37 Day Count Down to War - Day 22

July 18th 1914

Berchtold visits British Ambassador to Vienna, Sir Maurice de Bunsen. The ambassador notes that the Foreign Minister "was unusually chatty and agreeable." 

On July 18th, to reassure Stolberg, Count Hoyos promised him that the demands in the draft text of the ultimatum “were really of such a nature that no nation that still possessed self-respect and dignity could possibly accept them". The same day, in response to rumours about an Austrian ultimatum, the Serbian Prime Minister Pasic stated that he would not accept any measures compromising on Serbian sovereignty. Hans Schoen, a Bavarian diplomat in Berlin, told the Bavarian Prime Minister Count Georg Von Hertling that Austria was only making a pretence “of being peacefully inclined”. Commenting on the draft text of the ultimatum shown to him by German diplomats, Schoen noted that:

“It is perfectly plain that Serbia cannot accept any such demands, which are incompatible with her dignity as a sovereign state. Thus the result would be war.”

Count Franz Conrad Von Hotzendorf Chief of the General Staff of the Austro-Hungarian Army from 1906 to 1917

Zimmermann told Schoen that a powerful and successful move against Serbia would save Austria-Hungary from internal disintegration, and that was why Germany had given Austria “a blank power of full authority, even at the risk of a war with Russia”.

The extraordinary might of the Royal Navy is shown in this graphic, displaying the order of the fleet for today's review at Spithead

 The Daily Telegraph correspondent is as struck by the new possibilities offered by seaplanes as by the power of the dreadnoughts

While Austria-Hungary continues its verbal skirmishes with Serbia, the conflict in Albania continues to be a cause of anxiety

Back to 2014., In London today the first poppy was planted in the moat by the longest serving Yeoman Warder. In total there will be 888,246 ceramic poppies installed by over 8,000 volunteers, to mark the centenary of the First World War. Each poppy represents a British military fatality during the war. 

Register your interest in buying a poppy: http://bit.ly/TowerP 

Sign up to volunteer: http://bit.ly/poppyvolHRP 

Information sourced from the following websites:

http://www.worldwar1.com/tlplot.htm

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/richardpreston/100280555/ww1-17-days-to-go-the-fleet-masses-at-spithead-albania-continues-to-cause-anxiety/

https://www.ssafa.org.uk/news/2014/05/19/volunteer-plant-poppies-tower-london/