Austria Declares War on Serbia: World War I Begins
Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia on July 28, 1914, exactly one month after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo. Austrian gunboats on the Danube shelled Belgrade that same night. The declaration triggered a cascade of alliance obligations that turned a regional Balkan dispute into a global catastrophe within a week: Russia mobilized to defend Serbia, Germany mobilized against Russia and France simultaneously, German troops invaded Belgium to outflank French defenses, and Britain declared war to defend Belgian neutrality. By August 4, most of Europe was at war. The conflict would last four years, kill over 16 million people, destroy four empires, and redraw the map of the world.
July 28, 1914
112 years ago
Key Figures & Places
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