In November, while a consensus for a peace treaty between Germany and Austria-Hungary has not been made, Tsar Nicholas II started a war against the Austro-Hungarian empire, rendering this nation in a “sandwiched state” as it now has to fight against both the German and Russian empire, while crippling inside. 

The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand still leaves Europe uneasy as tension caused by the nationalist organisation is still looming across this continent. Unfortunately, as Austria-Hungary - the country where the assasination took place is still involved in an active conflict against Germany, another tragic news struck this poor nation as Russia has also declared war against the empire after an ambiguous report of Austro-Hungarian soldiers allegedly killing a Slavic family. 

According to Russian Head of State, Austria-Hungary (abbreviated AH) is responsible for the death of Russian diplomat Nikolai Hartwig and demands cooperation from AH to suppress all anti-Russian publications and government officials, as well as allowing Russia to conduct a joint investigative team with Germany in Sarajevo, Budapest, Graz and Vienna, with failure to conduct would result in a military invasion. Responding to this, the Austro-Hungarian empire’s head of state promised the safety of the Slavic communities once the situation there is under control, with other countries like Belgium and the Ottoman also agreeing on diplomatic actions instead of escalation of force. 

However, a Russian news agency’s post about the death of a Slavic family caused by AH soldiers have become the reason for Russia to officially mobilise their troops stationed in Serbia towards AH, with the aim to overthrow the current king Franz Joseph I with king Friedrich Augustus III of Saxony,  which resulted in backlash from the international community, with the delegates from Belgium and the United States believe that the news is a mere excuse for Russia to deploy forces to AH and this nation has no intention on solving the issue with AH the peaceful way.

During the committee’s conference regarding this issue, the delegate from AH expressed his anger about how unreasonable the reason for the war is, and blamed Russia for making up the news as the news agency is from Russia (called “Rech”). During the session, AH also inquired other nations to provide any forms of aid available to support this country during the current situation, including military support.

According to the Kingdom of Romania’s delegate, the war may become unresolvable if prolonged, as both belligerents have active coalitions which can be involved later on, turning a regional dispute into an international war on a much larger scale, making it harder to stop. Another reason is the economic damage caused by the conflict, if not resolved in time, will be too devastating to the point that negotiating for war reparations could be merely impossible. 

Delegates are running out of time as the war within Austria-Hungary has been going on for a long period of time, slowly draining resources and consuming plethoras of lives, as well as precious time to work on bringing the nationalist organisation behind the assasination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria on June 28th last year to light, which is the original objective of the series of conference. With the intervention of Russia, Austria-Hungary finds themselves in a “sandwiched” state, with reinforcements coming from Italy being cornered by both Germany and the Russian empire, therefore foretelling a very gloomy future for this country.