Why did the British declare war on Austria-Hungary in World War One?

Question

As much detail as possible thanks!

Answer 1

It all occurred as a result of a term called "collective defense". Although Britain had no personal involvement in the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the event caused Austria-Hungary to declare war on Serbia. Serbia was receiving aid from Russia and that brought Austria-Hungary into war against each other. Finally, an alliance/treaty between Britain, France and Russia called the "Triple Entente" brought France and Britain into the war within weeks of the assassination. Incidentally, Britain signed the treaty with Russia in 1907.

Specifically, Nightwind is correct. Britain declared war as a direct result of Germany pushing through Belgium en route to France. However, it is really the Triple Entente and the collective defense principle that precipitated the declaration of war.

Answer 2

A-H was allied to Germany, so when Britain declared war on Germany in 1914 when G violated Belgian neutrality (which G, France and Britain had previously guaranteed by Treaty to respect), Britain declared war on the Austro-Hungarian empire the next day (Aug 4th). Britain had no actual alliance with Belgium or any country; only staff talks and an informal offer to France of solidarity.

Answer 3

A web of mutual-defense treaties originally designed to support each other against possible competitors/enemies caused a series of triggered declarations of war - each new one triggering off another one almost automatically. The whole thing was pretty stupid, but it quickly got out of hand, and nobody really considered what it was going to lead to until it was too late to stop. Some useful aids to understand the idiocy of the whole thing would be to play a game called Diplomacy and watch a movie called Dr. Strangelove.

Answer 4

Britain had a treaty with Belgium.
Germany invaded Belgium
Austria-Hungrry was allied with Germany.

if this is homework, you'll probably wnat to look up the reasons for those things, like why Germany invaded Belgium.