Dennis Cross has just published another excellent Centennial Countdown blog posting.
He says in his email introduction:
“July 1914 will become known to history as the month of the July Crisis. Looking back from the vantage point of the Twenty-first Century, it is hard to find a more consequential month, in the Twentieth, than this one. The month begins with the reaction to the June 28 assassination of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife in Sarajevo; it ends with ultimatums and mobilizations that plunge Europe into a catastrophic conflict that will continue for over four years and change the world forever. After the assassination, Austria-Hungary quickly determines that Serbia is to blame. Like Russia in another July crisis a century later, Serbia denies responsibility for the “outrage” and calls for an investigation. An Austrian ultimatum and an unsatisfactory Serbian response are followed by a declaration of war against Serbia. By month’s end, Russia, Serbia’s patron, and Germany, Austria-Hungary’s ally, have mobilized, and in England First Lord of the Admiralty Winston Churchill has ordered the Royal Navy’s First Fleet (soon to be redesignated the Grand Fleet) to its war station in the Orkney Islands, where it will command the North Sea. As preparations for war continue, much of the public’s attention is elsewhere. In London, the King makes an unsuccessful personal attempt to resolve the Irish Home Rule question. In Paris, Mme. Caillaux is acquitted and M. Jaures is slain. In Mexico, General Huerta resigns the presidency and leaves for Jamaica. In the United States, President Wilson’s emissary Colonel House returns home after two months in Europe. But as the month comes to an end, a sudden realization that war is imminent causes markets to collapse in London, New York, and other financial capitals.”
Posted by: CN Editor