On
the 28th June, 1914, Archduke
Franz
Ferdinand and Duchess Sophie
von Chotkova were assassinated by Gavrilo
Princip. Several members of the Black
Hand group in Sarajevo were arrested and interrogated by the Austrian
authorities. The Austro-Hungarian
government soon discovered that three men in the Serbian
Army living in Belgrade had organized the plot.
Emperor
Franz
Josef of Austro-Hungarian
and his ally, Kaiser Wilhem
II, of Germany,
decided that Serbia
had to be punished for this crime.
On
23rd July, 1914, the Austro-Hungarian
government demanded that
the Serbian government arrested these three men and send them to face
trial in Vienna.
On 25th July, 1914, Nikola Pasic told
the Austro-Hungarian government that he was unable to hand over these
three men as it "would be a violation of Serbia's Constitution
and criminal in law" and appealed to Russia
for help.
On 28th July, 1914, Austro-Hungarian declared war on Serbia.
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