With reference to the given picture, answer the following questions :

(a) Describe the incident.

(b) Why did Austria declare war on Serbia?

(c) What were the effects of this incident on the world?

(a) The incident depicted in the given picture is the Assassination of Archduke Francis Ferdinand. It was the immediate cause leading to the First World War. The Austrian Prince Archduke Francis Ferdinand was murdered in the Bosnian capital of Sarajevo on June 28, 1914. The organiser of the assassination was a secret society, called the 'Black Hand' or 'Union of Death', of extremist Serbian nationalists whose aim was to unite all Serbians into a single Serbian state.

(b) Austria-Hungary put the blame on the Serbian Government for this crime. As Serbia refused to comply with some of the conditions, because Russia instigated her, so Austria-Hungary declared a war against Serbia on July 28, 1914.

(c) The major nations started supporting one or the other after the Sarjevo Crisis, which led to the start of the First World War.

1. France and Russia came to the help of Serbia. At this, Germany declared war against Russia.
2. Britain wanted to keep aloof but when Germany attacked Belgium, then Britain was compelled to join the War in order to safeguard the Belgian neutrality and her own political interests.
3. On one side there were Serbia, Russia, France, Britain, Japan, Italy, USA, etc. They were called 'The Allies'. On the other side were Germany, Austria — Hungary, Ottoman Empire and Bulgaria and they were known as 'The Central Powers'.