Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife, the heirs to the Austro-Hungarian throne, were assasinated by a Serbian group

known as The Black Hand

Austria-Hugary told Serbia that they were to be given full access to Serbian personel to conduct their own investigation of the assasination. They wanted the power to patrol Serbian streets and arrest its citizens

Germany told Austria-Hungary to take any action they felt necessary against Serbia, and Germany would back them militarily.

Due to the length of time required to mobilize Russian troops, Russia was forced to prepare for war preemptively. This in turn caused Germany to ready its armies for battle

Most of the Western-European countries had formed alliances with one another. The alliances required certain countries to defend each other militarily. For example, when the Germans invaded Belgium, Britain stepped in to defend them, because they had sworn to protect Belgium. The alliances involved were Russia + Serbia, Germany + Austria Hungary, France + Russia, Britain + France + Belgium, and Japan + Britain