Therefore, when faced with Serbia's proposal to amend Articles 5 and 6, Vienna flatly refused. And its attitude was extremely tough, saying that it was not negotiable at all and could only choose to agree or not.
Faced with Austria-Hungary's tough attitude, Serbia also dealt with it. The time it was supposed to give a reply within three days was delayed until seven days due to Serbia's delay.
What makes Serbia so persistent in adopting delaying tactics is, on the one hand, to buy itself time. After all, Serbia is a weak country. Although it has Russia as a guarantee, it is obvious that Austria-Hungary is now determined to deal with itself. If it does not quickly carry out military mobilization, it will also
What are you waiting for?
There is another reason, that is, waiting for Russian assistance. A batch of arms capable of equipping more than 100,000 people is being urgently shipped from Odessa to Serbia. This is one of Russia's most powerful supports for Serbia.
On the other hand, Serbia also needs to buy time for Russia. Because Russia is vast and sparsely populated, its war mobilization preparations are slower than those of European countries. In addition, since preparations for war are being made, some things need to be shipped back to the country quickly.
For example, more than 100 million rubles in deposits in German banks need to be transferred to a safe place in advance.
This is a deposit for the trade and finance settlement between Germany and Russia. This large amount of money must be returned to its owner safely, so the Russian government also transferred the money to Paris and St. Petersburg as soon as possible.
In addition to Serbia's own efforts, Russia also provided assistance.
First of all, in addition to expressing its own tough attitude, Russia also pulled Britain and France over. To this end, British Foreign Secretary Edward Gray even proposed that Germany and Italy participate in the crisis between Austria-Hungary and Serbia.
Faced with the British proposal, both Germany and Italy rejected it on the grounds that it was an issue between Austria-Hungary and Serbia. If all countries participated, it would complicate the issue and be unfavorable to the negotiation and settlement of disputes between the two countries.
Because both Germany and Italy are not stupid, they have already seen the sinister intentions of the British. Therefore, they simply ignore any remarks made by the British and directly reject them.
Don't think that the British Foreign Secretary is well-intentioned. This proposal is just to expand the matter. Involving more countries will only lead to endless wrangling. This will also consume the energy and time of Germany and Italy.
After everyone is involved and it becomes impossible to solve the problem, they will discover that the Entente camp is ready for war.
Therefore, in addition to refusing, Germany and Italy also hinted that Vienna should move faster.
So on September 27, in the Austro-Hungarian Embassy in Belgrade, the staff were making final preparations. The non-Austro-Hungarian staff of the embassy had been dismissed, and now these staff were preparing confidential documents one by one.
The embassy's properties were being burned down, and various properties of the embassy were being sealed. It was a busy scene.
Ambassador Gisl, who was watching the embassy staff busy, was in a good mood at this time, because he was about to leave this city that disgusted him after finishing his last job.
Yes, Gisl was very dissatisfied with Belgrade. Not only was the city small, but it was also hostile to him, the Austro-Hungarian ambassador. Although the Serbian government was behind it, this also caused Gisl to have a negative opinion of the city.
of dissatisfaction.
"When I come back next time, I will go to war against the city as the mayor of Belgrade. All those disgusting old residential areas must be demolished, and the city should be transformed from our perspective."
Yes, although he is still the diplomatic ambassador, Mr. Gisl is already making plans for the next step. And he is not only thinking but also doing it. He has used his network to promote himself in Vienna to become
The first mayor of Belgrade in the Empire.
Don't think it's too early. It's not early at all. If not for Gisl's many years of diplomatic experience in the city, coupled with the strength of its leader, Foreign Minister Berthold, who wanted to transfer from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to a local government
, and becoming the mayor of an important city is simply unimaginable.
So how can we not do this as early as possible?
After seeing that everyone talked about how the matter was almost settled, Gisl summoned everyone to give a lecture.
"Now I'm going to the Prime Minister's Office to finish the last thing, and then let everyone gather at the train station. The train is at three o'clock in the afternoon, and we can go home tonight."
After giving instructions to the embassy staff, Gisl got into the embassy vehicle and rushed to the Prime Minister's Office.
After arriving at the Prime Minister's Office, Gisl broke into Prime Minister Pasic's office.
Yes, they were intruders. Because these smart guards refused to let Jisl in because he did not have an appointment. Jisl, who had long been dissatisfied with the Serbian government, ignored these clever people and relied on his own diplomacy along the way.
The identity of the personnel forced their way in.
"Prime Minister Pasic, I'm here to submit a document to you. I didn't expect you to be so busy."
Prime Minister Pasic, who was secretly ridiculed by Gisl, was not angry. He asked humbly with a smile on his face. "This may be because the people below are not clear about the situation. By the way, Ambassador Gisl, what do you want from your country?"
The conditions offered are too harsh. After many discussions, we have to exclude Articles 5 and 6. I wonder if Ambassador Gisl can reflect this to your government and slightly modify the conditions."
"I'm sorry, Prime Minister Pasic, I have other matters to discuss with you this time."
Seeing the kind-faced Prime Minister Pasic complaining in front of him like a resentful woman, Ambassador Gisl had no intention of listening.
As he spoke, he took out a document from his arms and handed it to the other party.
"This is our country's declaration of war. Since your country is not satisfied with the diplomatic note issued by our country before, our country declares that your two countries have entered a state of war. In addition, our diplomatic envoys will also evacuate within three days as required. Now
I'm in a hurry to catch the train back to Vienna, so I'm sorry to excuse you."
After Gisl read out the declaration of war, he placed it on Prime Minister Pasic's desk and left without looking back. He really wanted to leave by train.
As for Prime Minister Pasic, he sat blankly behind the table. Although he had been prepared for it, he still did not react when Austria-Hungary declared war. He did not even know when the Austro-Hungarian ambassador left.
Know.
It's too late to say anything now. The most important thing is to quickly inform the military and St. Petersburg of the news of Austria-Hungary's declaration of war.
Needless to say, all European countries will have sleepless nights tonight.
