100 Years ago.... Sources; The text listed at the top is usually from Wikipedia, with additions of full names and titles. Sometimes comments and the days date removed. Second section comes from; archive.org/stream/officialdiplomat00machrich/officialdiplomat00machrich_djvu.txt. Rmaining sections come from a general internet search. Lastly, our own National Archives for the newspapers. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- To reassure Prince Stolberg of the German Embassy, 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 Pašić 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.” German Under Secretary of State Arthur 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”. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dr. M. Spalaikovitch, Minister at Petrograd, to M. Pashitch, Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs (Telegraphic.) Petrograd, July 18, 1914. I HAVE spoken to the Assistant Minister for Foreign Affairs on the subject of the provocative attitude of the Korrespondenzbureau and the Vienna press. M. Sazonof told me a few days ago that he wondered why the Austrian Government were doing nothing to put a stop to the futile agitation on the part of the press in Vienna which, after all, frightened nobody, and was only doing harm to Austria herself. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Memorandum {Extract from a French Consular Report on the Economic and Political Situation in Austria) {Vienna, July 20, 1914} This memorandum is dated July 20, 1914. Since it is enclosed in a letter of July 19, 1914, it cannot possibly be later than the letter. From the letter itself it would wrong to have confidence in disseminators of optimism; much will be demanded of Servia ; she will be required to dissolve several propagandist societies, she will be summoned to repress nationalism, to guard the frontier in cooperation with Austrian officials, to keep strict control over anti- Austrian tendencies in the schools ; and it is a very difficult matter for a Government to consent to become in this way a policeman for a foreign Government. They foresee the subterfuges by which Servia will doubtless wish to avoid giving a clear and direct reply ; that is why a short interval will perhaps be fixed for her to declare whether she accepts or not. The tenor of the note and its imperious tone almost certainly ensure that Belgrade will refuse. Then military operations will begin. There is here, and equally at Berlin, a party which accepts the idea of a conflict of widespread dimensions, in other words, a conflagration. The leading idea is probably that it would be necessary to start before Russia has completed the great improvements of her army and railways, and before France has brought her military organisation to perfection. But on this point there is no unanimity in high circles ; Count Berchtold and the diplomatists desire at the most localised operations against Servia. But everything must be regarded as possible. A singular fact is pointed out : generally the official telegraph agency, in its summaries and reviews of the foreign press, pays attention only to semi-official newspapers and to the most important organs ; it omits all quotation from and all mention of the others. This is a rule and a tradition. Now, for the last ten days, the official agency has furnished daily to the Austro-Hungarian press a complete review of the whole Servian press, giving a prominent place to the least known, the smallest, and most insignificant papers, which, just on account of their obscurity, employ language freer, bolder, more aggressive, and often insulting. This work of the official agency has obviously for its aim the excitement of public feeling and the creation of opinion favourable to war. The fact is significant. It would seem that the report would have to be dated not later than on the date previous to its submission to the ambassador, and that is July 18, 1914, Whether the student accepts this date, or July 19, 1914, the noteworthy fact is established that France had accurate information — and the ambassador knew it to be so (cf . last line of his letter) — of the intended action of Austria-Hungary, and knew that there would be a time limit attached to Austrias demands. The word perhaps does not occur in the Times edition of the French Yellow Book, but has been added to the text in the Collected Diplomatic Documents Relating to the Outbreak of the European War printed under the authority of His Majestys Stationery Office. There is no explanation in the Official British Version why the word perhaps has been added. The text of the French Yellow Book supplied to the editor by the French Embassy in Washington in October, 1915, contains the word peut=tre. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The West Australian, July 18, 1914 trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/page/2795206?zoomLevel=1 The Daily News, July 18, 1914 trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/page/7810155?zoomLevel=1
Posted on: Fri, 18 Jul 2014 02:07:21 +0000