Romanian Eagle

Genius remember the address of this site in one second: (Top Chinese), the fastest update! No ads! On the afternoon of July 23, when French President Poincaré and his party returned to France by boat after visiting St. Petersburg, the Austrian-Hungarian Foreign Minister Berthold is finally ready to deliver an ultimatum to Salvia.

This is really twists and turns. At the beginning, it was the proposal of Konrad, Chief of the General Staff of Austria-Hungary, who planned to launch a sudden offensive against Serbia on July 1, when all countries were full of sympathy for Austria-Hungary. It was only because Conrad was too ambitious that he planned to carve up Serbia so that the government could not accept it.

A German-backed local war followed. According to Germany's expectations, at this time Austria-Hungary should have taken Belgrade by surprise. It is also because of the opposition of Hungarian Prime Minister Tiza that the trip has not yet taken place.

And now Austria-Hungary's move has aroused the ideas of various countries, especially Russia, which has close relations with Serbia. The most deadly thing is that Russia has deciphered Austria-Hungary's telegrams and knows what Vienna will do next. At this time, Austria-Hungary, because of its own procrastination, dragged Germany, which had given it its guarantee, into the water.

On the evening of the 23rd, Austro-Hungarian Minister to Serbia Gisl handed an ultimatum to Acting Prime Minister and Finance Minister Paku. As for Serbian Prime Minister Pasic, who may have heard the wind, he left the capital on the 22nd to participate in elections and has left Belgrade.

Faced with the ultimatum submitted by Gesl, Acting Prime Minister Paku refused to accept the ultimatum on the grounds that Serbia was in an election and many ministers were absent. It's just that Giselle left the ultimatum on the table, as if to say, "As you please." Then he turned and left.

Serbia soon sent an ultimatum from Austria-Hungary to St. Petersburg, Russian Foreign Minister Sazonov said loudly after receiving the Serbian telegram. "This is the Great War in Europe."

In fact, Sazonov said this because he had not read the Austria-Hungary ultimatum, which was also a reflection of the Russian government in the 1908 Bosnia and Herzegovina crisis. In the Bosnia-Herzegovina crisis, Russia was forced to make concessions due to the trauma of the Russo-Japanese war. This is a shame for the Russian government. Although it was later connected by the Russian ambassador to Serbia, Hartwig, to form the Balkan League. I got a lot of benefits from Ottoman, but the concessions in the face of Ottoman and Germany still stimulated the Russian high-level.

In the Franco-Russian alliance just now, with the assurance of the French government, Sazonov does not intend to let Serbia back down half a step, otherwise Russia's influence in the Balkans will drop to an unbearable level.

He first summoned the Austro-Hungarian ambassador, Szapari, and told him that Russia was firmly opposed to 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 prominence in suppressing terrorist movements and riots is beneficial to all civilized nations.

Sazonov answered him. "This is a false statement, you are setting fire to Europe."

After receiving the Austro-Hungarian ambassador, Sazonov called the ministers for a meeting at 3 o'clock in the afternoon, and issued an urgent notice that the Chief of the General Staff Yanushkovich and the Minister of the Navy Grigorievich should also attend Meeting. Why did Sazonov, the foreign minister, have such great powers to hold meetings? It turned out that Goremekin, now the Prime Minister, was a figurehead, and now that Tsar Nicholas II is not there (the Tsar's yacht in the Gulf of Finland), he has the right to make decisions in his place.

During the meeting, Sazonov asked the chief of the general staff to make preparations to put the Russian army in a state of combat readiness and to propose a partial military mobilization plan. Sazonov then ordered the recall of all diplomatic envoys, as well as officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' Near East Bureau, and asked them to report the situation to him immediately.

Treasury Secretary Barker was the first to respond to his plan, and at 11am he came to the Foreign Office. It was possible that Sazonov was away at the time, and he had a conversation with Schilling, aide to the Foreign Minister.

Buck asked. "Is war possible?"

Schilling said without hesitation.

"Sazonov thinks it's inevitable."

In view of this, Buck wondered whether to transfer the Russian property in Berlin immediately. Schilling also said yes without hesitation. Buck immediately moved at the same speed as the Germans, ordering his Berlin agent to transfer the 100 million rubles deposited in the German bank to Paris and St. Petersburg, before the Council of Ministers had even begun.

Sazonov was discussing military mobilization with the head of the army at a time when Buck was rapidly transferring Russian assets out of Germany. At the end of November 1912, when the Balkan war was escalating, the Russian military minister Sukhomlinov drew up a "partial" military mobilization plan only for Austria-Hungary.

His vision was to deter Vienna by force without disturbing Germany. Because Germany may mobilize its troops in fulfillment of its obligations to its ally Austria-Hungary, a key conclusion has been reached. Since Russia's Polish military district cannot mobilize troops, it is possible not to disturb the 8th Army in East Prussia.

Now Sazonov is asking the Chief of the General Staff Yanushkovich to draw up such a plan, and Yanushkovich agreed to the request of the foreign minister.

However, after returning to the General Staff, Yanushkovich summoned General Dobrerowski, the director of the Russian Military Mobilization Department, to discuss this local military mobilization plan. Dobrerowski told the chief of staff that it was a thankless folly. Because if you want to effectively mobilize the Austro-Hungarian Empire, you must make full use of Warsaw as a railway transfer station. If the military mobilization does not touch Poland, it means that the attack on Austria can only be launched in the narrow Galicia or through Romania, which is also unrealistic.

At 3 p.m., the Council of Ministers held a special two-hour meeting, as the convener Sazonov prepared five action proposals for discussion at the meeting.

First, Russia promised to work with other powers to force Austria to extend the ultimatum. Second, Russia suggested that Serbia declare that it would not prevent the invasion of Austria-Hungary, but leave its fate to the great powers to arrange. (Russia has just shipped a large shipment of arms and ammunition to Belgrade.)

Third, tomorrow the Chief of the General Staff and the Minister of the Navy will go to the Tsar's Village to attend a meeting of the Privy Council. At the meeting, they will ask the Tsar to approve the military mobilization of the four military districts of Kyiv, Osad, 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 must be withdrawn from Germany and Austria-Hungary.

These five action proposals were all passed at this meeting. After the approval, Sazonov proposed to secretly mobilize, which was also agreed by the Chief of General Staff Yanushkovich.

After the meeting, Sazonov summoned Serbian Ambassador Spalakovic. This time, the Serbian ambassador brought the latest domestic instructions. Serbian Prime Minister Pasic told the Russian Foreign Minister that the current state of the Serbian army was completely unable to resist the attack of Austria-Hungary, so he begged Russia for advice.

Sazonov told the Serbian ambassador in front of him, asking them to toughen up. As a sign of sincerity, Sazonov suggested that Serbia accept the insulting ultimatum clause, but never Articles 5 and 6. He also persuaded Ambassador Spalakovic to allow Austria-Hungary to enter Serbia on its own, while Sazonov assured Serbia that Serbia would receive aid from Russia. The general idea 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. The German ambassador had been trying to negotiate the Vienna ultimatum with the Russians since the morning, but had been unsuccessful. Now facing the Russian foreign minister in front of him, Ambassador Putales tried to localize the conflict between Austria-Hungary and Serbia, but this led to a strong rebuttal from Sazonov. He pointed out that Vienna's ultimatum undermined the solemn declaration made by Austria-Hungary to Serbia in March 1909 for the annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which obeyed the wishes of the European powers, not only Austria-Hungary.

After a bit of wrangling between the two sides, Sazonov finally started to talk about the main point. He spoke to Ambassador Putales. "I do believe now that Austria-Hungary wanted to find an excuse to annex Serbia. If that were the case, Russia would go to war with Austria-Hungary."

Shocked by this, Putales tried to reassure Sazonov. The worst result of the ultimatum was that Austria-Hungary launched a punitive military action against Serbia, not a territorial war, and Austria-Hungary had no plans to annex Serbia.

However, the assurance of the German ambassador did not convince Sazonov, and then the two continued to talk without persuading the other. After talks with Sazonov were fruitless, Putales sent a telegram to the German Foreign Office in which he reassured Jago, although Sazonov was vehement. But his purpose was to Europeanize the ultimatum. He does not expect Russia to intervene.

And Sazonov received the last French ambassador Paleologe that night, he told the French ambassador. "Germany supports Vienna wholeheartedly and has no intention of calming the situation at all. So I told Putales very frankly that we should not let Serbia and Austria-Hungary have a separate grudge."

Sazonov made an astonishing decision in just a few hours on the Austrian-Hungarian ultimatum, and he did it himself without enlisting three other people who directly influenced Russian foreign policy. The Tsar was yachting in the Gulf of Finland, but he had already received an invitation to the Privy Council meeting in Tsar's Village the next day. French President Poincaré is sailing in the Baltic Sea, returning to France. Serbian Prime Minister Pasic has yet to launch the Prime Minister's election and return to Belgrade. When the three wake up Saturday morning, they will see a different world.