A Terrorist Attack Brings War - Jenn

               

               The tension between the European countries grew, and the trigger that caused them to snap was an assassination. In the Bosnian capital of Sarajevo, the Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary and his wife were shot to death by a man named Gavrilo Princip.  Princip was a member of the Black Hand, a revolutionary Serbian nationalist group who purposefully wanted to start a war with the Austria-Hungarian Empire. 

                Austria-Hungary was furious and decided to attempt to punish the Serbians, just like they had planned.  It became even more serious when Austria-Hungary utilized their alliance with Germany for backup and necessary precautions in the war to come. The Serbians recruited the Russians, and the Russians were sure to count on the French.  In the matter of a couple days, on July 28, 1914, Austria-Hungary made the first move in declaring war on Serbia.  Russia immediately responded and sent their troops over, also surrounding the eastern Germany border simultaneously.  The anxious Germans immediately retaliated by declaring war on Russia, and not even two days later it began to commence war with France. 

                Germany had finally got what it wanted: a chance to win a war and claim more territory and authority.  They were ultimately too arrogant to see the flaws in their plan though.  The German troops had to travel though Belgium in order to get to France, but Belgium happened to be a neutral territory aided by the British.  This caused Great Britain to join the war.  Then, much faster than Germany had expected, Russia invaded their land.  Germany had to bring some troops back from the battle with France and have them ward off the Russians.  This was to the Allies’s (France, Russia, Great Britain, and soon Italy) advantage because they would get to fight a two-front war.  The Battle of Marne stopped the German’s further invasion into France, but locked them in a stalemate with the French.  However, the Central Powers (Germany, Austria-Hungary, Ottoman Empire, and Bulgaria) persevered on the eastern front and were successfully able to invade Russia.