37 Day Count Down to War - Day 28

Day 28 - July 24

Pasic returns to Belgrade at 5:00 am.

Giesl and staff begin burning sensitive diplomatic papers and cipher books. They are already preparing for their departure from Belgrade on tomorrow's evening train.

Prince Alexander urgently wires the Russian Czar for assistance and guidance in the matter.

Russia advises Pasic to "proceed with extreme caution." 

Serbia makes the contents of the ultimatum public in a hope to gain public support. The world is aghast at the contents. They ask for the impossible. Sir Edward Grey says: "...never before seen one State address to another independent State a document of so formidable a character".  He at once proposes four-Power (Great Britain, Germany, France, Italy) mediation.

The Russian War Minister Vladmir Sukhomlinov

The Navy Minister Admiral Ivan Grigorovich

The Russian Council of Ministers met to decide their response to the crisis. The Russian Agriculture Minister Alexander Krivoshein, who was especially trusted by Nicholas, noted that:

"...our rearmament programme had not been comp

leted and it seemed doubtful whether our Army and Fleet would ever be able to compete with those of Germany and Austria-Hungary as regards modern technical efficiency...No one in Russia desired a war. The disastrous consequences of the Rusoo - Japanese War had shown the grave danger which Russia would run in case of hostilities. Consequently our policy should aim at reducing the possibility of a European war, but if we remained passive we would attain our objectives...In his view stronger language than we had used hitherto was desirable."

Sazonov stated that Russia had usually been moderate in its foreign policy, but “Germany looked upon our concessions as so many proofs of our weakness and far from having prevented our neighbours from using aggressive methods, we had encouraged them.” The Russian War Minister Vladmir Sukhomlinov and the Navy Minister Admiral Ivan Grigorovich stated that Russia was not ready for a war against either Austria or Germany, but that “...hesitation was no longer appropriate as far as the Imperial government was concerned. They saw no objection to a display of greater firmness in our diplomatic negotiations”. The Russian government again asked Austria to extend the deadline, and advised the Serbs to offer as little resistance as possible to the terms of the Austrian ultimatum.Finally to deter Austria from war, the Russian Council of Ministers ordered a partial mobilization against Austria.

Russian policy was to pressure the Serbs to accept the ultimatum as much as possible without being humiliated too much. Russia was most anxious to avoid a war because the Great Military Programme was not to be completed until 1917, and Russia was otherwise not ready for war. Because all of France’s leaders, including President Poincare and Rene Viviani, were at sea on the battleship France, returning from the summit in St. Petersburg, the acting head of the French government, Jean-Baptiste Bienvenu- Martin took no line on the ultimatum. In addition, the Germans jammed the radio messages, at least garbling contacts between the ship-borne French leaders and Paris, and possibly blocking them completely.

Concerning the summit at St. Petersburg, Alfred Fabre-Luce has concluded the following:

There is, then, no possible doubt about the attitude taken by Poincaré at St. Petersburg between the 20th and the 23rd of July. Without any knowledge whatever of the Austrian demands or of the policy of Germany in the circumstances, he assumed a position of energetic opposition to the Central Powers, gave this opposition a very specific character, and never modified it in the slightest degree to the very end. 

The Kaiser hears about the ultimatum from his yacht's radio officer who read it in the Norwegian newspaper. 

Information resourced from the following sites:

http://www.firstworldwar.com/onthisday/1914_07_24.htm

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

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_I

37 Day Count Down to War - Day 27

23rd July 1914

The 23rd July was the actual presentation of Austrian Ultimatum to Serbia at Belgrade at 6 p.m., demanding answer within 48 hours. The Austrian Minister in Belgrade, Baron Giesl von Gieslingen, presented the ultimatum to the Serbian government. At the same time, and having a strong expectation of Serbian rejection, the Austrian Army opened its war book, and began preparations for hostilities Publication of the Ultimatum was presented in Vienna shortly afterwards.  Bethmann-Hollweg writes circular to German Ambassadors saying "action and demands of Austria-Hungary fully justified".  [Moment of presentation well-chosen: following absent from their posts: Serbian Prime Minister (Pashich), Kaiser (Norway), Franz Josef (Ischl), Poincare and Viviani (Russia), Shebeko (Russian Ambassador in Vienna), Goschen (British Ambassador in Berlin).

Baron Giesl von Gieslingen

 On the night of July 23, the Serbian Regent, Crown Prince Alexander, visited the Russian legation to "express his despair over the Austrian ultimatum, compliance with which he regards as an absolute impossibility for a state which had the slightest regard for its dignity. Both the Regent and Pasic asked for Russian support, which was refused. Sazonov offered the Serbs only moral support while Nicholas told the Serbs to simply accept the ultimatum, and hope that international opinion would force the Austrians to change their minds. Both Russia and France, because of their military weaknesses, were most disinclined to risk a war with Germany in 1914, and hence the pressure on Serbia to accede to the terms of the Austrian ultimatum. Because the Austrians had repeatedly promised the Russians that nothing was planned against Serbia that summer, their harsh ultimatum did not do much to antagonize Sazonov.

On this day 100 years ago all German officers' leave stopped

Herbert Asquith, the Prime Minister, spends the afternoon of July 23 hosting a garden party at 10 Downing Street, which is attended by a cluster of European diplomats and ambassadors – Serbia is represented, though not, it appears, Austria and Germany

And if minds are not on garden parties, then they are planning summer holidays – and considering, publishers Hodder and Stoughton hope, which novels to pack

Information resourced from the following sites:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/July_Ultimatum#Content_of_the_Austro-Hungarian_ultimatum_to_Serbia

http://www.firstworldwar.com/onthisday/1914_07_23.htm

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

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/richardpreston/100281120/ww1-12-days-to-go-austria-delivers-its-ultimatum-to-serbia-in-britain-the-schools-break-up-for-the-summer-holidays/

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/