The July crisis began on 23 July 1914 with the Austro-Hungarian ultimatum to Serbia, containing brutal terms intended to inspire rejection.

Gerd Krumeich, Armaments and Politics in France on the Eve of the First World War: The Introduction of Three-Year Conscription, 1913-1914 (1985).

Armies during the Revolution became noticeably larger than their Holy Roman counterparts, and combined with the new enthusiasm of the troops, the tactical and strategic opportunities became profound.

The movement emphasised the importance of ad fontes, or study of original sources, and initially focused on the reconstruction of secular Greek and Latin texts. A series of victories by the new French armies abruptly ended with defeat at Neerwinden in the spring of 1793. The death of Henry II in July 1559 created a political vacuum and an internal struggle for power between rival factions, which the 15 year old Francis II lacked the ability to control. They were joined by François Vatable, an expert in Hebrew, [16] along with Guillaume Budé, a classicist and Royal librarian. At no point do the sources suggest that Poincaré or his Russian interlocutors gave any thought whatsoever to what measures Austria-Hungary might legitimately be entitled to take in the aftermath of the assassinations".There was a false assumption that if France were kept in the dark, it would still have a moderating influence and thus localise the war. Britain began military preparations in late 1792 and declared that war was inevitable unless France gave up its conquests, notwithstanding French assurances they would not attack Holland or annex the Low Countries.