On the afternoon of July 23, when French President Poincaré and his party were returning to France by boat after visiting St. Petersburg, Austro-Hungarian Foreign Minister Berthold was finally ready to submit an ultimatum to Salvia.
This was really a series of twists and turns. At the beginning, it was the suggestion of the Austro-Hungarian Chief of General Staff Conrad. He planned to launch a sudden offensive against Serbia on July 1st when all countries were full of sympathy for Austria-Hungary. It was just because Conrad was too worried.
The plan to carve up Serbia ended up being unacceptable to the government.
What followed was a local war supported by Germany. According to Germany's predictions, Austria-Hungary should launch a surprise attack to capture Belgrade at this time. It was also because of the opposition of Hungarian Prime Minister Tisza that it has not been possible yet.
Now Austria-Hungary's actions have aroused the thoughts of various countries, especially Russia, which has close relations with Serbia. The most fatal thing is that Russia has deciphered Austria-Hungary's telegrams and knows the next actions of Vienna. At this time, Austria-Hungary because of its own
By procrastinating, Germany, which had given it guarantees, was dragged into the water.
In the evening of the 23rd, the Austro-Hungarian Minister to Serbia Gisl submitted an ultimatum to the Acting Prime Minister and Finance Minister Paku. As for Serbian Prime Minister Pasic, he may have heard the news and left the capital on the 22nd to participate in the election activities. He has already left.
Belgrade.
Faced with the ultimatum submitted by Gesl, Acting Prime Minister Pacu refused to accept the ultimatum on the grounds that Serbia was undergoing elections and many ministers were away. However, Gesl left the ultimatum on the table, as if to say
: "It's up to you." Then he turned and left.
Serbia soon sent the Austro-Hungarian ultimatum to St. Petersburg. After receiving the telegram from Serbia, Russian Foreign Minister Sazonov loudly said, "This is a European war."
In fact, when Sazonov said this, he had not seen the Austro-Hungarian ultimatum. This was also an expression of the Russian government's reflection on the Bosnia-Herzegovina crisis in 1908. During the Bosnia-Herzegovina crisis, Russia was still recovering from the trauma of the Russo-Japanese War.
It was not calmed down and was forced to make concessions, which was a shame in the eyes of the Russian government. Although the Russian Ambassador to Serbia Hartwig later joined forces to form the Balkan Alliance. It gained a lot of benefits from the Ottomans, but in the face of the Austro-German
The two countries' concessions still irritated top Russian officials.
In the Franco-Russian alliance just now, Sazonov received assurances from the French government that now Sazonov does not intend to let Serbia give in even a single step, otherwise Russia's influence in the Balkans will be reduced to an intolerable level.
He first summoned the Austro-Hungarian Ambassador Szapari and told him that Russia firmly opposed the two terms of the ultimatum. The Serbs would never disband the National Self-Defense Forces, nor would they allow Austro-Hungarian detectives to investigate the Sarajevo assassination on Serbian soil.
Szapari explained that Austria-Hungary’s prominent role in suppressing terrorist movements and riots is beneficial to all civilized countries.
Sazonov answered him. "This is a wrong statement. You are setting fire to Europe."
After receiving the Austro-Hungarian ambassador, Sazonov convened a meeting with ministers at 3 o'clock in the afternoon and issued an emergency notice, asking Chief of General Staff Yanushkevich and Navy Minister Grigorievich to also attend.
Meeting. Why does Sazonov, as Foreign Minister, have so much power to convene a meeting? It turns out that Goremekin, who is now Prime Minister, is a figure in name only, and Tsar Nicholas II is not here (the Tsar is in the Gulf of Finland).
on the yacht), he has the authority to take over the decision from the Prime Minister.
During the meeting, Sazonov asked the Chief of General Staff to make preparations to put the Russian army in a state of combat readiness and propose a partial military mobilization plan. Then Sazonov ordered the recall of all diplomatic envoys and officials from the Near East Bureau of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Ask them to report the situation to him immediately.
Finance Minister Barker was the first to respond to his plan. He came to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs at 11 o'clock in the morning. But Sazonov was away at that time, and he talked with Schilling, the assistant to the Foreign Secretary.
Buck asked. "Is there any chance of war?"
Schilling said without hesitation, "Sazonov believed it was inevitable."
In view of this, Buck wanted to know whether to transfer the Russian properties in Berlin immediately. Schilling said yes without hesitation. Buck immediately took the same speed as the Germans, and ordered him before the ministerial meeting had even begun.
Agents in Berlin transferred 100 million rubles deposited in German banks to Paris and St. Petersburg.
While Buck was rapidly transferring Russian assets out of Germany, Sazonov was discussing military mobilization with the army chiefs. At the end of November 1912, when the Balkan War escalated, Russian Military Minister Sukhomlinov formulated a
A "partial" military mobilization plan was developed only for Austria-Hungary.
His idea was to use force to deter Vienna without alarming Germany. Because Germany might fulfill its obligations to its ally Austria-Hungary and carry out military mobilization, a key conclusion emerged: Russia's Polish Military District could not carry out military mobilization.
The army must be mobilized in order not to alarm the 8th Army in East Prussia.
Now Sazonov asked Chief of General Staff Yanushkovych to formulate such a plan, and Yanushkovych agreed to the Foreign Minister's request.
However, after returning to the General Staff, Yanushkovy summoned General Dobrowski, director of the Russian Military Mobilization Department, to discuss this local military mobilization plan. In response, Dobrowski told the Chief of General Staff that this
It is a thankless and stupid thing. Because if you want to effectively mobilize military forces against the Austro-Hungarian Empire, you must make full use of Warsaw as a railway transfer station. If military mobilization does not touch Poland, it means that it can only be carried out in the narrow Galicia or
It is also unrealistic to launch an attack on Austria via Romania.
At 3 p.m., the Council of Ministers held a two-hour special meeting, as the convener Sazonov prepared five-point action proposals for discussion at the meeting.
First, Russia promised to work with other major powers to force Austria to extend the ultimatum. Second, Russia suggested that Serbia announce that it would not prevent the Austro-Hungarian invasion, but leave its own destiny to the major powers. (Russia has just sent a large number of weapons and ammunition.
Shipping to Belgrade.)
Third, tomorrow the Chief of General Staff and the Minister of the Navy will go to Tsarskoe Selo to attend a Privy Council meeting, where they will request the Tsar to approve the military mobilization of the four military districts of Kiev, Ossadeh, Moscow, and Kazan, and to put the Black Sea Fleet and the Baltic Fleet on combat readiness.
status (interestingly, Austria-Hungary is not adjacent to either fleet). Fourth, the Russian army should start stockpiling munitions and prepare for war. Fifth, Russian assets should be withdrawn from Germany and Austria-Hungary.
These five action suggestions were all adopted at this meeting. After the meeting, Sazonov proposed secret mobilization, which was also agreed to by Chief of General Staff Yanushkevich.
After the busy meeting, Sazonov summoned the Serbian Ambassador Sparakovic. This time the Serbian Ambassador brought the latest domestic instructions. Serbian Prime Minister Pasic informed the Russian Foreign Minister that the current state of the Serbian army was completely unable to resist the Austrians.
Hungary's attack, so he asked Russia for advice.
Sazonov told the Serbian ambassador in front of him, asking them to toughen up. In order to show his sincerity, Sazonov suggested that Serbia accept the terms of the ultimatum without fear of humiliation, but would never accept Articles 5 and 6. He also persuaded Serbia
Ambassador Palakovic allowed Austria-Hungary to enter Serbia freely, and Sazonov assured that Serbia would receive assistance from Russia. The general meaning is that Serbia can accept certain terms, but will never obey. If there is a war, Russia will
Fight for Serbia.
After receiving the Serbian ambassador, Sazonov summoned the German ambassador Putales. Since the morning, the German ambassador had been trying to discuss the Vienna ultimatum with the Russian side, but had not succeeded. Now facing the situation before him
Russian Foreign Minister and Ambassador Putales tried to localize the conflict between Austria-Hungary and Serbia, but this provoked strong rebuttal from Sazonov. He pointed out that the Vienna ultimatum undermined the Austria-Hungary's March 1909 annexation of Poland.
Black's solemn statement to Serbia, this statement obeys the will of the European powers, not only the will of Austria-Hungary.
After a lot of wrangling between the two sides, Sazonov finally started to get to the point. He told Ambassador Putales, "I do believe now that Austria-Hungary wants to find an excuse to annex Serbia. If this is true, Russia will fight with Austria-Hungary.
Hungary goes to war."
Putales was shocked by this, and he tried to assure Sazonov that the worst outcome of the ultimatum was that Austria-Hungary launched a punitive military operation against Serbia, which was by no means a territorial war.
There are no plans to annex Serbia.
However, the German ambassador's assurance did not convince Sazonov, and the two continued to talk without convincing the other. After the talks with Sazonov came to no avail, Putales sent a telegram to the German Foreign Ministry,
In the telegram, he once again assured Jago that despite Sazonov's fierce words, his purpose was to Europeanize the ultimatum. He expected that Russia would not intervene.
Sazonov met with the French ambassador Paleologe who arrived that night. He told the French ambassador, "Germany supports Vienna wholeheartedly and has no intention of calming down the situation. So I told him very frankly.
Putales, we should not let Serbia and Austria-Hungary have a separate feud."
Sazonov made an astonishing decision on the Austro-Hungarian ultimatum in just a few hours, and he did it on his own without consulting three other people who directly influenced Russian foreign policy. The Tsar was playing in the Gulf of Finland
Yacht, but he has received an invitation to the Privy Council meeting in Tsarskoe Selo the next day. French President Poincaré is sailing on the Baltic Sea, returning to France. Serbian Prime Minister Pasic has not yet launched the prime ministerial election and returned to Belgrade. The three people
When you wake up on Saturday morning, you will see a different world.
