Arch Duke Ferdinand was assassinated in 1914 and the world came crashing down

Arch Duke and heir to the Austrian Throne, Franz Ferdinand was assassinated by a Serb Nationalist in Sarajevo, the then capital of Bosnia. Austria blamed Serbia which at that time was a close ally of Russia.

• The Austrians issued a threatening ultimatum to the Serbs, who in turn appealed to Russia.
• The Austrians had declared war on Serbia on 28 Jul 1814
• The Russians began to mobilise a vast army
• This was the trigger for Germany to activate it’s “Schlieffen Plan” which was a strategy to avoid war on two fronts, a knockout blow to France via neutral Belgium before Russia could mobilise
•  1st Aug 1914  Germany declared war on Russia
• 3 Aug 1914 Germany declares war on France
• 04 Aug German troops enter Belgium en route for France
• The German invasion of Belgium promotes Britain which had previously guaranteed Belgian neutrality to enter and declare War against Germany

Trigger events:  the tragedy of one man’s death and the subsequent domino effect that led to so many lives being lost in the four hard years that followed would shape the history of many families across the world and in particular in Europe. The continuing wars over hundreds of years to establish control of Europe had blown-up again triggering much suffering and misery, this was supposed to be the “war to end all wars” sadly it was not.