Tuesday, June 31
I believe a change to the Gregorian calendar would go in the pre-1900 section.
Tuesday, June 31
This feels like a defensive war though
Getting their heir assasinated by serbia is not an act of war? Or must it be an acutal invasion to trigger the treaty?
EDIT: With Willy II in command of germany though the precise details of the treaty probably won´t matter in this case however.
Friday, July 4: The Austro-Hungarian military, now fully mobilized, begins its invasion of Serbia. They manage to shell the Serbian capital of Belgrade with their artillery throughout that day, and the Austrian Army's generals begin to prepare for a full siege of the city by the end of the day.
so they advanced quite fast to belgrade then?
Pretty much. In OTL, the Austrians managed to bomb the city with artillery by the end of the day they declared war.
so they advanced quite fast to belgrade then?
True, but they hardly “cut off” Belgrade. The artillery was all on the Austrian side of the river and access from the other side of Belgrade was still open. To surround the Serbian capital would require a river crossing that the Austrians couldn’t manage that soon OTL.
Day after, actually.
True, but they hardly “cut off” Belgrade. The artillery was all on the Austrian side of the river and access from the other side of Belgrade was still open. To surround the Serbian capital would require a river crossing that the Austrians couldn’t manage that soon OTL.
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Remember, in 1914 Belgrade was on the border with Austria-Hungary, so the artillery was safely in Austrian territory when they opened fire.
One woulden't nessicerily have to surround Belgrade to cut off "about half the supply routes" as suggested though. If Austrian gunboats can get a dominating control of the Danube and the heavy artillery trained on the (static) rail lines and main roads, it'd be possible to effectively area-deny the usual commerical traffic from within Austrian borders. The Germans used similar tactics in an effort to cut off the logsitics routes into Verdun two years later. Of course, that means you aren't aiming at military formations which drastically hinders their ability to get an infantry beachhead and push back the Serbian army.
A-H is universally denounced for its recklessness and violation of all rules of international relations. Russia issues an immediate ultimatum to stop. Hungary refuses any cooperation with the A-H armed forces. In OTL, Hungarian PM Tisza was strongly against the war until it was clear that Germany insisted on it. He would never go along with a shoot-from-the-hip war.What if the Austro-Hungarian Empire had started their war against Serbia merely a few days after Archduke Ferdinand's assassination?