Rise of Australia

Chapter 377 The Austro-Hungarian Empire Declares War
Serbian Prime Minister Pahic understands that the current situation is beyond his control.How Serbia will go depends on the attitudes of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Russia.

Therefore, Passisic non-stop forwarded the 48-hour ultimatum proposed by the Austro-Hungarian Empire to Russia, asking Nicholas II and the attitude of the Russian government.

As a bridgehead to curb the expansion of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in the Balkans, Serbia was highly valued by the Tsarist Russian Empire.

After learning of the extremely harsh 48-hour ultimatum of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Nicholas II appeared very angry, and angrily accused the Austro-Hungarian Empire of completely ignoring the special interests of Tsarist Russia in Serbia and attempting to damage the status of the Tsarist Russian Empire.

The Russian Foreign Minister even gritted his teeth and said: "Russia must not allow the Austro-Hungarian Empire to defeat Serbia and become the most dominant country in the Balkans."

Serbia is not only related to Russia's interests in the Balkans, but also related to the safety of the export of the Russian Black Sea Fleet.

If the Balkan region is dominated by the Allies, then Russia's Black Sea Fleet will become the softshell, and Russia's only outlets to the sea will be the Baltic Sea and the Far East.

Although Nicholas II had long supported Arthur's proposal to try the murderer behind the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand.

But at such a critical moment, a joint royal declaration is obviously not as important as Serbia.

Soon, Nicholas II summoned the Austro-Hungarian ambassador to St. Petersburg to express Russia's attitude.

Nicholas II said categorically: "Russia does not agree with the two agreements in the final arrest that damage Serbia's sovereignty, nor does it agree with the Austro-Hungarian Empire investigating the Sarajevo assassination on Serbia's territory."

Even if there is an investigation, the four major powers of the Allied Powers headed by Britain, France, Russia and Australia should organize corresponding personnel to conduct investigations in Serbia.

As for the other countries of the Allied Powers, even the Austro-Hungarian Empire, which is the victim, has no right to investigate on Serbian soil.

Even if the ambassador of the Austro-Hungarian Empire explained many times that the Austro-Hungarian Empire was only suppressing terrorist movements and riots that endangered the European royal family, this is very beneficial to all European monarchy countries.

But how can the Russians' fiery temper believe the rhetoric of the Austro-Hungarian Empire? The Russian Foreign Minister said strongly: "If the Austro-Hungarian Empire insists on the 48-hour ultimatum, it will provoke a war in the whole of Europe."

In the case of Serbia, it is impossible for Russia to back down.What's more, the ties between the Allies are very close, with the financial assistance from Britain and France and the material assistance from Australasia, Nicholas II thinks he has the confidence to deal with any challenges from the outside world.

However, the Austro-Hungarian government did not care about Russia's tougher attitude.Berchtold, who already has the right to speak in the government, believes that with the empty check issued by Kaiser Wilhelm II, the Russians will definitely be afraid of Germany, and it is impossible to join the war directly and decisively.

This represented a war between Austria-Hungary and Serbia that would only evolve into a small local war.

It is precisely because of this idea that under Berchtold's insistence, the Austro-Hungarian Empire did not withdraw the 48-hour ultimatum, and has been urging the Serbian government to give a reply on the ultimatum.

On July 1914, 7, Serbian Prime Minister Pašić rushed to the Austro-Hungarian Embassy in person with the Serbian government's reply.

The Serbian government's reply is full of wishful thinking and willingness to reconcile.Pašić explained to the Austro-Hungarian ambassador: "Serbia is ready to formally condemn all actions against the Austrians and asks Austria-Hungary not to violate Serbia's sovereignty. If Austria-Hungary is not satisfied with this outcome, Serbia is willing to accept a decision from the Hague Tribunal. arbitration."

Such responses drained the minds of Serbian government officials.Not only has it been repeatedly revised, because the only typewriter was broken by an exhausted secretary, resulting in this reply being handwritten by Prime Minister Pasic.

Moreover, the ministers of the Serbian government felt that they would be humiliated by going to the Austrian embassy with the answer, so they refused to go.

This also caused Pasic, who is the prime minister of the Serbian government, to be the messenger himself. Although Serbia is a small country, it is still very humiliating to do so.

Although the Serbian government's reply can be said to be full of sincerity, such a concession obviously cannot satisfy the appetite of the Austro-Hungarian government and Berchtold.

What's more, before the Serbian government replied, the Austro-Hungarian Empire had already mobilized troops to the Serbian border.

For the Austro-Hungarian Empire, there are only two acceptable conditions, either Serbia surrenders, or Serbia surrenders.

On July 1914, 7, after the 26-hour ultimatum of the Austro-Hungarian government expired, the whole of Europe fell into boundless silence.

William II understood that his firm position could no longer shake the determination of the Russians, and wanted to resolve this conflict through negotiations.

On the other side, the British also joined the mediation team, because such a sudden war is not a good thing for both sides.

But it is obvious that because of William II's long-term expression of a firm attitude towards the main battle, the German military and political ministers have already had an irresistible urge to war.

At this time, William II wanted to suppress it, which was already unrealistic.

The position of the British is obviously not good on the side of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Unless William II directly tells the Austro-Hungarian Empire to give up its actions, otherwise, the wheels of war of the Austro-Hungarian Empire will not stop.

But the problem is that William II can't suppress the main war faction in the country at this time. If William II unilaterally stops the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the prestige that William II has managed for a long time will be wiped out.

A monarch who is not firm in his position and jumps back and forth may even offend both the war faction and the peace faction.

The military mobilization of the Austro-Hungarian Empire has become more and more frequent. In response, Russia has also begun to mobilize troops to the border.

Finally, after two days of silence, on July 1914, 7, a full month after the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia.

In order to get the old emperor Joseph I, who was unwilling to see the war, to sign the declaration of war, Berchtold, who had already taken power in the government, even told a despicable lie.

"What's more, parts of the Serbian army are already attacking a detachment of the Imperial Royal Army in Temes-Kubin. If we don't act again, the heartland of the Austro-Hungarian Empire will be threatened."

It was this kind of lie that made Joseph I think that Serbia had initiated the war, so he decisively signed the declaration of war and provoked the war in the whole of Europe.

"Your Majesty, Your Majesty!"

In the early morning of July 7, the guards knocked on the door of Nicholas II's bedroom and reported the news that Nicholas II did not want to hear: "Minister Sazonov came to report that the Austro-Hungarian Empire has formally sent a report to Serbia. War is declared!"

For any country, the declaration of war is not a drama, but a notice of war issued to another country at the highest level of the country.

Once in a state of war, unless one side suffers irreparable losses, the war cannot end.

"Where are the others Sazonov?" Nicholas II quickly walked out within a few minutes and asked.

"Your Majesty, according to the information from the Serbian ambassador, the Austro-Hungarian Empire officially issued a war notice to Serbia this afternoon." Foreign Minister Sazonov, who had been waiting for a long time, stood up quickly and explained.

Although I don't want to hear such news, such a result has already been discussed within the Russian government.

Nicholas II ordered: "Inform Janushkovich and Sukhomlinov to start a general mobilization of the country immediately and mobilize more troops to the border."

Janushkovich is the chief of the Russian staff, while Sukhomlinov is the Russian minister of war.

Notifying these two men is equivalent to notifying all Russian troops.

The good news is that although Russia did not start national mobilization before, in order to prevent the possible declaration of war by the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Russia carried out partial mobilization in advance in the four military districts of Warsaw, Kiev, Odessa and Moscow.

The troops of these four military regions can just be dispatched to the border to protect Russia's border areas.

Germany actually received the news faster than Russia.Fortunately, before the Austro-Hungarian Empire decided to declare war, it had already notified the German government and William II, and obtained the support of the main war faction including William II.

On the German side, after learning that the Austro-Hungarian Empire had decided to declare war, it immediately and decisively issued a national general mobilization order.

July 1914, 7 was not a good day for Europe or even the whole world.

The day before, Austria-Hungary officially issued a war notice to Serbia.But today, Germany and Russia have successively announced national mobilization, and the war in Europe has begun.

No one thinks that the mobilization of Germany and Russia is just a bluff. The general mobilization of the whole country represents a large-scale war, and it also represents that the Allied and Entente powers have reached the moment of death.

On July 1914, 7, Germany asked Russia to immediately lift the war mobilization order, otherwise Germany would fulfill the covenant between the Austro-Hungarian Empire and join the war between the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Serbia.

Nicholas II naturally dismissed the demands of the Germans.

Germany and Russia announced the national mobilization order almost at the same time. Why does Germany ask Russia to lift the mobilization order, while your mobilization order is still in effect?

At the behest of Nicholas II, the Russian government made the same request to Germany as a counterattack to Germany.

At the moment when the two governments are confronting each other, Russia and Germany are already hyping up discourse against each other.

On the morning of July 1914, 7, the third day that the German general mobilization order came into effect.

Kaiser Wilhelm II convened an imperial council to determine whether Germany was ready for a state of war.

Obviously, the main combat faction with high morale confidently stated that the German army is ready for everything.

According to the report of the Minister of War Falkenhayn, if Germany can complete this military mobilization, Germany will have 380 million combat troops, 6000 artillery pieces, 4.5 machine guns, 132 aircraft, 130 military airships, 4000 vehicles and A large amount of military supplies and living supplies.

German Chief of Staff Moltke said: "The Imperial Army is ready. The sooner the war proceeds, the better. The General Staff already has a war plan. First, start on the Western Front, attack France through Belgium, defeat France in about six weeks, and then Go back and join forces with Austria-Hungary to defeat Russia. I have prepared a secret ultimatum to Belgium, and the army is always ready to march on Belgium."

William II still hesitated a little at this time. Although Germany had an advantage in the army, the German navy was obviously inferior to the United Kingdom.

However, the Minister of the Navy Tirpitz also gave an explanation: "Your Majesty, although the number of British naval ships far exceeds that of our country, its combat effectiveness is still inferior to that of our imperial navy. We can first use submarines to block British shipping and use cruisers to conduct guerrilla warfare at sea." Scattered, the main force of the British fleet consumes its forces. Just wait until you find an opportunity for a decisive battle, and you don’t have to worry about the large scale, but you have to disperse the British navy around the world.”

Only then did William II nod his head in reassurance, but he was still very concerned about the attitude of the British, and asked, "What is the attitude of the British so far?"

"Apart from the previous mediation, the British have not made any statement for the time being. According to news from Australasia, during a royal conversation between the UK and Australasia, King George V seemed to have mentioned that the upcoming war is In the four-nation war between Germany and Austria, France and Russia, Britain and Australia should try not to intervene in the war and remain neutral." Foreign Secretary Accord responded.

Prime Minister Bateman also said: "Your Majesty, I met with the British ambassador yesterday and proposed that if Britain remains neutral, our country will respect the integrity of French territory after defeating France, but the British ambassador refused. Interested actions, I guess there is a high probability that they will support France."

William II was not surprised, as if he had already thought of this situation, he nodded calmly.

"Your Majesty, we should remind the Austro-Hungarian Empire that after the start of the war, they should attack Russia with their main force, not Serbia." Seeing that the meeting was a little cold, Little Maoqi said hastily.

William II nodded: "Send a telegram to Joseph in my name, asking the Austro-Hungarian Empire to use its main force to fight against Russia, and not to divide its troops to attack Serbia at the same time. Such a decision will have extremely great strategic significance. In This will be especially important when a large part of our army is held in check by France. Serbia has only a secondary role to play in this vast war, against which it is only necessary to take defensive measures."

"What's the attitude of our ally Italy?" William II asked Prime Minister Bateman again.

Italy is one of the three major powers of the Allied Powers. Although the strength of the army is not very good, the size of the navy can be regarded as a certain level.

If Italy can be won to faithfully fulfill the Triple Alliance, it will be a good thing for Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

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(End of this chapter)