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Austro-Hungarian Arch Duke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated in Sarajevo, Bosnia by Gavrilo Princip who colluded with the Serbian Black Hand.
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After the Serbian government rejected Austria-Hungary's demands the Empire declared war on Serbia with the backing of their ally Germany.
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Due to the Austro-Hungarian invasion, Serbia's ally Russia has mobilized its army to help defend Serbia.
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Due to Russian mobilization Germany mobilizes and declares war on Russia (Aug, 1) and France (Aug, 3). Russia and France are allies and to avoid a war on two fronts Germany will move swiftly to knock France out of the war with the schlieffen plan, requiring them to move through neutral Belgium.
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Germany mobilizes over a million men to invade Belgium to get to France and knock them out of the war to quickly to deal with Russia.
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Due to Germany's invasion of neutral Belgium Britain declares war on Germany. As a colony of Britain this meant that Canada was also at war with Germany though we were free to choose our level of involvement. On Aug, 5 the Canadian government formally declared war on Germany.
