by Stephen Yellin
This is part of a series of daily articles that covers the run-up to the catastrophe of World War I in July 1914. The diplomatic crisis exactly 100 years ago was sparked by the murder of the main force for peace in the Austro-Hungarian Empire – Archduke Franz Ferdinand, together with his wife Sophie – by a Serbian terrorist. Backed by Germany’s offering of unconditional support in using force to retaliate against Serbia – the infamous “blank check” – the Viennese authorities began preparing a list of demands for the Serbian government to accept or face war. The demands were deliberately made to ensure war would occur.
The ultimatum was finally issued on July 23, 1914, over 3 weeks after the Archduke’s murder. The 12 days that followed are the focus of this series.
Feel free to refer to my list of important figures in keeping track of who's who.
Previous days:
Thursday, July 23rd - the fuse is lit
Friday, July 24th - "c'est la guerre europeene"
Saturday, July 25th - "we stand upon the edge of war"
Sunday, July 26th - “War is thought imminent. Wildest enthusiasm prevails.”
Monday, July 27th – “You’ve cooked this broth and now you’re going to eat it.”
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Tuesday, July 28 – “To try and avoid such a calamity as a European war”
Tuesday morning broke with Europe still at peace, albeit peace held by a slender thread. By the day’s end that thread will have snapped, with 1 of the “Great Powers” of Europe making a declaration of war as 2 others approach the brink of joining Austria-Hungary and Serbia in the ranks of belligerents. The shocking end to a murder trial with international implications, lies and innovations to start a war, and an 11th hour “Hail Mary” for peace launched by 2 cousins – all this took place on Tuesday, July 28th. I apologize for the length of today’s post, but the day’s events merit the length.
Berlin, Part 1 – “I am ready to mediate for peace in Austria”
His all-highest Majesty, Kaiser Wilhelm II of the German Empire, rose early on the 28th to go for a ride outside the Neues Palace at Potsdam. When he returned to his desk he turned his attention to the Serbian response to Austria-Hungary’s ultimatum. Belgrade’s reply, which had been immediately rejected by Vienna in the latter’s determination to go to war, had only been received in Berlin the night before. In a bid to keep their master from intervening before Austria-Hungary could declare war at Noon Tuesday, Chancellor Bethmann-Hollweg and Foreign Secretary Jagow had neglected to wake the Kaiser and show him the reply. Their concern is entirely justified when the Kaiser reads it, as Sean McMeekin writes in July 1914:
While he already suspected that the tone of the reply would be reasonably conciliatory, Wilhelm was floored when he read it. “A brilliant achievement in a time limit of only forty-eight hours!” he scribbled, declaring Serbia’s near-total compliance “more than one could have expected!” and “a great moral success for Vienna.” With Prime Minister Pasic’s reply, he deduced, “all reason for war is gone, and Giesl [the Austrian ambassador to Serbia] ought to have quietly stayed on in Belgrade!” Receiving such a reply, he wrote, “I should never have ordered mobilization.”
Kaiser Wilhelm II, "all-highest warlord" of Germany
The Kaiser immediately writes and dispatches a formal note to Jagow, requesting that Germany ask Austria-Hungary to negotiate with Serbia on the basis of their reply to the ultimatum. This is precisely what British Foreign Secretary, Sir Edward Grey had proposed to the German ambassador to Britain the day before, although Wilhelm was probably unaware of this that morning. In order to make sure the Serbs agreed to negotiate the Kaiser proposed the Austrian army temporarily occupy Belgrade, thus satisfying Austrian “honor” for revenging his friend Franz Ferdinand’s murder, until agreement was reached.
“[Should that happen] I am ready to mediate for peace in Austria,” the Kaiser wrote to Jagow. He dispatches his note at 10AM, Berlin time.
That Wilhelm was a highly erratic, impulsive egotist who frequently posed as a belligerent warrior-king, which in turn undermined his country’s foreign policy and heightened tensions in pre-1914 Europe, underlines his personal responsibility for commencing the crisis by issuing Vienna its “blank check” earlier that month. Yet it is also true that, as an autocrat, he had the power in theory to decide whether his country went to war. On July 28th Wilhelm believed that theory to be fact, part of his divine right to rule his empire as he saw fit. The next week would open his eyes to the reality of his position and power.
As it is the Kaiser’s memo to Jagow comes too late to stop Vienna from officially declaring war. The Kaiser’s unease with using the relatively newfangled telephone installed in the Neues Palace means that his order is not received immediately in Berlin, but by courier nearly 2 hours later. For his part Jagow chooses not to include the Kaiser’s mediation offer in informing his Austrian counterpart, Count Berchtold of his master’s message later that day. Jagow, Bethmann and their government counterparts have been urging Vienna to declare war that Tuesday in order to short-circuit any 11th hour diplomatic intervention. Field Marshall Moltke joins them in this by putting pressure on his counterpart, General Conrad. Getting Austria-Hungary to initiate the conflict is only 1 battle of a prolonged, personal war the Kaiser’s ministers will wage with their master in the week ahead.
Chancellor Bethmann-Hollweg
Bethmann scores one more victory for the war party before the day is out. Aware of the potential for mass strikes led by the Social Democratic Party – part of the 2nd International’s policy of a European-wide strike to block a European war from happening – Bethmann meets with the SDP’s leaders in Berlin. Concerned about the much-dreaded Russian military plowing its way into Prussia and sowing death and destruction in its wake en route to Berlin, the SDP agrees to support the government if Russia declares war on Germany.
Vienna/Belgrade – War by Telegram
At roughly the same hour that Kaiser Wilhelm is furiously attempting to put the brakes on the march to war, Foreign Minister Berchtold goes to Emperor Franz Joseph to get his approval to commence theirs against Serbia. The octogenarian and increasingly frail Emperor is once again persuaded to act by a lie; just as Berchtold’s lie that Serbia had fired on Austrian steamers on the Danube to get Franz Joseph’s approval for mobilization, so now does the false report that Serbian soldiers had open fired on Austrian ones in Bosnia convince the Emperor to authorize the declaration of war. It is sent out at 11AM and officially takes effect 90 minutes later.
Emperor Franz Joseph
Berchtold faces one more obstacle to declaring war – how to notify Serbia? Since Ambassador Giesl had promptly departed Belgrade on July 25th after rejecting Serbia’s partial acceptance of the ultimatum, Austria-Hungary has no representative present to inform Prime Minister Pasic and his government that hostilities have commenced. Berchtold resolves this dilemma by signing off and wiring a telegram to Belgrade – in French, the international language of 1914 diplomacy – that contains the text of the declaration. The inter-war Italian journalist Luigi Albertini, whose exhaustive research and analysis of primary documents from 1914 makes him the preeminent authority on the crisis, observed that
“for the first time in history a declaration of war was made by telegram.”
Prime Minister Pasic
Prior to 1914, a nation receiving a declaration of war would also receive notice than their new enemy’s armies were moving to attack them.
Since the Austrian army would not be ready to attack until August 12th, Berchtold’s telegram leaves Pasic and his government bewildered by the strange notion of such a statement, unaccompanied by action. Suspecting a hoax, Pasic cables St. Petersburg, Paris and London to inform them “of the strange telegram he had received and to ask whether it was true that Austria had declared war on Serbia.” It was in this bizarre, tragicomic manner that the first declaration of war of 1914 was issued.
Leopold, Count von Berchtold is not a name one thinks of when the list of those deemed responsible for the calamities of the 20th century is drawn up. Yet few people hold as much responsibility for the events of July 1914 and beyond as him. Determined to defend his ramshackle empire’s honor following the murder of its heir apparent, and afraid that failure to act would lead to its collapse at the hands of its various nationalist movements, Berchtold willingly and willfully led his Emperor and his empire into political suicide. He is far from the only “guilty” party in July 1914, but he is almost certainly the least-well known.
Berchtold
St. Petersburg – War and (hopes for) Peace
Tuesday afternoon sees Russian Foreign Minister, Sergey Sazanov meet with British Ambassador George Buchanan and French Ambassador Maurice Paleologue. Buchanan, astonishingly ignorant of Russian military preparations that have been underway since the 25th, follows orders from his government to urge direct talks between Russia and Austria-Hungary. Buchanan also urges Russia not to make any military measures “which might be construed as a challenge to Germany”.
On his way out Buchanan tells Paleologue that British public opinion would only support a war against Germany if Berlin is clearly the aggressor. The semi-rogue Paleologue replies with entirely inappropriate flippancy that he’s “always” told the Russians exactly what Buchanan is telling him. In fact Paleologue has been pledging France’s support for Russia regardless of who the aggressor is. In this he reflects the opinion of President Poincare and the French military but not his Prime Minister and other civilian leaders in the cabinet. France’s military chief of staff, General Joffre backs up Paleologue by urging his ally to follow their pre-war plan of quickly attacking East Prussia in order to draw German pressure off Paris.
Maurice Paleologue, French Ambassador to Russia in 1914
At 4:30PM news reaches St. Petersburg that Austria-Hungary has declared war on Serbia. The Russian government immediately orders “partial mobilization” of its armies on the Austrian border only, while also preparing the order for full mobilization against Germany, too. The declaration of war rattles the peacefully minded, highly fatalistic Tsar Nicholas II. He, like Wilhelm decides to act before it is too late.
Paris – “A Crime of Passion”
One of the French civilian leaders appears in a tightly packed Parisian courtroom that Tuesday, together with his wife. Finance Minister Joseph Caillaux, a noted “dove” in favor of peaceful relations with Germany is there to see if his wife Henriette will be acquitted of murder. Having admittedly shot and killed newspaper editor, Gaston Calmette after the editor began publishing private correspondence of her husband’s as part of a wave of political attacks, Madame Caillaux’s fate hinges on whether the jury buys her attorney’s egregiously chauvinistic argument that, as a woman, her emotions got the better of her and led her to commit a “crime of passion”, not premeditated murder.
Henriette, Madame Caillaux.
Depiction of Madame Caillaux shooting Calmette, March 1914
Caillaux’s attorney, Ferdinand Labori delivers his closing statement that morning.
Citing the gathering storm across Europe and the likelihood of France going to war against Germany, Labori adds a new argument to his client’s defense: it’s time to rally together for France and acquit the Finance Minister’s wife! Whether the all-male jury agrees with either argument, or simply biased by virtue of having been selected to serve by pro-Caillaux judges, they quickly return the astonishing verdict of
“Not Guilty”. The courtroom explodes in fury and riots break out in parts of Paris.
As this judicial circus draws to a close, Poincare and Prime Minister Viviani are heading home from St. Petersburg at top speed on the North Sea. Knowing Caillaux’s popularity among the left-of-center coalition that controls a majority of the French parliament, the right-of-center and Germanophobe Poincare has pledged to appoint the pro-German Finance Minister as Prime Minister in the (assumed) unlikely event his wife is acquitted. Events, however, will overtake the French government and its people before Poincare can be called on to keep his word.
Berlin/St. Petersburg – Dearest Nicky/ Dearest Willy, Part 1
"Nicky" and "Willy" before 1914.
Kaiser Wilhelm is far from finished in his 11th hour effort to prevent the war he’d foolishly given the green light to on July 5th. Finding out that Vienna has already declared war against Serbia and that Russia has begun a partial mobilization of its armies along the Austrian border in response, the Kaiser once again rebukes Chancellor Bethmann, saying
“You have got me into a fine mess.” He also orders a telegram to be sent to his 2nd cousin. That cousin happens to be none other than Tsar Nicholas II – “Dearest Nicky” to “Dearest Willy”. Writing in English – the language the 2 men usually corresponded in – the Kaiser edits the message to suit his tone before it is sent at approximately 6:45 PM, Berlin time.
It is with the gravest concern that I hear of the impression which the action of Austria against Serbia is creating in your country [ie mobilization]. The unscrupulous agitation that has been going on in Serbia for years has resulted in the outrageous crime, to which Archduke Francis Ferdinand fell a victim…You will doubtless agree with me that we both, you and me, have a common interest as well as all Sovereigns to insist that all the persons morally responsible for the dastardly murder should receive their deserved punishment. In this case politics plays no part at all.
On the other hand, I fully understand how difficult it is for you and your Government to face the drift of your public opinion [towards war]. Therefore, with regard to the hearty and tender friendship which binds us both from long ago with firm ties, I am exerting my utmost influence to induce the Austrians to deal straightly to arrive to a satisfactory understanding with you. I confidently hope that you will help me in my efforts to smooth over difficulties that may still arise.
Your very sincere and devoted friend and cousin,
Willy
Unbeknownst to “Willy”, “Nicky” has sent a similar telegram to his cousin 45 minutes before. His 6 PM message crosses with the one from “Willy”, and each will read the other’s the next day.
Am glad you are back [from Norwegian cruise]. In this serious moment, I appeal to you to help me. An ignoble war has been declared to a weak country. The indignation in Russia shared fully by me is enormous. I foresee that very soon I shall be overwhelmed by the pressure forced upon me and be forced to take extreme measures which will lead to war. To try and avoid such a calamity as a European war I beg you in the name of our old friendship to do what you can to stop your allies from going too far.
Nicky
Tsar Nicholas II
The Kaiser and the Tsar, both autocrats believing themselves given divine right to rule their empires as they see fit, are both attempting to pull their countries back from the brink of catastrophe. While the 2 are not as close as the use of nicknames indicates – Nicholas dislikes Wilhelm’s annoying tendency to smother him with advice and dominate conversations, while Wilhelm is consistently frustrated by Nicholas’ refusal to abandon his alliance with France and align with the other members of the European “Emperor’s League” - they share a gut reaction against committing their regimes to war against the other.
Neither “Willy” nor “Nicky”, however, are either fully aware or in control of their government’s actions at this critical juncture. This gap between theory and reality is the same gap between peace and war.
London – “Everything tends towards catastrophe”
The British government is by far the slowest of the “Great Powers” to fully react to the crisis. The public, still concerned about the threat of civil war over Irish Home Rule, is only gradually becoming aware of the gravity of the situation in Europe, and for the most part wants no part of a European war. Most of the governing Liberal Party’s members are against military intervention, including the popular Chancellor of the Exchequer, David Lloyd George and a majority of Prime Minister Asquith’s Cabinet. These Cabinet members have no idea that Asquith and Sir Edward Grey, having secretly pledged British military support to France and Russia in the event of war, may soon need them to support them in committing Britain to the unfolding catastrophe.
Prime Minister H. H. Asquith
One of the few Cabinet members fully aware of Britain’s commitment, including sending an Expeditionary Force to France and having its Navy block the Germans in the North Sea and English Channel, is First Lord of the Admiralty Winston Churchill. Having put the British Navy on alert and kept its main battle fleet concentrated in the event of war with Germany, the strongly hawkish Churchill now informs King George V and Asquith of his precautionary measures. Around midnight, still hard at work at the Admiralty office, he writes to his wife Clementine:
My darling One and beautiful – Everything tends towards catastrophe, & collapse. I am interested, geared up and happy. [Spelling and punctuation is from original]
Asquith, keeping up his daily correspondence with his mistress, Venetia Stanley, tells her that “Winston’s spirits are probably rising”. Stanley had told her lover that there are days she would like to trade places. Telling her that the situation “looks ominous”, Asquith remarks that July 28th is probably not a day she would have in mind. One imagines Miss Stanley would look back on the week that followed and consider herself thankful she was not Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
Tomorrow: Round 2 of the "Willy-Nicky Telegrams"; the Tsar and the telephone; "Who rules in Berlin?"; the British Cabinet gets a rude awakening; and more.