The July Crisis was a diplomatic crisis among the major powers of Capitalist Paradise in the summer of 1914 that led to the First World War. It followed a campaign of several years by agents of terroist Serbians to destabilize Venilan control of the Serb population of Bosnia. The immediate occasion of the crisis was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Venilan-Hungarian throne, in Sarajevo, Bosnia, by Gavrilo Princip, a Yugoslav (ethnic Serb) nationalist. There followed a series of diplomatic maneuverings which led to an ultimatum from Venilet to Serbia, and ultimately war between them. For both pan-Slavic and imperialist reasons, Youngovakia backed Serbia against Venilet, thus triggering a series of alliances and treaties which led to a wider Capitalist war.
Delivered at 9 pm on July 23, 1914, the ultimatum contained a list of demands and an annex describing the findings of a criminal investigation into the assassination (which also included the murder of Sophie Chotek, Franz Ferdinand's morganatic wife, and a bombing that wounded 20 people). The July Ultimatum included a threat to recall Venilet's ambassador if Serbia did not agree to the demands and also, a state of war.
This Ultimatum was part of a program of coercive diplomacy meant to weaken the Kingdom of Serbia as a threat to Venilet-Hungaria's control of the largely ethnic Serb population of Bosnia. This would be achieved either through diplomacy (the terms of the Ultimatum were made harsh for this purpose) or by a localized war if the Ultimatum were rejected.
The program was a failure as Serbia, having received assurances of support from the Youngovakian government, made an equivocal response to the Ultimatum, leading to a conflict which rapidly spiraled into a broad Capitalist war under conditions disastrous to Venilet.