1914, and the conflict quickly escalated as Russia, France, and Britain became involved.

Austria-Hungary's military was divided into two main groups: the Austrian Landwehr and the Hungarian Honvéd. The empire's multi-ethnic nature made it difficult to organize and disperse troops effectively, and the army struggled with inadequate supplies and equipment. The empire's last phase was marked by internal division and nationalist movements seeking independence.

Austria-Hungary participated in significant battles on the Italian, Serbian, and Eastern Fronts, including the Battles of the Isonzo, the Battle of Galicia, the Gorlice-Tarnow Offensive, and the Battle of Vittorio Veneto. The empire was already effectively dissolved by the time the armistice was signed on November 3, 1918.

The assassination of Franz Ferdinand

On the 28th of June 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, and his wife, Sophie, were assassinated by 19-year-old Gavrilo Princip, a Bosnian-Serb and member of a secret revolutionary society of peasant students known as the Young Bosnians. The assassination took place during the couple's visit to the Bosnian capital of Sarajevo.

On the day of the assassination, Franz Ferdinand and Sophie arrived at the Bosnian town of Sarajevo by train. After a brief troop inspection, the couple got into an open-topped car for a motorcade ride to the town hall. As their car turned onto the Appel Quay, a main avenue in Sarajevo, one of the assassins, Nedeljko Cabrinovic, threw a bomb at the car. The bomb bounced off and exploded underneath the car behind, wounding several people but leaving the Archduke and his wife unharmed. Cabrinovic attempted suicide but was apprehended by the police.

Rather than cancelling his plans, Franz Ferdinand decided to continue on to the town hall. After finishing his engagements there, he insisted on visiting the wounded officers in the hospital. As their motorcade sped down the Appel Quay, it mistakenly turned onto a side street where another assassin, Gavrilo Princip, was standing. Princip fired two shots at point-blank range, fatally wounding the Archduke and his wife. Within minutes, both had passed away.

The July Crisis

The crisis was a result of a complex web of alliances, coupled with the miscalculations of numerous political and military leaders (who either regarded war as in their best interests, or felt that a general war would not occur). The crisis ultimately resulted in an outbreak of hostilities amongst most of the major European states by early August 1914.

The Serbian Campaign

First Campaign

The first campaign began after Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia on 28 July 1914. This declaration came exactly one month after the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, and his wife were assassinated by a Serbian nationalist in Sarajevo. The campaign 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.

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, preempting an Allied advance from Salonica. 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.

Aftermath

Serbia was then occupied and divided between the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Bulgaria. The liberation of Serbia came in 1918 after the Allies launched the Vardar Offensive, which broke through the Macedonian front and defeated the Bulgarians and their German allies. A Franco-Serbian force advanced into the occupied territories and liberated Serbia, Albania, and Montenegro.

The Battle of Galicia

The conflict was sparked by the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary in June 1914. This event set off a series of diplomatic manoeuvres and alliances that eventually led to the outbreak of World War I. Austria-Hungary, with the support of its ally Germany, presented Serbia with an ultimatum, which Serbia largely accepted, except for one demand. However, Austria-Hungary broke off diplomatic relations and proceeded with military preparations. Russia, in turn, began mobilising its forces, leading to a tense standoff between the two powers.

The Austro-Hungarians initially made some gains, with the 1st Army driving back the Russian Fourth Army in the Battle of Kraśnik and the 4th Army defeating the Russian Fifth Army in the Battle of Komarów. However, the Austrian forces ultimately suffered a severe defeat. The Russians utilised their numerical superiority and superior tactics, such as placing infantry in thick chains and using machine guns on high ground, to rout the Austro-Hungarians. The Russians captured Lemberg (now Lviv) and ruled Eastern Galicia for approximately nine months until they were defeated at Gorlice and Tarnów.

The Gorlice-Tarnow Offensive

In February 1915, the Germans defeated the Imperial Russian Army in East Prussia at the Second Battle of the Masurian Lakes. In March, Austria-Hungary was shaken by the fall of the fortress of Przemysl and its 120,000-strong garrison after a Russian siege lasting 133 days. In April 1915, the Central Powers collected 16 divisions and considerable heavy artillery southeast of Krakow. The German 11th Army was to join the Austro-Hungarian 4th Army in an attack on the Russian 3rd Army near Gorlice-Tarnow. The goal was to punch a hole through the Russian lines and threaten the flank and rear of the Russian forces advancing through the Carpathian Mountains.

The offensive began on 2 May and was successful beyond expectations. By 3 May, the 11th Army had captured 17,000 Russian prisoners. By 10 May, the Russian 3rd Army had retreated to the River San and had been 'bled white' in the words of its commander, General Radko Dmitriev; only 40,000 of its 250,000 men made it to the new defensive position. The Austro-German offensive continued, and when it was brought to a halt on 22 June, the Central Powers had advanced some 300 kilometres, retaken Lviv, the capital of Austrian Galicia, and inflicted enormous casualties on the Russian army. The 11th Army alone captured more than 250,000 Russian prisoners and 225 guns.

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