I'm really sorry if this is a stupid question. I'm in the middle of writing an essay on World War I, and I realized this: there are several dates that you could call the "start" of the war:
June 28 - Archduke assassinated
July 28 - Austria-Hungary declares war on Serbia
August 1 - Germany declares war on Russia
August 3 - Germany declares war on France
August 4 - Great Britain declares war on Germany
Or, am I totally wrong in asking for an "official start date", and instead should just say that "the First World War began in late July of 1914"?
From what I've read, most people say it broke out on July 28. But, do you have a specific nation that you're examining that you can reference their entry into the war?
Or, you could say something like, "A cascading series of declarations began with A-H's entry into war against Serbia on July 28 and ended with British declaration of war on August 4 against Germany after their invasion of Belgium"
I would go with July 28 though.