THE AUSTRO-SERBIAN QUESTION.—­For years before the war the Serbs and other Jugo-Slavs in the southern provinces of Austria-Hungary had been dissatisfied with Austrian rule.  The Serbs of Bosnia and Herzegovina (h[)e]r-ts[)e]-go-vee’nah) were especially aroused when those provinces, after a long temporary government by Austria-Hungary, were formally annexed by that power in 1908.  Their wish was for union with the adjoining Serbian kingdom.  Their aspirations did not cause very much trouble while Serbia was small and weak; but when, as a result of the Balkan wars, Serbia was revealed to the world as a warlike nation with extended boundaries and growing national ambitions, the Austrian Serbs grew restless.  There is little doubt that Serbs of Serbia had much to do with the anti-Austrian activities that rapidly spread among their brothers within the Austrian Empire.  The Austrian government, much disturbed by a movement that threatened to spread among her other subject populations, began to seek a pretext for crushing her southern neighbor and so settling the troublesome Serbian question once for all.

In 1913, at the close of the second Balkan war, Austria-Hungary informed her allies, Italy and Germany, of her intention to make war upon Serbia, and asked for the support of those countries.  Italy refused to have any part in the matter.  Germany, realizing that Russia would probably come to the assistance of Serbia and that a general European war might follow, no doubt prevailed upon Austria to stay her hand.  Germany’s preparations at that time were not quite complete.

THE ASSASSINATION OF FRANCIS FERDINAND.—­In the early summer of 1914 occurred the event that was destined to plunge the world into war.  Archduke Francis Ferdinand, heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary, made a visit to the southern provinces of the monarchy.  On June 28, while he and his wife were driving through the streets of Serajevo (s[)e]r’a-y[=a]-vo), in Bosnia, three pistol shots were fired into the carriage, mortally wounding the archduke and his wife.  The assassin was an Austrian Serb, a member of a Serbian secret society which had for its aim the separation of the Serb provinces from Austria-Hungary and their annexation to the kingdom of Serbia.  The crime caused great excitement and horror throughout Europe.  But the deed had given Austria the opportunity to settle its account with Serbia and thus put an end to the Serb plottings within the Austrian borders.

THE DECISION FOR WAR.—­There is evidence that on July 5, one week after the murder at Serajevo, a secret meeting of German and Austrian statesmen and generals took place in the German emperor’s palace at Potsdam, a suburb of Berlin.  Probably at this conference it was definitely decided that the assassination of the Austrian crown prince should be used as a pretext for crushing Serbia.  Austria, it was expected, would thus permanently settle her Serbian problem.  Germany must have known that this action would probably lead to a general European war, since Russia would come to the rescue of Serbia and France would stand by Russia.  But Germany was ready at last, and so the terrible decision was made.