This podcast focuses on the immediate cause of the First World War, the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo which resulted in the Great Powers being at war by the first week of August 1914.  We will explore the motives of the assassins and the reactions of the Austrians and their German allies which resulted in the ultimatum which brought Serbia and Russia into the war.  We will then explore the Schlieffen Plan which escalated the war to include France, Belgium and, ultimately, Britain.