Chapter 192

On the afternoon of July 23rd, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Austria and Hungary, when French President Poincaré and his party returned to France after visiting St. Petersburg by boat Berthold is finally ready to submit an ultimatum to Sylvia.

This is really a twists and turns. At the very beginning, it was the proposal of Austro-Hungarian Chief of Staff Conrad. He planned to launch a sudden offensive against Serbia on July 1 while the countries were full of sympathy for Austria-Hungary. It was just because Conrad was too hearted and planned to carve up Serbia so that the government could not accept it.

Then came a local war supported by Germany. According to German estimates, Austria-Hungary should have taken Belgrade in a surprise attack at this time. It is also because of the opposition of Hungarian Prime Minister Tisza that it has not yet been able to make the trip.

Now the actions of Austria-Hungary have aroused the idea of ​​various countries, especially Russia, which has close relations with Serbia. The most deadly thing is that Russia has decoded the Austrian-Hungarian telegram and knows what Vienna will do next. At this time, Austria-Hungary, because of its own procrastination, dragged down the guaranteed Germany.

In the evening of the 23rd, Austro-Hungarian Minister in Serbia Gisr delivered an ultimatum to Acting Prime Minister Paku. As for Serbian Prime Minister Pasic, he may have heard the news and left the capital on the 22nd to participate in elections. He has already left Belgrade.

Faced with the ultimatum submitted by Gesr, Acting Prime Minister Paku refused to accept the ultimatum on the grounds that Serbia was being elected and many ministers were not. It was just that Gisle left the ultimatum on the table, as if saying: "Do whatever you want." Then he turned and left.

Serbia quickly sent the Austro-Hungarian ultimatum to St. Petersburg. After receiving the telegram from Serbia, Russian Foreign Minister Sazonov said loudly. "This is the European war."

In fact, Sazonov said this because he has not read the Austro-Hungarian ultimatum. This is also an expression of reflection on the Russian government in the 1908 crisis in Bosnia and Herzegovina. In the Bosnia-Herzegovina crisis, Russia was forced to give in due to the trauma of the Russo-Japanese War. This is a shame in the eyes of the Russian government. Although it was later joined by the Russian ambassador to Serbia Hartwig to form the Balkan Alliance. Obtained a lot of benefits from Ottoman, but facing the retreat of Austria and Germany still stimulated the Russian high-level.

In the Franco-Russian League just now, the French government has assured that 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 clauses of the ultimatum. The Serbs would never disband the National Self-Defense Force, nor would they allow Austro-Hungarian detectives to investigate the Sarajevo assassination on Serbian territory. . Spalli explained that Austria-Hungary has highlighted the suppression of terrorist movements and riots, which is beneficial to all civilized countries.

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

After receiving the Austro-Hungarian ambassador, Sazonov called the ministers to a meeting at 3 o'clock in the afternoon and issued an emergency notice asking the Chief of Staff Yanushkovic and the Secretary of the Navy Grigoryevich to also attend. meeting. Why does Sazonov, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, have so much power to convene meetings? It turned out that Goremekin, now the Prime Minister, is a nameless person. Now that Tsar Nicholas II is not present (the Tsar is on a yacht in the Gulf of Finland), he has the right to succeed the Prime Minister to make a decision.

At the meeting, Sazonov asked the Chief of Staff to make preparations to put the Russian army in a state of combat readiness, and proposed a partial military mobilization plan. Then Sazonov ordered the recall of all diplomatic envoys and officials of the Near East Bureau of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and asked them to report to him immediately.

Treasury Secretary Buck was the first to respond to his plan, and he arrived at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs at 11 o'clock in the morning. It is possible that Sazonov was away when he was out, and he talked with Schilling, assistant to the foreign secretary.

Buck asked. "Is it possible to fight?"

Schilling spoke without hesitation. "Sazonov thinks it is inevitable."

In view of this, Buck wondered if he would immediately transfer his Russian property in Berlin. Xilin also said yes without hesitation. Bucklimar took the same speed as the Germans. Before the meeting of ministers began, he ordered his agent in Berlin to transfer 100 million rubles deposited in the German bank to Paris and St. Petersburg.

When Buck quickly transferred Russian assets out of Germany, Sazonov was discussing military mobilization with the head of the army. At the end of November 1912, when the Balkan War escalated, Russian Military Minister Sukhomlinov formulated a "partial" military mobilization plan for Austria-Hungary only.

His idea was to use force to deter Vienna without disturbing Germany. Because Germany may carry out military mobilization in fulfilling its obligations to its ally, Austria-Hungary, a key conclusion has emerged that the Polish Military District in Russia cannot carry out military mobilization, so that the Eighth Army in East Prussia will not be disturbed.

Now Sazonov asked the Chief of Staff Yanushkovic to formulate such a plan, and Yanushkovych agreed to the request of the Foreign Minister.

However, after returning to the General Staff, Yanushkovych summoned General Dobrzeowski, the director of the Russian Military Mobilization Department, to discuss the local military mobilization plan. In this regard, Dobrelowski told the Chief of Staff that it was a thankless and stupid thing. To effectively conduct military mobilization against the Austro-Hungarian Empire, it is necessary to make full use of Warsaw as a railway transit station. If military mobilization does not touch Poland, it means that attacks on Austria can only be launched in the narrow Galicia or through Romania, which is also unrealistic.

At 3 pm, the Council of Ministers convened a two-hour special meeting. As the convener, Sazonov prepared a five-point action proposal for discussion at the meeting.

First, Russia promised to force Austria to extend the deadline for the ultimatum together with other major powers. Second, Russia suggested that Serbia declare that it will not prevent the invasion of Austria-Hungary, but leave its own destiny to the great powers to arrange. (Russia has just delivered a large quantity of weapons and ammunition to Belgrade.)

Third, tomorrow the Chief of Staff and the Secretary of the Navy will go to the Czar's Village to participate in the Privy Council meeting. At the meeting, they will ask the Tsar to approve military mobilization in the four military districts of Kiev, Osad, Moscow, and Kazan, and put the Black Sea Fleet and the Baltic Fleet in combat readiness Status (interesting, Austria-Hungary is not adjacent to these two fleets). Fourth, the Russian army should start stockpiling military supplies and prepare for war. Fifth, Russian assets must be withdrawn from Germany and Austria-Hungary.

These five action proposals were passed at this meeting, and Sazonov proposed to mobilize secretly, which was also agreed to by Chief of Staff Yanushkovic.

After finishing the meeting, Sazonov summoned Serbian Ambassador Sparakovic. This time the Serbian ambassador brought the latest domestic instructions. Serbian Prime Minister Pasic informed the Russian Foreign Minister that the current state of the Serbian army is completely unable to withstand the Austro-Hungarian attack, so he begged Russia for advice.

Sazonov told the Serbian ambassador before him and asked them to be tough. In order to show his sincerity, Sazonov suggested that Serbia accept the insulting general clause, but never accept Articles 5 and 6. He also persuaded Ambassador Sparakovic to allow Austria-Hungary to enter Serbia on its own. At the same time, Sazonov promised that Serbia would receive Russian assistance. The general idea is that Serbia can accept certain terms, but never obey them. If there is a war, Russia will fight for Serbia.

After Ye received the Serbian ambassador, Sazonov summoned the German ambassador Putales. Since the morning the German ambassador has always wanted to discuss the Vienna ultimatum with the Russian side, but it has not been successful. Now facing the Russian Foreign Minister in front of him, Ambassador Putales tried to localize the conflict between Austria-Hungary and Serbia, but this caused a strong refutation from Sazonov. He pointed out that the Vienna ultimatum undermined the solemn declaration made by Austria-Hungary to annex Bosnia and Herzegovina in March 1909~www.mtlnovel.com~ This statement obeyed the wishes of European powers, not only the wishes of Austria-Hungary.

After the two sides wrangling, Sazonov finally began to talk about the important points. He spoke to Ambassador Putales. "I do believe now that Austria-Hungary wants to find an excuse to annex Serbia. If this is the case, Russia will go to war with Austria-Hungary."

Putales was shocked by this, and he tried to assure Sazonov. The worst result of the ultimatum is that the Austro-Hungarian Empire launched a disciplinary military action against Serbia, not a territorial battle, and Austria-Hungary has no plan to annex Serbia.

However, the guarantee of the German ambassador did not convince Sazonov, and neither of the two continued to persuade each other. After discussing with Sazonov to no avail, Putales sent a telegram to the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In the telegram, he once again assured Jago, although Sazonov's words were fierce. But his goal is to Europeanize the ultimatum. He predicts that Russia will not intervene.

And Sazonov received the last French ambassador Pareolog who arrived that night, and he spoke to the French ambassador. "Germany supports Vienna wholeheartedly, and it doesn't mean to calm the situation. So I told Putales very frankly that we should not let Serbia and Austria-Hungary stand alone."

Sazonov made an amazing decision about the Austro-Hungarian ultimatum in just a few hours, and he has not yet solicited three other people who directly influence Russia's foreign policy, so he made his own claim. The czar was playing yachts in the Gulf of Finland, but he had already received an invitation to the Privy Council meeting in the village of the czar the next day. French President Poincaré is sailing on the Baltic Sea and returning to France. Serbian Prime Minister Pasic has not yet launched the Prime Minister election and returned to Belgrade. When these three people wake up on Saturday morning, they will see a different world.