The 100th Anniversary of the beginning of World War I - July 28, 1914

Hound Notes: With all the tumult going on in the world today, we should take time to recognize what happened 1 century ago today. On July 28, 1914, the Austrian-Hungarian Empire declared war on and attacked Serbia. It was thought to be retribution for the Assassination of a monarch Archduke Ferdinand, the heir to the throne. It led to the demise of four empires, four long years of meaningless slaughter in Europe, consequences that led to another World War 20 years later, and results that we are still dealing with today.

(Wikipedia World War I) By the end of the war, four major imperial powers—the German, Russian, Austro-Hungarian and Ottoman empires—ceased to exist.



July 28, 1914: Austria-Hungary's last hurrah - Rappler - July 28, 2014 - Instead of a short war – and one confined to the Balkans as Vienna thought – this was the start of World War I, 4 years of conflict drawing in all the great powers of the time and killing 9 million soldiers.                         News-hungry, patriotic crowds had been massing for hours outside newspaper offices in Vienna when emperor Franz Joseph's "To My Peoples!" proclamation of war against Serbia finally came on the evening of July 28, 1914.                           A month after a Bosnian Serb revolutionary assassinated Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, in Sarajevo, the uppity Serbs were going to get a long-deserved bloody nose.                            Special editions were ripped out of newspaper sellers' hands, and in Vienna at least, nationalistic songs were sung late into the summer night, triumphant speeches were made and thousands thronged the streets.                      "Maybe people didn't think it would be over by Christmas, but the feeling was that it would be done by mid-1915," historian and Austrian Military Museum (HGM) director Christian Ortner told Agence France-Presse.                    "But Vienna was playing a game of very high risks."                       Instead of a short war – and one confined to the Balkans as Vienna thought – this was the start of World War I, four years of conflict drawing in all the great powers of the time and killing nine million soldiers.                              
A day after Austria-Hungary's declaration, Serbia's ally Russia began mobilizing. On August 1, Germany declared war on Russia and two days later on France. On August 4, with Germany invading Belgium, Britain declared war on Germany.