Bulgaria in World War I - Bulgaria at The Beginning of The First World War

Bulgaria At The Beginning of The First World War

On 28 June 1914, Gavrilo Princip, a Bosnian-Serb student and member of Young Bosnia, assassinated the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria in Sarajevo, Bosnia. This began a period of diplomatic manoeuvring between Austria-Hungary, Germany, Russia, France and Britain called the July Crisis. Wanting to end Serbian interference in Bosnia conclusively, Austria-Hungary delivered the July Ultimatum to Serbia, a series of ten demands which were intentionally unacceptable, made with the intention of deliberately initiating a war with Serbia. When Serbia acceded to only eight of the ten demands levied against it in the ultimatum, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia on 28 July 1914. Within days the conflict spread to most of Europe and encompassed all of the major Great Powers. Many other European countries however, including the likes of Italy and Romania who had previously been affiliated with one of the major war alliances, preferred to stay neutral. The exports of important agricultural products like wheat, barley, wool and others was forbidden.