This year is the Centenary of WW1, and by coincidence I realised today was the day Britain declared war on Germany as I was reading the Wikipedia entry on the war.
Unlike WW2, which nearly everyone agreed started on 1 Sep 1939, there does not seem to be a definitive start date for WW1.
Or did WW2 start on 3 Sep, with the declaration of war by Britain and France? I've heard both arguments (plus less well-accepted ones like Barbarossa, Pearl Harbor and the start of Japan's invasion of China).
Wikipedia's WW1 article states with no caveats that the war started on 28 July, which is when Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia, which seems to have a good claim to be the "definitive start date". We in Britain are quite good at forgetting anyone except ourselves and Germany were involved, so we're acting like it's the official start of the war on 4 August.
Unlike WW2, which nearly everyone agreed started on 1 Sep 1939
Source for that?
My reason for asking is that in my personal experience it has been rare for anyone to suggest a date other than 7 July '37.