When the Imperial and Royal Government demanded from Servia that she should punishthose accomplices in the crime of Serajevo who were in Servian territory, and fulfil the dutieswhich are a necessary condition for friendly relationship between neighbouring States, theironly object was to protect our dynasty from outrage and the territory of the Monarchy fromcriminal intrigues. They were representing the common interest of the civilised world thatmurder and outrage should not be used with impunity as a weapon in political controversy,and that Servia should not continue incessantly to menace the peace of Europe by heraspirations.
The Entente Powers were guilty of a serious wrong when, under the spell of their ownpolitical interests, they closed their ears to these postulates of public morality and humanity,and ranged themselves beside the Kingdom with its load of guilt. Had they listened to theassurances of the Monarchy which, by her conservative policy and her love of peace duringthe violent changes which had taken place in the Balkan Peninsula, had gained full right totheir confidence, and had they maintained a waiting attitude towards the Servian conflict, theworld-war would have been avoided. It is they who must be made answerable before historyfor the immeasurable suffering which has come upon the human race.
There can be no doubt that the small Servian State would never have ventured, with ananimosity which was scarcely concealed, to work for the separation from the greatneighbouring Monarchy of the territories which were inhabited by Southern Slavs, if she hadnot been sure of the secret approval and protection of Russia, and if she had not been able todepend on the powerful pan-Slavist tendency in the Empire of the Czar forcing the RussianGovernment, if necessary, to come to the aid of the Kingdom in her struggle for the realisationof the Great-Servian projects.
In the course of the two last centuries the Russian Empire has; extended over giganticareas with the elementary force of a glacier, and has, again and again, subdued fresh racesunder the Muscovite rule, suppressing their culture, region and language. As the supreme andinflexible aim of this restless pressure towards universal dominion there stands before her thepossession of the Dardanelles, which would secure to the Russian Empire predominance in thenear East and in Asia Minor, and gain for Russian exports an opening independent of the willof other countries.
As the realization of these plans would injure important interests of Austria-Hungary andGermany, and as it was therefore bound to encounter the inevitable opposition of thesePowers, it was the endeavour of Russian policy to weaken their power of resistance. The powerful central European union which barred the way to the universal dominion of Russiamust be shattered, and Germany must be isolated. The first step was to hem in the HapsburgMonarchy by the creation of the Balkan Union, and to undermine its authority by the pan-Slavist and Servian intrigues in its frontier territories. A necessary condition for carrying outthis plan was the overthrow and expulsion of the Turks in order that the increased power ofthe Christian Balkan States should be available against the two central Powers.
When the Balkan Union broke up owing to the quarrel over the territory which had beentorn from Turkey, and the Russian plans were threatened with failure, "the Protector of theSlavs" allowed Bulgaria to be overthrown, humiliated and deprived of the largest share of theterritory which she had won. The Balkan Union which, after the overthrow of the Turks,could now be directed rather against Austria-Hungary and Germany, and could be used byRussia and France for changing the relations of the European Powers, was to be set on footagain by the prospect of the acquisition of fresh territories, planned at the cost of theMonarchy, through a successive pushing forward of frontier from east to west. In this criminalgame of Russian diplomacy, which threatened the existence of the Monarchy and the peace ofthe world, Servia was a catspaw which Russia would not give up even in order to avoidgeneral war.
The Imperial and Royal Government -- and the documents provided in this collectiongive ample evidence of this -- again and again almost up to the outbreak of war assured theCabinet of St. Petersburgh that they would not violate any Russian interest, would not annexany Servian territory, and would not touch the sovereignty of Servia, and that they were readyto enter into negotiations with the Russian Government on Austro-Hungarian and Russianinterests. Russia, however, had not expressed herself as satisfied with the solemn declarationsof the Imperial and Royal Government; as early as the 24th July, in the communiqué of thatdate, she assumed a threatening tone, and on the 29th July, although Austria-Hungary had notmobilized a single man against Russia, she ordered the mobilization of the military districts ofOdessa, Kieff, Moscow and Kasan; this was a threat to the Monarchy; on the 31st July sheordered general mobilisation, disregarding the repeated warnings of the Imperial and RoyalAmbassador, and the declaration of the German Government, which had been made on the26th, that preparatory military measures on the part of Russia would force Germany tocounter measures which must consist in the mobilization of the arms, and that mobilisationmeant war.
On the 24th July the Imperial and Royal Ambassador in conversation with the RussianMinister for Foreign Affairs, laid stress on the peaceful disposition of the Monarchy. Her onlyobject was to make an end to the menace to our dynasty from Servian bombs, and to ourterritory from the revolutionary machinations of Servia.
The attainment of this end was a vital question to the Monarchy. She could not, therefore, allow herself to be terrorised by the possibility of a conflict with Russia, in the eventof that country taking Servia under her protection; she must make an end of the intolerablesituation, that a Russian charter should give the Servian Kingdom continued impunity in herhostility to Austria-Hungary.
On the 30th July the British Secretary of State again suggested that Austria-Hungary, inher conflict with Servia, should avail herself of the mediation of the Powers. Guided by theirdesire to do the utmost in their power to maintain general peace, the Imperial and Royalgovernment declared themselves ready to accept this mediation. The honour and the interestof Austria-Hungary, however, required that this should not take place under the pressure ofthe threatening measures of Russia. It was, therefore, a paramount necessity for her torequire that the hostile measures of mobilization in the Empire of the Czar should, first of all,be revoked. This demand the St. Petersburgh Cabinet answered by mobilising the whole of theRussian forces.
In alliance with the self-seeking policy of Great Britain, and the desire for revanche ofthe French Republic, the St. Petersburgh government disdained no means of securingpredominance in Europe to the Triple Entente and paving the way for their boldest schemes.Russia*s unscrupulous hands tried to weave the threads of her policy into a snare to becast over the head of the Monarchy. When Austria-Hungary, following the dictates of self-preservation, determined to tear the web to pieces, Russia attempted to stay the hand of theImperial and Royal Government and to humiliate the Monarchy.
Exposed to the greatest danger in their vital interests, Austria-Hungary and Germanysaw themselves confronted with the choice of protecting their rights and their safety, or ofgiving way before the threats of Russia.
They took the road pointed out by honour and duty.