July Ultimatum
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The Austro-Hungarian Ultimatum to Serbia or July Ultimatum was an ultimatum or final list of demands delivered to the government of Serbia on July 23, 1914, following the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria in Sarajevo. The document was described as "the most formidable document that was ever addressed from one state to another" by British Foreign Minister Sir Edward Grey, and the ultimatum was widely considered to be unfulfillable, and merely a preliminary measure to create a casus belli to enable Austria-Hungary to invade and punish Serbia. When Austria-Hungary rejected Serbia's conditional acceptance of the ultimatum and declared war, it set into motion a series of events which led to World War I.
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[edit] Details
Austria-Hungary demanded that the Serbian government should undertake the following:
- To suppress any publication which incites to hatred and contempt of the Austrian Monarchy;
- To dissolve immediately the society styled Narodna Odbrana (National Defence), and to proceed in the same manner against the other societies which engage in propaganda against Austria;
- To eliminate without delay from public instruction in Serbia, both as regards the teaching body and the methods of instruction, all that serves or might serve to foment propaganda against Austria-Hungary;
- To remove from the military service and the administration in general all officers guilty of propaganda against Austria-Hungary, names of which were to be provided by the Austro-Hungarian government;
- To accept the collaboration in Serbia of organs of the Austro-Hungarian government in the suppression of the subversive movement directed against the territorial integrity of the monarchy;
- To take judicial proceedings against the accessories to the plot of June 28th who are on Serbian territory, with the help and direction of organs delegated by the Austro-Hungarian government;
- To immediately arrest two named persons implicated by the preliminary investigation undertaken by Austria-Hungary;
- To prevent by effective measures the cooperation of Serbia in the illicit traffic in arms and explosives across the frontier;
- To furnish Austria-Hungary with explanations regarding statements from high Serbian officials both in Serbia and abroad, who have expressed hostility towards Austria-Hungary; and
- To notify Austria-Hungary without delay of the execution of these measures.
[edit] Response
The Serbian government reservedly accepted all of the conditions of the ultimatum, except for the condition of including Austria-Hungary in Serbia's judicial inquiry (demand 6), which Serbia indicated would be unconstitutional and a violation of its sovereignty.
