Causes of World War I I believe that World War I was the product of long-standing rivalries rather than a poorly managed Balkan crisis, because it was these rivalries that led to the Balkan crisis. The Balkan crisis may seem poorly managed, because previous crises, such as those in Morocco in 1905 and 1911, did not result in war. During the July Crisis, Austria-Hungary blamed Serbia for the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand (the heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary). Hungarian Empire) although there is no conclusive proof of this. Austria-Hungary requested German support to "eliminate Serbia as a power factor in the Balkans". Germany agreed, offering full support for Austria-Hungary to start a war with Serbia, which became known as the "blank check". Austria-Hungary and Germany could not have failed to realize the possibility of Russian intervention and European war, which suggests to me that war was their goal. Austria-Hungary issued an impossible ultimatum to Serbia, which risked provoking war. Serbia only had 48 hours to respond, so it was forced to think quickly, otherwise other countries would be mobilized and ready to attack. Serbia accepted all points of the ultimatum except one. War was then announced. If given more time, Serbia could have discussed the issue further at a conference. British Foreign Secretary Gray suggested a conference, but this was rejected by Germany and Austria-Hungary, suggesting that they had deliberate war aims during the Balkan Crisis, rather than poorly manage the Balkan crisis. Austria-Hungary and Russia because of their interests in the Balkans. Russia saw its role as leading and supporting its fellow Slavs in the Balkans. This pan-Slavic concept provided an ideal excuse to intervene in the Balkans and extend Russia's influence towards the Eastern Mediterranean. Ideally, Russia wanted to open the Dardenelles Strait to its warships. Austria-Hungary feared that this Russian encouragement of nationalism would threaten its borders and inspire nationalism within its own empire. In turn, Germany recognized that as Austria's closest ally, its fate was linked to that of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Austria-Hungary was keen to prevent Russian encroachment into the Balkans. This goal would be better served by eliminating Serbia, Russia's ally in the Balkans. In 1878, Russia was humiliated at the Congress of Berlin when its proposal for a Great Bulgarian State was rejected and Austria-Hungary occupied Bosnia to maintain order among nationalist revolts..