Chapter 13 The Night Before

On July 25, a few minutes before 6:00 p.m., the time limit in the Austrian note, Serbian Prime Minister Bašić personally submitted the reply of the Serbian political axe to the Austrian note to the Austrian envoy Gisr on time.

Austria-Hungary issued a mobilization order that night. At this time, the powers began to put forward various peace proposals. When these suggestions failed one by one, the next thing was the war. The Austrian envoy Gisir took the reply from Serbian Prime Minister Bašić, but did not reply to Bašić immediately, but just said.

"Your Excellency, please go back and wait for a moment, and our reply will come later. I need to compare it with the instructions given to me by our country's political axe before I can reply to you.

At this time, Gisir already knew that Serbia had issued a mobilization order, so he expected that the reply would not be completely satisfactory, so he had prepared a reply to Serbia before receiving the reply. Now you only need to take a quick look at Serbia's reply, and make sure that you haven't accepted all the requirements, you can announce that Osset has severed diplomatic relations.

Perhaps the Austrian side was already prepared. As soon as Bašici returned to the office of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, he received a note from Gisr, claiming: 'Now that the deadline has expired and I have not received a satisfactory reply, I hereby inform you that I and all the members of the Imperial Legation will leave Belgrade tonight. From the next moment, the severment of diplomatic relations between Osset will become a fait accompli. Gisle's action was so fast that he and his subordinates caught the train leaving Belgrade at 6:30. This is indeed the fastest record in the history of severing diplomatic relations.

After Gisle and his party left Belgrade, they crossed the border at Samlin at 6:40. Here, the railway telephone line had already been reserved for him according to prior arrangements. This was actually a very meticulous preparation by Berthatot, and the purpose was to know the reply of Serbia as soon as possible. Gisr first informed Hungarian Prime Minister Ticha in Budapest of the news, and Ticha immediately conveyed the news to Vienna.

Berchatot, Chairman of the Joint Conference of the Austro-Hungarian Cabinet, himself went to Ishre to attend the banquet of the Austrian Emperor Joseph to entertain the Duke and Duchess of Kemberland. Near noon, he received an emergency telegram from the Russian agent requesting an extension of the deadline, on the grounds that the major countries were too sudden about some things and did not have the opportunity to study the 'compilation of documents' proposed by the Austrian side on the Sarajevo incident, which was originally promised by Austria. However, Berchatot replied that he could not extend the deadline. However, he added that even if diplomatic relations with Serbia are cut off, as long as Serbia fully accepts the request of Austria in the future, it can still get a peaceful solution. However, if this is the case, the Austrian side wants Serbia to compensate the Austrian country for its spending on military preparations. It can be seen that after severing relations with Serbia, Austria-Hungary must have taken military measures against Serbia.

In the evening, Berchatot waited uneasily for the news in the back hall of Emperor Isreal, and then went outside to breathe some new air. By 7:30, the phone rang. Count Kinsky transmitted the information he received in Vienna to Ixle:

The minister of Gisl called Budapest from Samlin: at 6 p.m., when he owed Li Fen, the reply was sent; because he was dissatisfied with certain points, Baron Gisl had broken ties with Serbia and left the place. At 3 p.m., Serbia had ordered mobilization. The political axe and diplomatic corps have moved to Kraguyefa.

Baron Maguti wrote the message on a piece of paper and ran to Joseph. The old man shuddered with a note in his hand and fell into the chair. He coughed for a long time before he spoke:

"This happened after all!"

It seems that he has always hoped and believed that this kind of broken column can be avoided. Then, he stared at the note absent-mindedly and muttered to himself:

"Well, severing diplomatic relations is not necessarily a war."

So, the Austrian Emperor immediately summoned Berchatot to have a secret talk.

Before receiving the meeting, Ticha, Conrad and the Austrian ambassadors in Berlin all strongly suggested to Berchart that Austria should order mobilization immediately, and any delay or hesitation would be regarded as a sign of weakness, thus increasing the possibility of Russian intervention.

It was for these reasons that Berthatot used the necessary surname to immediately order part of the mobilization, and in the end, the old king was soon persuaded.

At 9:53 p.m. on July 25, the Olympic Emperor issued an order to the General Staff Headquarters to implement mobilization immediately, stipulating that 27 days is the "police" and 28 days are the first day of actual mobilization.

The task of the Austrian General Staff is very difficult. If there is only a war with Serbia and Montenegro, then the problem is very simple. It is estimated that Austria only needs to mobilize half of its troops - including 8 regiments of 20 infantry divisions - to quickly defeat 12 infantry divisions in Serbia and 4 infantry divisions in Negoro. But if Russia participates in the war, whether before, at the same time, or after Serbia, then Austria must devote the vast majority of its troops to Galicia, the main battlefield in the northeast, leaving only as few troops as possible in the Balkans. The fate of Serbia will be determined by the outcome of the war against Russia. Moreover, Germany asked Austria to send troops to deal with Russia as much as possible to reduce Russia's pressure on eastern Germany, so that Germany could concentrate on defeating France in the west.

Conrad and Berchatot are not sure whether Russia will intervene from it. Of course, they don't want Russia to intervene, because the war between Austria and Serbia can be "localized." However, Russia's threat cannot be ignored. To this end, Conrad drew up a mobilization plan to divide the Austrian [***] team into four groups: (1) a Balkan group as few as possible, including three armies: the 15th and 16th armies in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the 13th army in Agolan; (2) one to deal with Russia and If necessary, also deal with the eight army groups of Romania: the 1st Army in Krako, the 10th Army in Promisle, the 11th Army in the raisbourg, and the 12th Army in Hemanstad, which are near the northeastern border; the 2nd Army in Vienna, the 5th Army in Plaisburg, and the 14th in Kasho. 6 Army Group, and the 14th Army of Yinsbluk; (3) A dual-use 4th Army Group: the 4th Army of Budapest, the 7th Army of Tesfa, the 8th Army of Prague, and the 9th Army of Limasz. These are used to deal with Serbia or Russia. If they only fight against Serbia, when the first group attacks Serbia from the west, this group will push from the north to the Danube to attack Belgrade and Serbia; but if Russia goes to war before fighting on the Danube, it can turn the north. Galicia fighters; (4) The 3rd Army in Grazi, as a reserve force, can be used against Serbia or Russia. This strategic arrangement can mobilize half of the Austrian army without mobilizing any army near the Russian border, thus avoiding any excuse to panic Russia.

In this way, Conrad ordered the mobilization of troops including the above (1)(3)(4) on the evening of July 25.

I don't know whether the two countries moved too fast or the reaction of the major powers was too slow. Under the condition that Osset had severed diplomatic relations and mobilized in their respective countries, the major powers began to put forward various peace proposals.

British Secretary of State Gray suggested a direct meeting between Austria and Russia, but was rejected by the French president, who he thought was too dangerous.

Then, the British, French and Russian allied countries requested Austria to extend the period. However, Osse has severed diplomatic relations and announced mobilization, which is not only a request, but also difficult for Austria to accept.

Then, Gray suggested mediation between Austria and Russia. Although Germany agreed, France did not respond positively, and the Russian ambassador did not agree, because he was afraid that it would affect the unity between the Allied states.

Gray also proposed to convene a meeting of ambassadors from Germany, Austria, Russia and France, but was rejected by Germany. Later, at the suggestion of the German ambassador to Russia, Austria and Russia met directly, but no progress was made.

At that time, it took several hours for telegrams to come and go, and the situation changed rapidly. Therefore, after the peace proposals were put forward, it was only possible for countries to accept them immediately. However, at that time, except for Britain and Italy, countries rejected or shite each peace proposal for various reasons, so that the peace proposals failed one by one.

At a time when science and technology were not very developed, communication between adversaries, intervention and mediation of the international community and other ways to deal with the crisis were difficult to play their due role. Therefore, crisis often becomes the prelude to war, and mobilization becomes the rehearsal of war. At this point, it seems that war is inevitable.

"War! War!"

After receiving the report from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, he easily exhaled smoke and half-closed his eyes. Chen Moran sighed all this in his heart.

Yu Guang saw another document from the Admiralty on the table and smiled in his heart. The fleet had arrived in German East Africa for a "visit". The fleet could mobilize more than 2,000 armed sailors to ashore at any time. The rest was very simple. The country could easily obtain German East Africa without even sending troops. With Germany After belonging to East Africa, it means that China has a foothold in the Indian Ocean. Only in this way can it compete for its own interests in Africa like other powers... There is also the South Pacific and the Middle East occupied by Ottoman Turkey in the future. After this battle, there is only one real winner, which is China!

"There is only one question left, how to tell the country at that time!"

He clicked his finger on the table. Although everything had not happened yet, Chen Moran had to think about it. But if the navy "made its own initiative" to carry out operations in German East Africa and William's territory, what kind of storms will be set off in China, not only the Congress will oppose it, but also the army... "It seems that..."

(to be continued)