Europe Wants War So It Can Sell Bonds
After the Austrian Archduke and heir to the throne, Franz Ferdinand, was assassinated in Sarajevo on June 28, 1914, the Austrian court felt compelled to strike a blow against Serbia and its encouragement of nationalism in the Balkans. And so, the Austrian court issued an ultimatum to the Serbian government.
Everyone with any brains in Europe understood there was no way Serbian Regent Crown Prince Alexander could accept the ultimatum, because doing so amounted to ceding Serbian sovereignty to the Austrians.
The trouble for the Austrians was twofold:
1). The Serbs enjoyed strong backing from Russia, though it would take a while for the Russians to mobilize.
2). The Austrians didn’t have enough money in the treasury to mobilize a large army on the frontier—without committing to war—for very long.
This created an urgency for the Austrians to commence hostilities with the logic that once hostilities began and Austrian soldiers were in harm’s way, the court could sell war bonds to the people, who would be exhort
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