The Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand was visiting Serbia, which was an extremely controversial decision considering the relationship between the Austrians and the Serbians was very rough, as Serbia was then owned by the Austro-Hungarian empire, which caused civil unrest in Serbia. While Ferdinand was driving down the street to visit families who were victims of a horrible bombing that was actually an attempted assassination on Ferdinand himself, Gavrilo Princip, shot him and his wife. As a result, the Austro-Hungarian Empire devised a list of policies that really served to ruin the Serbian economy, as well as put Serbia in as unstable a condition as possible. Russia, who at the time was a very strong ally of Serbia, then mobilized its army because of Austria's then reaction to the assassination of Ferdinand. Germany then allies with the Austrio-Hungarian Empire, signified by the "blank check" Kaiser Wilhelm II gives to the Austrians, authorizing any decision the Austrians decide to make regarding the Balkan Crisis. Because France was allies with Russia at the time, and the Franco Prussian War destroyed the relations between France and Germany, Germany declared war on France, who immediately responded by forging an alliance with both Great Britain and Russia.
