Count Istvan Tisza (1861-1918)

Served as Hungarian Prime Minister from the wars inception until his ousting in May of 1917 with the accession of Karl I as Emperor in place of the ageing Franz Joseph.

Himself the son of a Prime Minister, Tisza first came to power as head of the Liberal Party from 1903-1905. Re-appointed premier in 1913 for a second time, Tisza was a tireless campaigner for the recognition of Hungarian rights within the Dual Monarch.

Tisza was well aware of the dangers that war posed to the Austro-Hungarian empire. Noting that Slavs already outnumbered Magyars, Tiszar was fearful of the nationalist effects a war would engender among the empire's invariably discontented Slav people.

He also understood that even a successful war came with its own set of dangers. He was at pains to avoid the possibility that Serbia could find itself annexed by a victorious Austria-Hungary, thus perhaps creating a Triple Monarchy with yet more Slavs among its population.

Consequently Tisza acted as the dove in the Austro-Hungarian government during the crisis of July 1914, resstraining the more impetuous Imperial Foreign Minister Berchtold and Chief of Staff Conrad from launching a pre-emptive strike at Serbia in early July(without even a declaration of war beforehand). Both Berchtold and Conrad were keen to achieve a final settlement with Serbia at the point of a gun.

Tisza's insistence that all diplomatic avenues be explored before a military solution settled upon, did however rob Austria-Hungary of the element of surprise during the early phase of the war.

Nevertheless, once war was finally declared on July 28th, 1914, Tisza threw his whole weight behind the Austro-Hungarian war effort. He remained nonetheless as keen as ever to ensure that Hungary was not treated as the junior partner in the prosecution of the combined war effort. In practical terms this required that Tisza exercise a degree of blackmail over Vienna(which was certainly not lost upon Vienna).

For example he halted the free passage of food from Hungary to Austria in the spring of 1915- placing local needs above that of the empire(1914 had seen a poor harvest)- and declined to join a Joint Food Committee until February 1917.

In short, Tisza used the threat of withdrawing food supplies as a method of securing Hungarian influence at Imperial level. Reigning at home in what amounted to a dictatorial manner, Tisza nevertheless took care to retain the Magyar parliament in session. The parliament had little actual sway over policy, but Tisza could still point to it as legitimising his government, a point of more political value in Vienna than in Hungary.

In terms of funding the war effort Tisza gambled upon a short war. By declining to raise new taxes or to increase existing levels of taxation, he was staking all on winning the war: he would then ensure the defeated nations paid back the loans he had secured to fund the war. Short-sighted as this policy seems it yet ensured that Magyar support for the remained high.

With Karl's accession to the throne in December 1916, Tisza's hold on power- and certainly his influence- already weakened by continued military defeats began to slip.

Suffering from a popular perception as a man determined to see the war through to the bitter end (by no means the case), and as an opponent of social and political reform (certainly true), Tisza's resignation was forced by the more pro-Allied Emperor in May 1917. He thereafter served, for a short while, in the Hungarian home army.

Still associated with aggressive prosecution of a hopeless war a year later, and even (ironically) blamed for its inception, Magyar Communists assassinated Tisza in Budapest on October 31, 1918.

Tsar Nicholas II

He was born on May 18th, 1868 in Tsarskoe Selo. He was Russia's last Emperor.

Nicholas succeeded his father's throne, when Alexander III, died from liver disease on October 20th, 1984. Nicholas was 26.

That same year Nicholas married Princess Alexandra of Hesse-Darmstadt, the granddaughter of Queen Victoria. Alexandra was instrumental in convincing Nicholas to resist ever growing calls for increased democracy within Russia. Alexander was a firm believer in the autocratic principle. Nicholas required little persuasion; as a nationalist he decried those who favoured western style democracy. Alexandra was unpopular with the Russian elite, more so as evidence emerged of her increasing influence over her husband. Her reliance upon Grigory Rasputin in determining Russian policy angered many, utlimately leading to Rasputin's assassination.

Defeat in the war with Japan of 1904-1905 seriously damaged Russian prestige- and with it the esteem of the monarchy. Japan had launched a surprise attack on the Russian fleet based at Port Arthur; throughout the war the Russian navy was found wanting, although the army fared better in repulsing Japanese troops in Manchuria.

At the same time as Russia faced war with Japan, there was increasing industrial unrest at home. Workers who faced long hours and poor conditions increasingly formed protests.

In 1904 110,000 workers in St. Petersburg striked for four days in protest at the declining value of wages in real terms. Georgi Gapon, of the Assembly of Russian Workers, appealed to Nicholas for help in reducing working hours and improving pay and conditions. A consequent march on the Winter Palace was greeted by armed Cossacks: over 100 protestors were killed and many more wounded.

"Bloody Sunday", as it became known, sparked the 1905 Revolution, whereby strikes spread around the country and mutiny throughout the army and navy. Leon Trotsky founded the St. Petersburg Soviet in October, with 50 more being established over the next month in the rest of the country.

In response to such a wide-scale protest, and under the advice of close advisers, the Tsar published the "October Manifesto", which granted freedom of conscience, speech, meeting and association, and the end of imprisonment without trial. In addition, no new law would become effective without the approval of the Duma, a consultative body.

The October Manifesto did not satisfy Trotsky (who with his supporters was subsequently arrested for his actions taken in protest) but did take the sting out of the crisis that had formed. Although the Duma had been viewed as a toothless advisory body, at its first meeting in May 1906, it made demands for the releases of political prisoners, for trade union rights and land reform. In rejecting these demands Nicholas promptly dissolved the Duma.

Later that year Nicholas replaced the Moderate Chief Minister Sergi Witte with the more conservative Peter Stolypin. Stolypin attempted to balance the demands of both liberal and conservative factions in the country. He was ultimately unsuccessful: he was assassinated in 1911 by a member of the Socialist Revolutionary Party at the Kiev Opera House.

With Germany's decision to enter into the Triple Alliance system with Austria-Hungary and Italy- whereby each of the three nations agreed to come to the other's aid in the event of attack by either France or Russia-Russia naturally say Germany as its main potential enemy: this despite Nicholas's position as the cousin of German Kaiser, Wilhelm II.

Consequently Russia entered into an alliance with Britain and France, the "Triple Entente". When war was declared by Germany with France in August 1914, Russian came into the war on France's side.

Russian industrial unrest had continued into the first half of 1914. Up to half of the entire workforce are estimated to have striked that year. The war temporarily brought an effective end to industrial unrest however, although it later returned. The war also brought Nicholas political benefits; the establishment united behind him in the conduct of the war.

Dissatisfied with the army's conduct of the war, Nicholas took personal command in September. The Russian army were fighting on the Eastern Front and its ongoing lack of success was causing dissension at home. Unfortunately, now operating under Nicholas II's supreme command, its continued failure reflected directly upon the Tsar himself rather than the army command. Nicholas's popularity dwindled.

By late 1916 royalists within the Duma warned the Tsar that revolution was imminent; even so, Nicholas refused to sanction further constitutional reform. During the so-called "February Revolution" in 1917, which he misinterpreted as a minor uprising, his routine suppression orders to the Petrograd garrison sparked its mutiny on March 10th.

Nicholas II was persuaded to abdicate on March 15th 1917 under the recommendation of the Russian Army High Command. In search of exile elsewhere, Lloyd George offered a haven in Britain,  only for the with to be associated with his autocratic cousin at this point: a controversial decision. 

moved to the Siberian city of Ekaterinburg by the Bolsheviks, Nicholas and his family were executed on the night of  July 16/17, 1918.

Arthur Zimmermann

Born October 5th, 1864 in Marggrabowa, East Prussia(Now Olecka, Poland).  He was the German foreign secretary during part of World War 1(1916-17), the author of a sensational proposal to Mexico to enter into an alliance against the United states.

After a career in the consular service, Zimmermann won transfer to the diplomatic branch in 1901. Because of the retiring nature of Gottlieb von Jagow, who became foreign secretary in 1913, Zimmermann conducted a large share of the relations with foreign envoys. As acting secretary in Jagow's absence, he participated, with Emperor William(Wilhelm II) and Chancellor Theobald von Bethmann Hollweg, in Germany's decision of July 5th, 1914, to support Austria-Hungary when, after the assassination of Archduke Francis Ferdinand at Sarajevo, Austria-Hungary put pressure on Serbia, thus angering Russia. Zimmermann drafted the telegram to Vienna embodying Germany's decision, which intensified the crisis that culminated in the outbreak of war.

In 1916, when the German High Command insisted on the resumption of unrestricted submarine warfare as the only remaining weapon to defeat the Allies, even at the risk of provoking the United States into belligerency, Jagow resigned. On November 25th, Zimmermann, who was regarded as "pro-U-boat", was appointed to succeed him. In an effort to nullify or at least to reduce U.S. intervention in Europe by engaging U.S. arms and energies elsewhere, Zimmermann planned to embroil the United States in war with Mexico and Japan. In pursuit of this goal, on January 16th, 1917, he sent a secret telegram in code(through the German ambassador in Washington, D.C.) to the German minister in Mexico, authorizing him to propose an alliance to Mexico's President Venustiano Carranza. The offer included "an understanding on our part that Mexico is to reconquer her lost territory in Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona." Carranza was also asked to "invite the immediate adherence of Japan." Intercepted and decoded by British Admiralty intelligence, the telegram was mad available to President Woodrow Wilson, who caused it to be published on March 1st, 1917. In convincing Americans of German hostility toward the United States, the "Zimmermann Note" became one of the factors leading to the U.S. declaration of war against Germany 5 weeks later.

Zimmermann lost office just after the fall of Berthmann Hollweg's government in the summer of 1917 and never held it again. Zimmermann died June 6th, 1940 in Berlin, Germany.

Erich von Falkenhayn

He was born November 11th, 1861 in Graudenz, in West Prussia. He served as Chief of the Imperial German General Staff for part of the 1st World War before his eventual dismissal by Kaiser Wilhelm II. Having joined the army at an early age, Falkenhayn served as a military instructor to the Chinese army in 1899, where he remained until 1903. During the Chinese Boxer Rebellion he was a member of the German General Staff, seeing action when the Allies marched to relieve besieged Peking.

Upon his return to Germany, Falkenhayn continued to serve on the German General Staff, and was appointed Prussian Minister of War in 1913. Whilst in this role he and Helmuth von Moltke, then Chief of Staff, frequently clashed. However, with the declaration of war in August 1914 and the German setback at the Marne, the Kaiser, Wilhelm II, dismissed Moltke and replaced him with Falkenhayn on September 14th, 1914.

Falkenhayn's cautious nature appeared to make him well-suited to the realities of trench warfare, unlike many of his contemporaries. He was inclined to consider defensive rather than offensive operations-a sound strategy, but one ill-suited to the Eastern Front. His approach led him to reject an ambitious plan to capture the entire Russian army championed by Paul von Hindenburg and Erich Ludenorff.

Falkenhayn however believed that the real war was being fought on the other front, the Western Front. He conceived the idea of besieging the historic French city of Verdun in early 1916, of "bleeding it white" as he phrased it. He planned to draw the bulk of the French army into the Verdun salient, thus effectively tying up the French army, and then to methodically destroy them with concentrated artillery fire.

Certainly French losses at Verdun were significant, as were German casualties. It succeeded in diverting French attention solely towards the defence of Verdun, to the extent that the British offensive on the Somme on July 1st, 1916 was executed as much as anything else to provide relief for the French forces at Verdun. Even so, the German Verdun offensive was ultimately a failure; indeed, by the time the Somme offensive was started the French were already beginning to claw back ground.

With the failure of the Verdun offensive, for which the German Chancellor, Theobald von Bethmann-Hollweg, was scathing, together with the Russian resurgence at the hands of Brusilov, the loss of Bitolj to the Serbs, and the fall of Gorizia to Italy, the Kaiser finally decided to replace Falkenhayn with the more aggressive von Hindenburg on August 29th, 1916 when he heard news of Romania's declaration of war with Austria-Hungary.

Falkenhayn was sent to the Transylvania Front on August 29th 1916 to command Ninth Army. He defeated the Romanian Army at the Battle of the Red Tower Pass on September 30th, 1916, advancing towards Bucharest. Linking up with Mackensen's army in mid-November, Falkenhayn's troops entered Bucharest on December 6th, thereby defeating Romania.

Falkenhayn was next dispatched to Palestine to command the Ottoman forces in early 1917. A series of setbacks followed: he was defeated by General Allenby at Gaza on October 31st, 1917, and Jerusalem fell to the British in December. Falkenhayn was dismissed by General Liman von Sanders in February 1918; upon his return to Germany he retired.

Erich von Falkenhayn died on April 8th, 1922 near Potsdam.

  

Raymond Poincare

Born August 20, 1860 in Bar-le-Duc France. The son of an engineer, he was educated at the Ecole Polytechnique. After studying law at the University of Paris, he was admitted to the bar in 1882. Elected a deputy in 1887, he became six years later the youngest minister in the history of the Third Republic, holding the portfolio of education. In 1894 he served as minister of finance and in 1895 again as minister of education. In the Dreyfus Affair he declared that new evidence necessitated a retrial.

Despite the promise of a brilliant political career, Poincare left the Chamber of Deputies in 1903, serving until 1912 in the Senate, which was considered comparatively unimportant politically. He devoted most of his time to his private law practice, serving in the cabinet only once. In March 1906, as minister of finance. In January 1912 however, he became prime minister, serving simultaneously as foreign minister until January 1913. In the face of new threats from Germany, he conducted diplomacy with new decisiveness and determination. In August 1912 he assured the Russian government that his government would stand by the Franco-Russian alliance, and in November he concluded an agreement with Britain committing both countries to consult in the event of an international crisis as well as on joint military plans. Although his support of Russian activities in the Balkans and his uncompromising attitude toward Germany have been cited as evidence of his being a warmongering revanchist. Poincare believed that in the existing state of contemporary Europe war was inevitable and that only a strong alliance guaranteed security. His greatest fear was that France might be isolated as it had been in 1870, easy prey for a military superior Germany.

Poincare ran for the office president; despite the opposition of the left, under Georges Clemenceau a lifelong enemy, he was elected on January 17th, 1913. Although the presidency was a position with little real power, he hoped to infuse new vitality into it and make it the base of a union sacree of right, left, and centre. Throughout World War 1(1914-18) he strove to preserve national unity, even confiding the government to Clemenceau, the man best qualified to lead the country to victory.

After his term as president ran out in 1920, Poincare returned to the senate and was for a time chariman of the reparations commission. He supported the thesis of Germany's war quilt implicit in the Versailles Treaty; and when he served again as prime minister and minister for foreign affairs(1922-24), he refused a delay in German reparation payments and in January 1923 ordered French troops into the Ruhr in reaction to the default. Unseated by a leftist bloc, he was returned as prime minister in July 1926 and is largely credited with having solved France's acute financial crisis by stabilizing the value of the franc and basing it on the gold standard. Under his highly successful economic policies the country enjoyed a period of new prosperity. Poincare died October 15, 1934 in Paris.

                                                              Kaiser Wilhelm II

Wilhelm was born on January 27th, 1859 in Berlin, the eldest child of Crown Prince Frederick of Prussia and Victoria, daughter of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom. A difficult birth left Wilhelm with a withered arm, which he always tried to conceal. In 1881, after a period of military service, Wilhelm married Augusta Victoria, Princess of Schleswig-Holstein, and they had 7 children.

In 1888, Wilhelm's father succeeded as Frederick III. He died shortly afterwards, making Wilhelm kaiser at the age of 29. Although he had previously admired the great German statesman Otto von Bismarck, withing two years Wilhelm had forced his resignation. He was a strong believer in increasing the strength of the German armed forces, particularly the navy. His policies towards Britain were contradictory. He alienated Britain with his naval expansion and a policy of aggressive German colonial expansion, and also supported the Boers in their fight against the British. But he was also closely related to the British royal family and was particularly fond of his grandmother, Queen Victoria.

Following the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo in 1914, Wilhelm encouraged the Austrians to adopt an uncompromising line against Serbia, effectively writing them a "blank cheque" for German support in the event of war. He appeared not to realise the chain reaction this would trigger. Russia and her allies France and Britain entered the war against Germany and Austria. Wilhelm tried to scale back the mobilisation of Germany's armed forces, but was prevented by the Germany military. While theoretically supreme commander, Wilhelm found himself excluded from military decisions, but crippled chances of a compromise peace by encouraging the grandiose war aims of certain generals and politicians.

In 1918,  the United States' full scale entry into the war, combined with severe German shortages of men and materials from years of attrition-based trench warfare, led to Germany's military collapse. Wilhelm was forced to abdicate and went into exile in the Netherlands. Attempts by the victorious allies to extradite and try him for war crimes came to nothing. With Adolf Hitler's rise to power after 1933, Wilhelm had hopes of being restored but they came to nothing and he died on June 4th, 1941.

Europe on Fire

The day Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie were assassinated, crowds of non-Serbs Bosnians marched through the streets of Sarajevo holding up black-draped Austro-Hungarian flags and pictures of the slain Archduke and his wife Sophie.

Hooligans attacked buildings that housed Bosnian Serb communities-they vandalized schools, newspaper offices and a hotel. They even attacked the residence of the city's leading Orthodox priest, breaking the windows in his home. Demonstrations where happening all over the cities of the dual monarchy, resulting in 50 people getting killed and one injured. Plus Munich and Berlin were rioting as well, but they were smaller riots and non-violent and where quickly subsided.

Now the uproar in the Serb Capital of Belgrade was more intense. The Serbs where "falling into one another's arms of delight". Disorderly crowds roamed the streets and as news arrived of the disturbances in Sarajevo, their jubilation was laced with anger. Belgrade's newspaper was making matters worse by printing that 10,000 of the Serbs living in Austria-Hungary had been injured or killed and that the Serb women where being subjected to outrages. (This was all untrue)

It was very easy to make to much out of this situation. Now the demonstrations in Sarajevo came to an end just in a few hours, and Vienna promptly announced that the victims would be compensated for their loses. The Serb government even conducted itself responsibly, attempting to discourage the demonstrations.

Now life in Vienna went back to normal. The slain Archduke had been to cold a man to even become popular with the public and no one mourned him. Franz's assassination hardly made an impression. So much so that by Sunday and Monday, crowds in Vienna where listening to music and drinking wine like nothing ever happened. In fact hardly anyone went to the Archduke's funeral and his friends where outrage over it. And the only thing Emperor Franz Joseph found necessary was to explain that he should have done more.

The Austro-Hungarain leadership was determined to take action, but was no where near ready to do so. Meeting after meeting occurred 48 hours after Franz's death. Foreign Minister Berchtold, Field Marshall Conrad, Hungarian Prime Minister Istran Tisza, Emperor Franz Joseph and others of the Austro-Hungarian government conferred for hours, but no consensus emerged. Berchtold and Conrad where all for attacking Serbia. But the Emperor was uncertain of this action and Tiszar opposed it. The only thing they all agreed on was that nothing could be done until certain preliminaries had been attended to.

1st they had to make sure they had Germany's support. Austria knew that attacking Serbia was going to be a concern with Russia. And Austria couldn't go to war against Serbia and Russia without Germany's help. Austria also needed Hungary's support, but knew it was going to be hard to get them on board because of the clumsy arrangement that Emperor Franz Joseph had made. Vienna couldn't make war without the consent of Budapest and the Hungarians were sure to have little interest. The Hungarians felt that failure in such a matter would be a disaster, but they also felt that to succeed would be regrettable. 

Finally no action would be possible until the Austria army had been mobilized. And that was going to be a very difficult and expensive task. First the had to get the machines and supplies they needed, plus getting all their troops together. And do all this without Russia and Serbia finding out. Also complicating things was the fact that the President of France Raymond Poincare was paying a visit  to Russia's Capital in St. Petersburgh. If Austria-Hungary took any steps to go after the Serbs or even signaled a mobilization, the leaders of France and Serbia would be given the opportunity to coordinate their response and cement their alliance.

So with everything slowing them down, the Austria-Hungarian armies could not be ready till mid August. The only good note they had was Germany's full support. Kaiser Wilhelm had like and admired Archduke Franz Ferdinand. Kaiser and the men around him needed no reminding that with Russia and France allied against them and Britain leaning that way, Germany needed Austria and needed to help Austria defend itself against the centrifugal force that was the Balkan nationalism.

Now Kaiser was away on his boat when he received word of the assassination. He returned home immediately and flew into a rage when he fount out that the German Ambassador urged the Austrians not to be quick in attacking the Serbs, Kaiser exploded. He stated that Serbia must be disposed of and his words quickly spread to Vienna, and Austria was delighted.This showed the German Ambassador Heinrich von Tschirschky the error of his ways. He knew Kaiser wanted him to be tough and to urge the Austrians to be tough. Heinrich welcomed the challenge, for he feared that Austria-Hungary was weakening almost to the point of collapse.

Now on July 5th and 6th Kaiser and Germany's Deputy Foreign Minister Arthur Zimmerman, met separately with emissaries from Vienna. Kaiser didn't tell the Austrian's what to do, but did tell them that something needed to be done about Serbia and soon. And that they had Germany's full support no matter what. This moment became known as the "Blank Check" the promise that Germany would stand with Vienna no matter what happened. But the Austrian's hadn't come to agreement with Hungary yet, so nothing was being done. So Kaiser nor Zimmerman took the trouble to ask-one indication among many that at this point the Germans did not regard the situation as being serious enough to require much thought or care. Even War Minister Erich von Falkenhayn after being briefed on the situation, thought it likely that the Austrians were going to have to be prodded into action.

Now the Austrian's armed with Kaiser's promise of support from Germany, decided to take everything slow, including telling Germany what their plans where. They didn't even bother to tell Germany that they thought a war was impossible after the French visited St. Petersburgh. Germany assumed that Austria intended to strike at Serbia without delay, which would allow Germany to move all their forces to the border with Russia.

But Kaiser and his associated saw little possibility that Vienna would do anything regarding Serbia. There was even doubt that the Hapsburg Empire would do anything to save itself. The Germans where also scornful about Russia. It was all but inconceivable to them that this time, unlike 1908,1912, and 1913, the Russians would feel not only capable, but compelled to take military action. So shortly after talks with Austria, Kaiser told Falkenhayn that no military preparations were necessary. So Kaiser went back to his boat and told his admirals that they where not headed for war. Besides Tsar's views where not on the side of the Prince's(Franz Ferdinand) murder. Plus France and Russia are not ready for war. So all the German officials went on vacation. With all principal figures of Germany's government and military scattered, there was no one to make or coordinate any plans of responding to anything done by other countries, or even staying abreast of developments. Even during the July 5th & 6th meeting, the Germans showed less interest in the Serbia problem than in Berchtold's arcane scheme for using Bulgaria as a lever to pry Romania out of its alliance with Russia.

Back in Vienna the promise of Germany's support was great news, but all attention had swung to the Hungarians. At center stage was Hungary's Prime Minister Count Tiszar who cared little for the Hapsburg Empire, except for the fact that its existence benefited the Hungarians. Tiszar was absolutely against to any Austro-Hungarian expansion into Serbia. He even warned Emperor Franz Joseph that any effort in that direction would cause a civil war in Hungary.

Hoping to approve a course of action, on July 7th Berchtold assembled Austria-Hungary's Council of Ministries. But little was accomplished. Tiszar wasn't going to do anything and had every intention to divert Berchtold's plans towards Bulgaria and Romania. But when Tiszar saw that everyone had lost interest and realized that a showdown with Serbia was the only thing that would satisfy the Austrians, he found ways to slow down the process. He insisted nothing be done until he had a chance to send a memo to Emperor Franz Joseph explaining his objections. Berchtold and the council members had no choice but to agree. Tiszar was after all the head of the Hungarian government. So most of the discussions was focused on the idea that Serbia should be presented with a set of demands. But Tiszar was afraid that if they made to harsh of demands to the Serbs, it would result in a European War. Tiszar felt if they were reasonable with their demands they would have a splendid diplomatic success. He felt this kind of success would improve their situation and give them a chance of initiating an advantageous policy in the Balkans. But no one agreed or cared about what Tiszar proposed. The Austro-Hungarian War Minister responded that " a diplomatic success would be of no use at all" and would be " interpreted as weakness".

Now with everyone but Tiszar in agreement that they needed to advance on Serbia, one question remained. What would happen to Serbia? Tiszar said we could shrink Serbia down, but we can't annihilate it. He knew the Russians would fight to the death before letting that happen. For once everyone agreed with Tiszar and Serbia would be made smaller. Some parts would go to Bulgaria, Greece, and Albania. What remained of Serbia though formally an autonomous state, was to be an Austro-Hungarian satellite. Now Berchtold seen this as an opportunity to give everyone what they wanted, but had every intention of seeing the destruction of Serbia.

Now the council all agreed that if Serbia was not crushed it would be impossible to keep their south slavs subjects from fighting to break free of Hapsburg control. Another fear they had was how the other great powers like Germany, might react to what was being planned. In the weeks to follow, no one not even Germany would be told of the councils decision to dismember Serbia after taking it by force. On the contrary, all the great powers would be lied to and told that Austria had no territorial aspirations where Serbia was concerned. Tiszar even decided to go along with this approach. In fact later in the meeting, Tiszar told the council he was anxious to meet the others halfway and was prepared to concede that the demands addressed to Serbia be hard indeed. But not to the point that it would alert everyone of their true intentions.

By July 13th, Vienna ambassador in Berlin was reporting that Germany was growing nervous about Vienna's failure to act. Now Tiszar didn't want to use the word ultimatum in with the demands sent to Serbia, so Berchtold cheerfully offered to a compromise. He would send a note with a time limit instead of an ultimatum. The note gave Serbia 48 hours to respond to Vienna without being told what Vienna would do if the response proved unsatisfactory. Austria's ambassadors were under instructions to assure Russia and Germany that Vienna was planning nothing that would cause concern.

But yet again, Berchtold was decieving friends and enemies alike. On July 19th the council met again in Vienna. They reviewed Berchtold's note and gave the approval. Most of the demands where reasonable, a few however where susceptible to being interpreted as requiring Serbia to compromise its sovereignty. The most objectionable called for direct Austria involvement in Serbia's handling of the assassination investigation and related internal affairs. It was agreed that Berchtold have the note delivered to the Prime Minister if Serbia in Belgrad on July 23rd. Tiszar was no longer objecting. With Germany's support and the complexities of the Balkans being almost infinite, he was beginning to see Serbia's friendly relations with Romania as a threat to Hungary's control of Transylvania.

On July 23rd when the note was to be delivered, Prime Minister Pasic knowing a communication from Vienna was coming, left Belgrade on an electioneering trip into Serbia's newest provinces. Giesl von Gieslingen delivered the note. Upon his arrival he was taken to see the Foreign Minister. An interpreter was on hand, because the minister spoke neither German nor French. Giesle read the note with the complaints of Serbia's behavior and told them it would no longer be tolerated. As the Foreign Minister realized what was going on, he tried to tell Giesl that he could not except such note. Giesl, out of patience said fine, the only thing he could do was leave the note and go. In departing he said no response other than unconditional acceptance would satisfy Austria, and that Serbia's response was required by 6pm Saturday.

News of Austria's demand had little impact except for Russia. Britain who was ensnared in a violet crisis having to do with Irish Home Rule, had scant attention for the Balkans. The London newspapers never friendly toward Serbia, dealt generously with Austria's demands. There was even less interest in France. They where dealing with a scandal, that had erupted when the wife of a former Prime Minister shot and killed a newspaper editor. Berlin was also quiet. Kaiser was back sailing and didn't know about the note to Serbia until he seen it in the Norwegian newspapers. And for the 1st time he showed signs of serious concern, and headed home. He still had no idea what the Austrians had put in their note.

Copies of the note where requested, but when they came, they where incomplete and no indication that the Austrians where going to reject the Serbs response. No on knew anything and that was Berchtold's plan all along. Getting his government to commit to action despite Tiszar's resistence and the deadly inertia of the dual monarchy's dual bureacracy, he was determined to make further complications impossible. Thus he compounded his earlier mistakes. He left Russia completely unprepared for the harshness of the note. He done nothing to help newspapers across Europe to help the European public to understand why Austria was taking action at last. Little had been disclosed and less publicized about Vienna's success in tracing the assassination plot back to Belgrade and that the officials of the Kingdom of Serbia had been involved. Vienna had made no public complaints about Belgrade's failure to investigate the assassination. Therefore Vienna's not was more of a surprise, than an active attack on Serbia after the assassination would have been.

By not the assassination of the Archduke was 3 weeks old. And with nothing having be done, everyone went back to day to day life. So no one felt a military action was required.

Russian's Foreign Minister Sergei Sazonov, flew into a rage when he learned of the Austria note. He vented that he and Russia had been deceived, and that there was no way Austria could send such a note without the approval of Germany. Sergei felt both countries where trying to drive Russia out of the Balkans. 

You are setting fire to Europe!! Sazonov told the Austrian Ambassador Prince Regent of Serbia, was sending wires to Tsar Nicholas asking for help. Nicholas was being told that his people would not tolerate another abandonment of their brothers, the South Slavs. Russia would be disgraced and have no more friends in the Balkans, and would definitely have no respect in Europe. Such a failure would end up causing a revolution-worse than the one of 1905.

Russia decided that if they showed enough firmness, perhaps Austria would hold back. But by Friday July 24th, the day before Serbia was to respond to Austria's note, Sazonov was telling the Russian army's Chief of Staff to ready for mobilization. It was at this point that the Balkan crisis became an European one.

 

The Hapsburgs

                                                            Emperor Franz Joseph

In 1914 Emperor Franz Joseph was in his 66th year at the head of the most successful family in Europe. He ruled an Empire that extended from what is now the Czech Republic and deep inside what is now Poland to the Italian Port City of Trieste. He had been doing so since he was 18 years old, which made him one of the longest reigning monarchs in the history of the world.

Franz Joseph was a sad, tired, lonely old man who found his life boring. All he had to look back on in his life was a lifetime of disappointment and failure. It's no wonder he spoke in unguarded moments, of yearning for death. Franz knew that his dynasty was near the end of its 1,000 year run.

But what a run it had been. The Hapsburgs had been Kings of Austria and other places for 6 1/2 centuries. With little interruptions, they had been emperors for more than 4 1/2 centuries. At their apex in the 1500's they had dominated Europe and the New World as no family has done before or since.

The 1st member of the Hapsburgs to appear on record was Guntram the Rich. And even in his time a century before the Norman Conquest of England, the family was prospering to a far-from common degree. In 1273 one of Gutram's descendants became the 1st Hapsburg monarch, King Rudolf I of Germany.

His one son succeeded  on the German throne, and another son became King of Austria. After that the Hapsburgs were never less than Royal; the only question from then on, was how many kingdoms the family would rule at any given time.

Now from the year 800 when the Barbarian chief of a Germanic Tribe call the Franks went to Rome and had himself crowned Emperor Charles(we remember him as Charlemagne, the Germans as Karl der Grosse) the rulers of Germany fancied themselves successors to the ancient Emperors of Rome. Since their ancestors over ran the Roman Empire in the 4th and 5th centuries, they controlled much of Italy, and kept control through the Dark and Middles Ages, and on through the Renaissance into Modern Times.

The highest honor for a German was to become Holy Roman Emperor. And the last to be crowned in Rome was a member of the Hapsburg family's Austrian Branch.

Fredrick III became Emperor in 1440, and though the throne was "elective" (the only voters were the hereditary rulers of Major German States, Including Austria, from that point on the Hapsburgs had much wealth and power that until 1711 not a single non-Hapsburg was elected to it.

Now the Hapsburg all had what they called the famous "Hapsburg Lip" it was a grotesque protuberance of the lower lip and jaw. This became a mark of the family as its members had increasing difficulty finding spouses worthy of their exalted status, so they started marrying one another. Now the Hapsburgs were not warriors or adventurers; rather they were risk-averse. They expanded their holdings less by sword than by matrimony.

Fredrick III married his son Maximilian to the heiress  to the Netherlands, Luxembourg, and the Artois and Burgundy regions. Then a generation later he married his grandson Philip to the eldest daughter and heir of Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain. This marriage allowed the family to acquire all of Spain's vast possessions in the New World. And no one cared that Phillips wife was insane.

Now all this was inherited by Philips son, Emperor Charles V,

who thereby ruled more of the world then any any man ever had and along the way added the Kingdoms of Portugal and Milan to his domain. Now he later divided his kingdom for it was to much for one man to rule. His son Philip II was based near Madrid as King of Spain(and was married to Marry Tudor, the Queen of England called Bloody Marry), failing to produce a child with her and thereby to secure that promising little realm for the Hapsburgs. Now Charles brother Ferdinand became Holy Roman Emperor and took charge of the eastern German branch of the family business.

But no matter it went down hill from here. The Spanish line of Hapsburgs died out. This due to the inbreeding and the fact that Philips insane wife also brought insanity into the mix didn't help. The last Hapsburg King of Spain Charles 2nd married 3 times, but couldn't produce an heir.

Now the Austria line was more vigorous , but beset with problems. France under Louis XIV

Seized all of the Hapsburgs' possessions west of the Rhine, including the provinces of Alsace and Lorraine. The Ottoman Turks invaded Europe, conquered most of the Balkans and twice reached the gates of Vienna before being turned back. Now the reformation cast Catholic Austria into the role of enemy in newly Protestant Northern Germany. This was convenient for Prussia, the leading Protestant state on the continent, which grabbed important pieces of the Hapsburg inheritance.

Finally there came the rise of Napoleon Bonaparte.

He occupied Vienna twice, stripped away many of the Hapsburgs' southern possessions. Napoleon was determined to produce an heir, so he took a Hapsburg Princess, (which happens to be the grandniece of Marie Antoinette), as his bride.

So Napoleon ended the fiction of the Holy Roman Empire and from that point on the Hapsburg monarchs bore the humble title of Hereditary Emperors of Austria.

Now the fall of Napoleon gave the Hapsburg's back some of their most important southern holdings, including northern Italy. After that things remained tranquil for more than 30 years.

But the Revolution of 1848 brought the survival of the Hapsburg Empire into question. With everyone from France to Russia, rising up against their rulers and demanding reform. Now everyone was hoping 18 year old Franz Joseph could win the loyalty of his subjects, and was able to do just that.

But personally and politically, however, Franz Joseph's reign was almost as sorrowful as it was long. Nothing went right for him. He married the Princess Elizabeth of Bavaria,

but after 6 happy years and 4 children, he passed gonorrhea onto his wife, which he caught from one of his Italian campaigns. This needless to say ended his marriage.

Then in 1859 Austria was driven out of Lombardy in Northern Italy by the rising forces of Italian Nationalism. Shortly there after it also lost Tuscany and Modena as well.

In 1866 Prussia defeated Austria and forced it to its ancient claim to leadership over Germany. Fearful of further loss, Franz Joseph entered into a compact under which Hungary became not merely one of the Empire's possessions, but an equal partner in a new and peculiar kind of dual monarchy. Austria and Hungary each would have its own prime minister and parliament, though the war finance and foreign affairs ministries would be centralized in Vienna.

This arrangement was successful as it gave the Magyars who dominated Hungary, a more powerful and secure position in European politics then they had before. This gave them reason to want to keep the empire alive. But this caused them more problems than they could ever imagine. Policy making was complicated, because all important decisions had to be approved in Vienna at the Hungarian Capital of Budapest. This also gave Hungary reason to oppose anything that might weaken its position within the Empire. Hungary would also resist the transformation of the dual monarchy into a 3-cornered arrangement that included the Slavs. Even though by 1914 3/5 of the empire's subjects were Slavic; Poles, Czechs, Slovaks, Ukrainians, Serbs and others.

In 1889 Archduke Rudolf,

Franz Joseph's only son commits suicide with his teenage mistress, leaving no male heir.Then 9 years later Empress Elizabeth

was stabbed to death.

And 2 years later came the refusal of Archduke Franz Ferdinand's

marrying  Countess Sophie Chotek. In his seemingly endless old age Franz Joseph was a lonely old man who had no one to share his life with. Even though he remained loyal to his duties, his still had alot of heart ache to deal with and decisions he didn't want to allow or make.

A mess of countries

Leopold von Berchtold and Franz Conrad were polar opposites as men and were always at odds with one another. But after Franz Ferdinand was assassinated they put their differences aside and became partners.

Conrad was a soldier down to the marrow of his bones. He became Chief of the Austria-Hungarian General Staff in 1906. Conrad was determined to turn the hodgepodge Austro-Hungarian armies into a modern and effective fighting force. Conrad was certain that the empire could save itself only by asserting itself in the Balkans, by eliminating Serbia. In 1911 Conrad had been dismissed from his position as Chief of Staff because of his obsessive aggressiveness. But a year later when war broke out in Balkan his talents and energy seemed indispensable. So he was recalled to duty.

Count Berchtold was an enormously wealthy, deeply cultivated, pleasure-loving aristocrat of an Ancient Family. But he was regarded as weak, lazy, frivolous, and unreliable. Berchtold became the Austro-Hungarian Ambassador to Russia in 1907 and was appointed Foreign Minister in 1912. His conduct in the Balkan crises of that year and 1913, when Serbia enlarged itself at the expense of the Turks and Bulgarians while Vienna stood by watching. This cemented his reputation for passivity and vacillation.

Because of this Conrad was convinced that Berchtold lacked the backbone to protect Hapsburg. Now Berchtold was aware that people seen him as an unworthy Foreign Minister and that he needed to repair his reputation. So within 48 hours of the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, he was calling for a final and fundamental reckoning with Serbia. Showing how the two men where so different.

In 1914 Austria-Hungary was a 2nd rate declining empire trying to hang onto its traditional place among the nations that was recognized as Europe's leading powers. But a half century before the assassination of Ferdinand, they were displaced as leader of the German states. Otto von Bismarck, Prussia's great Chancellor and creator of the German Empire evicted Autria-Hungary from Germany's leader of state.

After being evicted they lost hunks of territory to a new kingdom of Italy. Austria-Hungary had become obsolete and ahead of its time. In an era of nationalism, it was hardly a nation at all. It was a jumbo mess of 13 nationalities that spoke 16 languages, belonged to 5 major religions, and where organized into 17 lands, served by 20 parliaments. But they had the potential to provide a model for Europe where diverse people could live together in peace and even unite. Archduke Franz Ferdinand understood this potential. Franz being murdered left the empire without the man who might have been strong and canny enough to lead it through the crisis of 1914. The Archduke was the man the monarchy needed.

Now across Hungary's southern most border was nightmare of Serbia, stirring up unrest whenever  it could. For many Austrians the empire faced a simple choice, maintain a strong position or it could allow itself to be undone by, Russian-sponsored Balkan trouble makers.  Now the many ethnic groups inside Austria-Hungary  was seeking independence and unions with whatever Balkan nation they where linked to by culture, religion, blood and geography. This situation was a recipe for disaster and throughout the decade leading up to 1914, this added new poisons to the mix.

The 1st of these was the 1906 Pig War. Serbia still being a tiny country, sitting on Bosnia's border gave it plenty of opportunities for mischief. The officials in Vienna were desperate to strike out at Serbia. Vienna decided to punish Serbia by refusing to import its livestock, pigs included. Vienna enacted an embargo that lasted for 5 years. Doing nothing but making themselves look ridiculous. The Serbs found other markets for their animal and this caused their exports to increase, but in doing so they thought they could defy the mighty Hapsburgs and not pay a heavy price.

In 1908, Austria couldn't keep Serbia from causing trouble in Bosnia and Herzegovina and was concerned because of the strict legal terms these two countries didn't belong to Austria. Vienna feared the consequences of this territory every becoming part of Serbia. So with the Serbs being hostile and the Ottoman Empire decrepited, Vienna announced it was annexing Bosnia and Herzegovina into the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Serbia was outraged and went to Russia for help. Russia was still recovering from the war with Japan and couldn't intervene. Conrad was entering his 3rd year as Austria's Chief of Staff and he wanted to send troops into Serbia. He had 360,000 troops to Serbia's 20,000. Plus Conrad had the support of Germany who was worried about Austria's slow decline. Conrad wanted to go to war with Serbia, saying it would help patch things up with their neighbors and get them more allies.

Not everyone in Austria and Berlin wanted war. Emperor Franz Joseph going on his 16th term on the throne had more military defeats than victories and had no desire to go into a new war. The Hungarian's on the other hand didn't want anymore Serbs(Slavs) coming into the country. They were afraid it would turn the monarchy into a 3 cornered system with the Slavs as equals. And people who knew Ferdinand where convinced that once he took the throne, he planned to bring the Slavs into the monarchy.

So Germany got involved and issued an ultimatum: the Russians had to approve the annexation or Germany would regard Vienna as being justified in moving against Serbia. Russia had no choice but to yield, they where in no shape to go to war. Now Conrad seen this as a disaster and some of Germany's leading generals did to. Saying that Austria had come out of the crisis without acquiring any territory and not weakening the Serbs, who where highly outraged over the annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Three years after the annexation crisis. The nation of Montenegro launched an attack on the once invisible Turks in 1912. With Serbia, Bulgaria, and Greece joining them they drove the Turks out. Serbia than gained control of more land and was becoming big enough to be a problem for Austria.

This shifted the balance of power in Balkan and all over Europe and was not to Vienna's advantage. The Ottoman Empire was no longer a presence in Balkan. Demands came for Vienna to have military action and of course Conrad was in favor all the way. Berchtold on the other opposed him. Ferdinand also opposed this knowing that making war on the Slav neighbors was no way to win the loyalty of Vienna's 10 million Slavic subjects.

But nothing was done by anyone. Vienna couldn't mobilized or do anything because Russia was fearful of war. Plus Berlin was not supporting them either. Bulgaria who won the war in 1912 hated Serbia and that made them a potential ally for Austria.

Bulgaria was not happy with its victory of 1912 and  launched an attack in 1913 on Serbia. Which turned out to be a bad mistake. Because Greece, Montenegro, Romania and Turkey all came to the aid of Serbia and costs Austria to loose Bosnia and Herzegovina. Once peace was restored, Vienna insisted that Serbia withdrawal from the coast and they refused. Vienna then gave Serbia an ultimatum. They withdrawal from the coast or they would attack. Now Serbia once again went to Russia for help her again turned them down. Serbia also faced the problem of Britain and France opposing them having the coast also.

Outraged the Serbs withdrew. The territory then became the new Nation of Albania. Now by the summer of 1914 everyone in the Balkan region was in an up roar over what they gained and lost. And the region became a very unstable one. Russia was also fuming for the facted that they had become so weak, and Austria was upset because they had the opportunity to take care of Serbia and done nothing.

The Austrians also concluded that the international conferences that ended both Balkan wars, had done them no good. And finally the Austrians where disgusted with Germany for not supporting them. Germany knowing this knew they had to step up their game and be there for Austria. They where the only ally they had and if they lost them it would leave them alone surrounded by enemies. Never again would Germany give Vienna reason to doubt their alliance to them. For 3 weeks and more following the assassination of Franz Ferdinand, that was the German position.

The Serbs

It was never a surprise that trouble had broken out in the southeastern corner of Europe. And that the Serbs were right in the middle of it. The Balkan Peninsula was the most unstable region in Europe in 1914. A big mess of ill-defined small nations. It had violently shifting borders and a huge intermingled ethnic groups who hated each other and felt they had a right to expand.

The trouble in Europe ran deep. Two millennium ago there was a line that divided the Eastern and Western Roman Empires. This line runs right through Balkan and this line line divides the Catholic and the Orthodux to this day.

Now after the Turks' forced there way into Europe, the Balkans became the home of Europe's only Mulsim population. The point where European Christendon ends and Islam begins, but the Balkans was nothing more than a prize being fought over by Muslim Turkey, Catholic Austria, and Orthodux Russia.

Now the Serbs had been part of a wave of so called South Slav(Yugoslavs) that moved into the Balkan region during the 7th century. In the centuries that followed the Serbs built a miniature empire under their own Tsar. For a time it was uncertain wether all the Serbs would be Orthodux or some would be Roman Catholic. Eventually they settled into the Orthodux faith.

From the late middle ages in the aftermath of their defeat at Kosovo, the Serbs were trapped inside the empire of the Ottoman Turks. In 1829 a Russia victory over the increasingly incompetent and helpless Turks,made possible the emergence of a new principality that was, if almost invisibly tiny, the 1st Serbian state in almost half a millennium and a rallying point for Serbia nationlism.

In the 1870's another Russia-Turkish war broke out. This time with Serbia fighting on the side of Russia and gaining more territory. Now there was once again a kingdom of Serbia, a rugged mountainous, and a landlocked little country surrounded by the whole boiling ethnic stew of the Balkans.

Despite the inconvenient fact that the Serbs were only a minority of the Bosnia population, the incorporation of Bosnia into an Orthodux and Slav Greater Serbia became an integral part of the Serbs' national dream.

As the years passed, trouble erupted with increasing frequency, and sometimes with shocky brutality. At the start of the 20th century Serbia had a king and queen who were friendly to Hapsburg Vienna. In 1903 a group of disgruntled army officers staged a coop, they shot the royal pair to death and replaced them with a dynasty loyal to Russia.

In 1908 Austria-Hungary enraged Serbia by annexing Bosnia and the adjacent little district of Herzegovina permanently making them povinces of Hapburg Empire. Serbia turned to Russia for help, but because of the 1905 war with Japan, they where unable to do anything to support the Serbs.

In 1911 the same people who killed the royal family formed the group The Black Hand. In 1912 the 1st Balkan War broke out and of course Serbia joined with several of its neighbors to drive out the Turks. This helped double the kindoms size and raise its population.

In the 2nd Balkan war. Serbia defeated its neighbor and one time ally Bulgarier, and expanded the Serbia Kingdom once again. But had to withdrawal and give up the land when the Austrians threatened to invade. With no support from Russia, France seen an opportunity and started providing money, arms and training to the Serbs. France was hoping to make the Serb army strong enough to fight a war with Austro-Hungarian, so France, Russia and Britain could take on Germany by themselves.

Now to what extent did the government of Serbia know in advance of the plot to kill Franz Ferdinand? To what extent could Belgrade therefore be held responsible? That answer is neither clear or simple. Prime Minister Nikola Pasic did hear about the plots weeks before the shooting and disapproved. He put out the word that the plot should be called off. On the other hand, Serbian officialdom was not entirely innocent.

The leader of the Black Hand was country's chief of military intelligence, one Colonel Dragutin Dimitrijevic. He was the mastermind behind the strategy that led Serbias successes in the Balkan wars. Now in 1914 he was the mastermind behind the plot to kill Franz Ferdinand. There is no evidence that Prime Minister Pasic or his cabinet was involved.

But Colonel Dragutin Dimitrijevic, The Black Hand, and the military saw Pasic as an obstacle. The Colonel wanted war and the Minister didn't. So in June 1914 the generals forced Pasic out of office. He was immediately put back in office at the insistence of the Russians and French, who regarded him as sane and sensible. This of course was a defeat for Colonel Dimitrijevic, so he seen the assassination of Franz Ferdinand as a way of causing the fall of Prime Ministers Pasic's government. Hoping it would lead to war. Pasic new that Serbia was in no shape to go to war physically or financially. Russia was still in no shape to help or support.

Some ask why didn't Prime Minister Pasic stop the assassination? He did by putting himself  at risk, by sending an order that the 3 assassins needed to be stopped before they crossed the border into Bosnia. but he had been to late, they had already crossed into Bosnia. So he directed his abvassador in Vienna to deliver the warning, but the ambassador was a Serb nationalists, so he never went to great lengths to get the message to the right people. Pasic never knew that his message had been diluted, and there was nothing more he could do.

Serbia was in the midst of election and Pasic didn't want to muddy the waters for his re-election by becoming the enemy to any high officials. But by this point the assassins was the only ones who could stop the killing. The Black Hand committee wanted the assassination called off. The Colonel told the assassins not to kill Franz but it fell on deaf ear. The Colonel and Black Hand had lost control of the situation. So on June 28, 1914 Franz Ferdinand was assassinated.