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 .,V" 
 
 
 
THE INSIDE STORY OF 
 AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 
 
The Inside Story 
 of Austro- German Intrigue 
 
 or 
 
 How the World War Was 
 Brought About 
 
 By 
 JOSEPH GORICAR 
 
 Formerly of the Austro-Hungarian Foreign Service 
 And 
 
 LYMAN BEECHER STOWE 
 
 Garden City New York 
 
 DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & COMPANY 
 
 1920 
 

 COPYRIGHT, 1920, BY 
 
 DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & COMPANY 
 
 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED, INCLUDING THAT OF 
 
 TRANSLATION INTO FOREIGN LANGUAGES, 
 
 INCLUDING THE SCANDINAVIAN 
 
 MAK 24 1920 
 
 ©CLA566184 
 
PUBLISHERS' NOTE 
 
 All the facts in this book were supplied by Doctor 
 Goricar who also wrote the original version of the text. 
 This text was then largely rewritten, and put into its 
 present form, by Mr. Stowe. Since, however, the in- 
 formation, experiences, and arguments are Doctor 
 Goricar's, it has seemed best to use the first personal 
 pronoun in spite of the dual authorship of the book. 
 
 The Publishers. 
 
AUTHORS' PREFACE 
 
 The evidence presented in this book was gathered in 
 the course of Doctor Goricar's fourteen years' service 
 as a foreign representative of the Austro-Hungarian 
 Empire. It demonstrates, we beHeve, that the Central 
 Empires deliberately brought about the war — planned 
 it, prepared for it, wanted it, and feared only one thing 
 — that they would not get it. Why? Their aim was a 
 new division of the earth — a redistribution of the eco- 
 nomic wealth of the world. What other nations had 
 they coveted — and proposed to take by the sword. 
 
 How was this to be brought about? By the creation 
 of an invincible Mittel Europa, separating Eastern 
 Europe from the Western nations. 
 
 Concretely, the plan called for the conquest of Con- 
 stantinople, the "cornerstone of the earth," the taking 
 over of the heirloom of Turkey, and thereby the land 
 and sea routes to Egypt, India, and Oceania. 
 
 The first feature of this programme was the weakening 
 of Russia. Only a feeble Russia would permit herself 
 to be shut off from the open sea to the south. Such 
 weakening could be effected by conquest and partition 
 only. This accomplished, the final denouement would 
 be the domination of Africa with all its resources, and 
 this overwhelming predominance would bring in its train 
 the over-lordship of Australia and South America. 
 
 The first step was to be a surprise attack on Serbia 
 and Russia. Being unable to find — even after long 
 
viii AUTHORS' PREFACE 
 
 search — any justifiable pretext for war, the Central 
 Empires, over a series of years, notably in 1908, 1909, 
 1912, 1913, and 1914, fabricated pretexts. If they had 
 not found, in the assassination of the Archduke Francis 
 Ferdinand, a most convenient excuse for war, the Foreign 
 Office in Vienna would have continued its machinations 
 against Serbia and Russia until it had succeeded in 
 creating a casus belli. To unmask the plots of the 
 Foreign Office at Vienna and show how it was the ad- 
 vance agent of Berlin in this grandiose scheme for 
 world domination is the purpose of this book. 
 
 Fortunately, men and parties, in fact all the plotters 
 and preachers of war against Serbia and Russia, have 
 convicted themselves out of their own mouths. The 
 authors have throughout allowed the conspirators to 
 expose themselves, while they have sought to furnish 
 the setting and atmosphere by giving occasional 
 glimpses of the great stage on which the World War 
 was rehearsed. 
 
 Joseph Goricar. 
 Lyman Beecher Stowe. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Introduction. By Albert Bushnell Hart ... xi 
 
 CHAPTER 
 
 I. The Coming to Power of the Austro-German 
 War Parties, 1906-1909— Their First Plot to 
 Create a Pretext for War Against Serbia and 
 Russia 3 
 
 II. The Second Attempt of Austro-German Di- 
 plomacy to Precipitate European War, 1909 
 — How the War Plots Were Unmasked . . 28 
 
 III. Austro-German Plans for the Conquest and 
 
 Partition of Russia — Bismarck Effectively 
 Opposes These Plans 49 
 
 IV. The Ofener Hofburg War Conference, October, 
 
 1912 — Bethmann-Hollweg Commits Ger- 
 many to War, December, 1912 . . . 72 
 
 V. Count Berchtold, Aehrenthal's Understudy, 
 Concocts the Notorious Prochaska Affair — 
 How the Third Attempt to Start the War 
 Failed 100 
 
 VI. Berchtold's Albanian Comedy — Prince Hohen- 
 
 lohe's Mission to the Czar 130 
 
 VII. Bethmann-Hollweg Predicts War Between 
 "Germandom and Slavdom," April, 1913 — 
 Austria's Ultimatum to Montenegro . . 147 
 
X CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER PAGE 
 
 VIII. Tisza, Austria-Hungary's Man of "Blood and 
 Iron," Comes to Power, June, 1913 — Austria- 
 Hungary Urges Italy to Join the Central 
 Empires in European War, August, 1913 . 167 
 
 IX. Emperor Francis Joseph Pronounces World 
 War Inevitable, May, 1914 — Tisza Counts 
 on Half the German Army for War Against 
 Russia, March, 1914 183 
 
 X. Austria Selects Albania as the Cradle for the 
 World War — The Recruiting of Volunteers for 
 War in Albania, June, 1914 204 
 
 XL Count Tisza Constructs a Casus Belli Out of the 
 Archduke's Murder — The Final Conference 
 Between the Arch-plotters of the World 
 War — Kaiser Wilhelm, Archduke Francis 
 Ferdinand,and Grand Admiral Von Tirpitz . 216 
 
 XII. The Military Chiefs Assume Complete Control 
 of iVustro-German Foreign Affairs — Count 
 Forgach's Confession Explodes Theory of So- 
 called "Critical Days" of World War . . 230 
 
 XIII. Russian Mobilization as the Cause of the War 
 
 — A Glimpse Behind the Scenes in Berlin 
 During the First Three Months of the War . 245 
 
 XIV. Mobilizing Half a Million Men in America- 
 
 How the Austro-Hungarian Consulates Sec- 
 retly Raised an Army Behind America's Back 266 
 
 XV. The United States of Slavia— A Prerequisite 
 
 for a United States of Europe 274 
 
 Appendix 295 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 The history of a great war is never written while it 
 goes on or in the decades immediately following. Ar- 
 chives are closed, the memoirs and private papers of 
 participants are not revealed, the parties most inter- 
 ested try to throw a cloud about the causes, origin, and 
 progress of the contest. We are only now beginning 
 to understand the Crimean War of 1854, and are still 
 in grave doubt as to the responsibility for war and 
 peace in the struggle between Japan and China of 
 1904-05. 
 
 The World War has proved an exception, for we al- 
 ready know enough of the intimate reasons for the ac- 
 tion of most of the great powers for a judgment on the 
 ultimate responsibility, and even on the details of the 
 period immediately preceding hostilities. Conquest 
 and revolution have laid bare the written records. 
 Generals and statesmen, in bickering with each other 
 and trying to throw off unpleasant responsibilities, 
 have furnished the evidence for their own condemna- 
 tion. From month to month the tide of materials 
 rises till mankind is at last able to pillory the sover- 
 eigns, the leading statesmen, and military chiefs of 
 Germany and Austria-Hungary, as the authors of this 
 terrific world woe and the unscrupulous engineers who, 
 for the salvation of mankind, were at last "hoist with 
 their own petard." 
 
xii INTRODUCTION 
 
 To make available for the public some of the accu- 
 mulating knowledge with regard to the personal and 
 national responsibility for the war is one of the pur- 
 poses of Doctor Goricar. He has made himself master 
 of many of the self-revealing books, articles, and 
 speeches of the chief actors in the pre-war period. 
 He has also made a personal contribution, drawn from 
 his own experiences, on the official duties of the for- 
 eign representatives and agents of Austria-Hungary. 
 He is aided by acquaintance with public men who 
 helped to frame the great decisions, and by intimate 
 knowledge of the situation and aspirations of the mem- 
 bers of the mighty Slav race. 
 
 This book is therefore much more than a vivid state- 
 ment of facts already known or surmised; it is a direct 
 contribution of new views based on materials hitherto 
 not accessible even to historical searchers. Every 
 reader will feel that it is a living record of the conclu- 
 sions of a man who has for years been in the thick of the 
 complications and intrigues which he describes. It is a 
 human document. 
 
 A few words should therefore be said as to the per- 
 sonality of the writer. Doctor Goricar is a Slovene; 
 one of the few Slavs who were admitted by the German 
 and Magyar heads of the foreign and commercial 
 offices of Austria-Hungary to positions of responsibil- 
 ity; a man of education, a man of spirit, a man of 
 skill in consular affairs. Yet he could not descend to 
 be the tool of those who employed him. After long 
 service in consulates in many widely scattered places, 
 including Belgrade, he was found so impracticable that 
 he was finally transferred to the United States as a kind 
 
INTRODUCTION xiii 
 
 of punishment. In this new capacity he became aware of 
 the system of keeping the official record of Aiistro- 
 Hungarians in the United States who would be needed 
 when the great war came. Just before the struggle 
 began he returned to Europe and soon left the service 
 of Austria-Hungary forever. The most vital part of 
 this book is made possible by his wide experience in 
 many lands and his connection with public men who 
 sometimes told him momentous truths. 
 
 Not the least service is the revelation of the by-ways 
 of diplomacy and influence habitually used by the 
 Austro-Hungarian Foreign Office. The book abounds 
 in incidents and conversations which show us the web 
 of intrigue — the hired newspapers, the forged documents, 
 the artificial treason trials, the invention of outrages 
 upon Austrian officials in other lands. Without under- 
 taking a systematic account of the methods of Aus- 
 trian diplomacy, the book in every chapter discloses 
 a secret, deceptive, and prejudiced habit of mind from 
 which would spring nothing but harm to other nations 
 and eventual ruin to the Hapsburg Empire. 
 
 Doctor Goricar accepts as a fact the complicated and 
 autocratic system of government in the former Austro- 
 Hungarian Empire and its historical background; the 
 narrative shuttles to and fro from Vienna to Buda- 
 pest, just as the combinations of the policies of Germans 
 and Magyars have oscillated. As a Slav, caught in the 
 cogs of this machinery, his sympathies are always with 
 that depressed portion of the population of the former 
 empire. To appreciate his book one must keep in 
 mind the fundamentals of the mighty structure which 
 has now crumbled into fragments. The approach to 
 
xiv INTRODUCTION 
 
 the war tragedy brings out the main elements in the 
 strength and weakness of Austria-Hungary. 
 
 In the first place, it has been a frontier land, set 
 upon the easternmost edge of Roman Catholic Europe. 
 In the second place, it has for ages been hemmed in 
 between the Teuton, the Slav and the Turk, against 
 whom it was a bulwark of Christendom. In the third 
 place, it is made up of two central units, Austria with 
 a population of 10,000,000 Germans (also 2,000,000 
 in Hungary), and Hungary with a population of 
 10,000,000 Magyars. Each of these units dominated 
 a section of the Dual Empire, in which there was a 
 Slav population of 17,000,000 in Austria and (with the 
 addition of Bosnia and Herzegovina which were not 
 strictly within the ofiicial boundary) 10,000,000 in 
 Hungary; Rumanians, Italians, and some smaller ele- 
 ments added about 3,500,000 more, mostly in the 
 Hungarian section, making the total of the Empire 
 about 51,500,000 in 1910. From these figures it will 
 be seen that the Slavs were in the majority in the Em- 
 pire, and also in each half of the Empire. Yet such 
 intelligent and capable people as the Bohemians, 
 the Galician Poles, and the Croatians were submerged 
 by minorities, and compelled to accept domestic and 
 foreign policies contrary to their interests and certain 
 to lead to foreign war. 
 
 Another element of the problem was the "Drang 
 nach Osten,"^ which was the sequel of the long wars 
 with Turkey, and which made Austria a focus of in- 
 trigue and disturbance in the Balkans and eventually 
 the enemy and obstacle of Russia. The Government 
 of the Empire, notwithstanding the existence of elec- 
 
INTRODUCTION x^ 
 
 tive parliaments, was practically in the hands of the 
 hereditary nobility of Austria and of Hungary, acting 
 through the governmental machine centred in Vienna 
 in the person of the aged emperor, Francis Joseph, a 
 machine usually called "The Monarchy." 
 
 No one is more alive to the weakness, covetousness, 
 and profligacy of that government than Doctor Goricar, 
 for he views it from within. His theme, however, is 
 not so much a discussion of the faults of the Empire 
 as an examination of three fundamental questions: 
 (1) The criminal policy which it pursued in foreign 
 affairs, including the partnership with Germany in a 
 far-reaching plan of conquest and spoliation; (2) The 
 enmity alike of Germans and Magyars to the Slavs, 
 whether within or without their empire; and (3) The de- 
 liberate bringing on of the Great War to serve the 
 arrogance and ambition of the ruling classes. 
 
 I. The first of these three lines of treatment is based 
 upon the belief that for many years Austria-Hungary 
 and Germany have been conspiring to bring about a 
 war to despoil Russia of territory and wealth and at the 
 same time to make impossible a Pan-Slav union. 
 Doctor Goricar goes back to 1854 to show that Germany 
 was at that time engaged in such a policy. In that 
 period, when Prussia and Austria were rivals, drifting 
 into a war for supremacy in Central Europe, it is hard 
 to believe that they were also co-conspirators watching 
 the opportunity for an eastern war. It is, however, 
 undeniable that in 1878 Germany came to the rescue of 
 the Austrian cause, gave to Austria a right of occupa- 
 tion which was expected to lead to annexation in Bosnia 
 and Herzegovina, and pried Russia away from Turkey. 
 
xvi. INTRODUCTION 
 
 This was followed by the break up of the Drei Kaiser 
 Allianz; and in 1882 came the Triple Alliance with 
 Russia outside and Italy inside. From that time it is 
 undeniable that the two Central Powers had a common 
 policy hostile to Russia; and that this pressure led Rus- 
 sia to direct alliance with France and indirect alliance 
 with Great Britain, thus constituting the Triple En- 
 tente. 
 
 How far the combination of the two powers aimed at 
 the violent destruction of the Russian Empire it is 
 hard to say. The direct evidence of Doctor Goricar 
 makes clear that prime ministers and foreign ministers 
 and emperors looked that way. We have abundant 
 proofs from other sources furnished by the lurid argu- 
 ments of the Pan-Germanists who were always talking 
 about the fertile lands and commercial opportunities 
 of western Russia. Doctor Goricar sees only aggression 
 and fraud on the side of Germany and Austria; and 
 good temper, love of peace, and a spirit of concession 
 on the side of Russia. Perhaps the colours are too 
 strong in both of these pictures. What the book in- 
 disputably shows is that in 1908-09, and again in 
 1913, the Austrians were for war and the Germans 
 were right behind them. He makes it clear that the 
 World War was postponed from time to time because 
 of the rush of new conditions brought about by the revo- 
 lution in Turkey, the Balkan wars, and the interference 
 of western European powers which, however, he seems 
 to consider was a minor element. 
 
 II. The argument that the war was in essence anti- 
 Slav is put with the fire and earnestness of a member of 
 that gifted and distressed race. The book adds much 
 
INTRODUCTION xvii 
 
 to the volume of evidence showing the unpleasant 
 effect on the Dual Empire of the unexjDected victory of 
 the Slavs against Turkey in the War of 1912. He rightly 
 includes the Bulgars as essentially a Slav people. 
 Emperor William increased the German army because 
 of the new possibility of a capable Slav military force 
 in the Balkans. The Serbs raised their heads proudly, 
 and the neighbouring Slovenes and Croats and Bos- 
 nians were aroused to a new sense of their degradation 
 in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. From the point 
 of view of the Magyar and the German such race and 
 national elation was treasonable. As a matter of fact. 
 Doctor Goricar makes it clear enough that they did 
 not desire to be Serbs, but were simply on the watch 
 for the opportunity to be free. No American who ac- 
 cepts the principles of his own government can fail to 
 sympathize with that desire and to feel that the re- 
 pression practised by the Austro-Hungarian Govern- 
 ment and the sympathy of Germany were contrary to 
 justice and the interests of mankind. Nor can any 
 American be indifferent to the picture of a future Slav 
 federation inspired by our own success. 
 
 III. The book was not written primarily to inves- 
 tigate the causes of the World War, but it throws a 
 searchlight on the whole matter by its inside history of 
 the events of the half dozen years preceding the war. 
 The absorbing narrative places before the reader in 
 quick succession the proof that the German Court, 
 the high officials of the Foreign Office, the general staffs 
 of army and navy, had a complete understanding with 
 the Austro-Hungarians confirmed by frequent meet- 
 ings and joint plans of action. The whole narrative 
 
xviii INTRODUCTION 
 
 converges upon the decision of Austria to smash Ser- 
 bia for the unpardonable crime of showing to the world 
 that men of the Serb race could combine, organize, and 
 fight. 
 
 That decision was reached long before the assassina- 
 tion of the heir to the Imperial throne. It was backed 
 up by the Germans from point to point. The dispatches 
 printed in the appendices make it clear that the pre- 
 tences of the German officials, that they were not aware 
 of the text of the Austrian ultimatum as it was actually 
 presented, were clumsy lies. It is further proved be- 
 yond question that the cry about Russian mobilization 
 was a camouflage. War was determined on; and it 
 only remained, if possible, to put up some kind of paste- 
 board excuse which would keep Great Britain out of the 
 struggle. 
 
 With all the conclusions of Doctor Goricar the reader 
 may not agree. That the book is a valuable contribu- 
 tion to the history of the rivalries and intrigues which 
 preceded the war is certain. The lively style, the inter- 
 est of the narrative, the personal touch, make it one of 
 the essential books on the period. It also points out 
 to the world the inevitable results of attempts to sup- 
 press minority races in an empire, and of the destruc- 
 tion of truth, honour, and human sympathy which come 
 from a selfish, secret, and lying diplomacy. 
 
 Albert Bushnell Hart. 
 
THE INSIDE STORY OF 
 AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 
 
THE INSIDE STORY OF AUSTRO- 
 GERMAN INTRIGUE 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 The Coming to Power of the Austro-German 
 War Parties, 1906-09 
 
 their first plot to create a pretext for war 
 against serbia and russia 
 
 1WAS Acting Consul General of Austria-Hungary 
 at Odessa, watching the slowly gathering forces 
 of the Russian Revolution which were to cul- 
 minate a decade later when in October, 1906, 
 Baron Lexa von Aehrenthal became Minister 
 of Foreign Affairs of the Dual Monarchy. This 
 was the crowning triumph of a long, ambitious, 
 and arduous career. It placed Baron Aehrenthal 
 practically at the helm of the Ship of State. In 
 Austria the very existence of the monarchy and 
 dynasty was dependent upon alliances with foreign 
 powers. Hence the Minister of Foreign Affairs 
 came to be in fact, if not in name, the head of 
 the Government. Aehrenthal, both in personal 
 characteristics and in antecedents, was typical 
 of the modern type of Austrian diplomat. Through 
 
4 THE INSIDE STORY OF 
 
 his Jewish father he was affihated with "Big 
 Business"; through his mother, with the great land 
 junkers of Bohemia. As a Slav I viewed his taking 
 the helm with misgivings and even dread. He had 
 been for ten years Ambassador to Russia. During 
 this time he had become known in the inner circles 
 of diplomacy as the chief alarmist regarding Pan- 
 Slavism. With him it was a fetish, an obsession. 
 Aehrenthal now became at once the foremost 
 exponent of a plan which represented the revival 
 of the youthful ambition of his aged emperor and 
 which always came to the fore whenever Russia 
 showed signs of weakness. This plan aimed at 
 the conquest and partition of Russia with the aid 
 of Germany as explained in a subsequent chap- 
 ter. Thus was Austria to be strengthened both 
 internally and externally and the Hapsburg throne 
 given a firmer foundation. The plan, originated 
 in 1854 during the Crimean War, had several times 
 been laid before Bismarck, but each time he re- 
 fused, as we shall see, to back it. It had been 
 brought up again as recently as 1904-05 when 
 Russia was weakened from her war with Japan. 
 This time Kaiser Wilhelm refused the bait because, 
 taking advantage of Russia's temporarily impotent 
 condition, he had extorted from her a commercial 
 treaty the terms of which were so ruinous to Russia 
 and so favourable to Germany as in a sense to 
 make Germany the real victor in the Russo- 
 Japanese War. 
 
AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 5 
 
 During the decade in which Aehrenthal was 
 Ambassador to Russia he had made himself, as 
 has been said, the greatest alarmist regarding the 
 so-called Pan-Slav menace. Through the diplo- 
 matic and military spy system, which he developed 
 to a degree undreamt of by the Czar's government, 
 he became intimately acquainted with Russia's 
 resources, potentialities, available equipment, and 
 weaknesses. Finally came the Russo-Japanese 
 War, with the defeat of Russia. Aehrenthal be- 
 came convinced that Russia was now weak enough 
 to be defeated by the combined armies of Austria 
 and Germany, provided the blow could be struck 
 before she had time fully to recuperate. From 
 this time it became his consuming passion to pre- 
 cipitate a war with Russia. 
 
 Upon Aehrenthal's accession to the Foreign 
 OflSce in 1906, his scheme was adopted with avidity 
 by a powerful Court camarilla and at the Ball- 
 platz, and received also the sanction and the patron- 
 age of no less a personage than the heir to the 
 throne, the Archduke Francis Ferdinand. The 
 plan, however, was useless unless the unqualified 
 support of the German Kaiser and his army 
 could be secured, as is evident from what follows. 
 The Kaiser gave it his instant and whole-hearted 
 approval and agreed to back it to the limit with 
 his vast military resources. 
 
 It is now easily seen why the Kaiser's backing 
 was so readily secured. The Pan-German and 
 
6 THE INSIDE STORY OP 
 
 "Mittel-Europa" ideas required the crushing of 
 Russia for their reahzation. The Balkan Peninsula 
 was the backbone of the proposed Central Euro- 
 pean Empire. The Balkan States must either 
 become the creatures of Berlin or they must be 
 crushed. A strong and united Russia would never 
 allow her small racial kinsfolk either to be absorbed 
 or crushed by Austria or Germany. Therefore 
 the crushing and partitioning of Russia were as 
 essential to the grandiose Pan-German scheme 
 fathered by the Kaiser as it was to the Austrian 
 plan originated, or more properly revived, by 
 Aehrenthal and fathered by the Archduke Francis 
 Ferdinand. The war was to be brought about 
 by picking a quarrel with little Serbia and then 
 proceeding to crush her. This would, of course, 
 bring Russia to her rescue and the real war would 
 begin. This war would be fought with Russia, 
 France, and Serbia on one side, and Germany, 
 Austria, Turkey, and perhaps one of the other 
 Balkan States on the other. Provided such a war 
 was started before Russia recovered from the Russo- 
 Japanese War, the outcome could not be doubted. 
 Not more than six months after the close of the 
 Russo-Japanese War the Croato-Serb coalition 
 came into being. On October 4, 1905, forty 
 deputies of the Diet of Croatia met at Rieka 
 (Fiume) and adopted a resolution, since known 
 as the Fiume Resolution, in which they laid down as 
 a general political axiom the following principle: 
 
AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 7 
 
 "Every nation has the right to decide freely and 
 independently concerning its existence and its 
 fate." This resolution was promptly endorsed 
 by the twenty-six Serb deputies of Croatia, meet- 
 ing on October 16, 1905, at Zadar (Zara), Dalmatia. 
 The soul of this movement was the Dalmatian pa- 
 triot, Franjo Supilo. 
 
 Thus came to a close the long artificially stim- 
 ulated hostility between Serb and Croat, and a 
 new era, which menaced the intolerant dominance 
 of the Austro-Magyar overlords, dawned. The 
 Fiume Resolution created almost a panic of wrath- 
 ful alarm at the Court and among the great nobles 
 and the land junkers. This furnished fuel to 
 Aehrenthal's fire. The war that he planned was 
 to cure all internal ills and to keep the subject 
 peoples where they belonged — under the heels 
 of the ruling Germans of Austria and Magyars 
 of Hungary. 
 
 Before he had been in ofiice two months Aeh- 
 renthal ordered me transferred from the Odessa 
 Consulate to that of Belgrade, the capital of Serbia. 
 As a Jugoslav, speaking Serbian and intimately 
 acquainted with both Russian and Balkan con- 
 ditions, he apparently thought I could be useful 
 to him in connection with his new Russian and 
 Balkan policies. Accordingly, I was appointed 
 Vice-Consul at Belgrade. It was my eighth post; 
 I had served previously in Vienna, then Paris, 
 Berlin, Bucharest, Jassy, Constanza, and Odessa. 
 
8 THE INSIDE STORY OF 
 
 It was a bitterly cold morning of mid-winter 
 when I left my mountain valley home in Styria 
 in the Austrian Alps to go to my new post. It was 
 still dark as my sled found its way through the 
 narrow gorges along the river, but when we came 
 out into the broad valleys the Alps in their white 
 mantle of snow lay before us, serene and majestic. 
 I took the train from the old Roman town of 
 Claudia Celeja, named for the Emperor Claudius 
 and long the home of the redoubtable Counts of 
 Celje, to go through Zagreb by the shortest route 
 to Belgrade. My journey through the realms 
 of Francis Joseph gave me ample time for reflec- 
 tion. Before reaching my destination I had to 
 change trains no less than nine times. It was part 
 of the policy of the Hungarian Government toward 
 the Slavic province of Croatia to allow no through 
 trains and to oblige all lines to converge in Buda- 
 pest. All travellers from Trieste, Fiume, Dalmatia, 
 or Bosnia, or in fact from any point in the southwest- 
 ern portions of the monarchy, were hence obliged 
 to go first to Budapest, no matter what their desti- 
 nation. In my case this was very much as it would 
 be had one to go first to Chicago in order to reach 
 New York from Washington, D. C. Half frozen 
 though I was from long hours on ill-heated trains, 
 as I approached my destination I was thrilled as 
 always at the prospect of new problems to face 
 and a new country to learn. Before leaving Russia 
 I had discovered that our new government had 
 
AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 9 
 
 already begun to sow there the seeds of sedition 
 and to add fuel to the revolutionary flames. I 
 felt that our policy in Serbia would be at least as 
 unfriendly. 
 
 I reflected with whimsical amusement that, were 
 our Foreign Ofiice familiar with the events of my 
 early youth and training and the lasting impres- 
 sions they had made upon my mind and heart, 
 they might not have been so sure of my suitability 
 for this particular mission at this critical time. 
 
 As I reviewed my early youth I realized that 
 there were three events in particular which had 
 made a lasting impression upon my life. The 
 first was a small Sokol tournament in a little 
 village in southern Styria, the birthplace of my 
 mother. The Sokol is a society among the South- 
 ern or Jugoslavs which seeks to stimulate national 
 pride and consciousness by means of athletic 
 contests. As a boy I came to see this tournament 
 on foot over mountain passes, and through pine 
 forests. I was never so thrilled as when I saw my 
 eldest brother march with the Sokols dressed as 
 they were in snugly fitting drab uniforms, the coat 
 hanging loosely over the shoulder to show the red 
 shirt beneath. They went through their exercises 
 on the drill ground with a skill and rhythm that 
 would have done credit to the best-drifled soldiers. 
 When I heard the speaker at the end of the meet 
 say that all, old and young, must stand together 
 to defend the sacred rights of our Slav nation, I 
 
10 THE INSIDE STORY OF 
 
 was moved to tears. From that time I realized 
 that I belonged to an oppressed people, and to do 
 my part in the winning of our national rights has 
 been the task nearest to my heart ever since. 
 
 The second event which lastingly impressed me 
 was the reading of a novel given me by my mother 
 and written by her brother, Dr. Joseph Vosnjak. 
 It was called: "Pobratimi," that is, "Brothers" — 
 not brothers by blood but brothers bound together 
 by a secret oath performed by mixing their blood 
 and solemnly swearing to stand together through- 
 out life for the highest ideals of their people and 
 against all oppressors. The book depicted the epic 
 struggle of my race against the German oppressors 
 and made a profound impression upon me. 
 
 The third such event occurred when my 
 father brought me to Celje, farther down the 
 river on which was my birthplace, to enter the 
 gymnasium there. Perched like an eagle's nest 
 upon a high cliff overlooking the town were the 
 ruins of the mediaeval castle of the once-mighty 
 Counts of Celje, the battlements of which had for 
 centuries stood as a rampart against Turks and 
 Germans alike. This was a wonderful, an inspir- 
 ing sight to a mountain boy, but oh! the chagrin 
 and disappointment when we were told that I could 
 not enter the school because I did not know German, 
 and the Government did not allow higher education 
 in the Slovene language! Keenly as we felt our 
 impotence my father and I were never drawn more 
 
AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 11 
 
 closely together than when this blow fell upon us. 
 Such is, I believe, the efifect of oppression the world 
 over. These were the three decisive events of my 
 early youth. 
 
 After losing a year in learning German I finally 
 entered the gymnasium. When I learned that 
 the Slavs in Austria were numerically superior 
 to the Germans and Magyars and the other races, 
 and that beyond our borders they occupied a 
 territory extending from the Adriatic to the Black 
 Sea, from East Germany to the Pacific, and when 
 I heard of our long record of fine achievement, 
 both in peace and war, my blood boiled at the 
 insulting effrontery of the Germans and Magyars 
 in always referring to us as an inferior race. When 
 the school authorities discovered that we students 
 of the so-called inferior race had formed a secret 
 alliance of opposition and defiance toward all who 
 slighted and belittled our race, and that we were 
 learning Russian in secret, they notified a number 
 of us that our presence was no longer desired. 
 Thus, in the eighth year of my studies, I was obliged 
 to leave. Only through the insistence of my uncle, 
 the author of "Pobratimi," was I finally allowed 
 to take the matura, or final examinations, in a 
 Slovene town of Carniola, 
 
 In 1895 I entered the University of Graz to 
 study law. Shortly thereafter, by order of the 
 Vice-Governor, I was dragged from my studies and 
 pressed into the army as a private to serve for 
 
n THE INSIDE STORY OF 
 
 three years. My education entitled me to military 
 service of one year only and after that to enter the 
 school for reserve officers. Another uncle, Michael 
 Vosnjak, for twenty years a member of Parliament 
 and the organizer of the great cooperative banking 
 system of Slovenia, vigorously intervened in my 
 behalf and finally my military rights were grudg- 
 ingly conceded by the Minister of War. 
 
 I passed my year of military service in Prague at 
 the time of the Czecho-Slav Ethnographical Expo- 
 sition. This is the city which Alexander Grimm, the 
 great Franco-German traveller, called the third most 
 beautiful city in the world. It was a never-ending 
 delight to wander through the narrow, crooked 
 streets of this picturesque Slav city on the Vltava 
 in the heart of Bohemia and of Europe. Its 
 palaces overlooked the magnificent park and the 
 ancient Royal Palace stood like a citadel on the 
 top of a steep hill looking down over the hundreds 
 of church spires of the old city. The magnificent 
 parades of the Sokols and their tournaments on the 
 heights of Belvedere where 12,000 of them went 
 through their exercises with the unity of one man, 
 the never-ending pageants of the Exposition in 
 the park, the multifold art treasures displayed, 
 and the Slavic plays given in the great National 
 Theatre, w^ere a constant source of inspiration 
 and delight to my thirsty soul. Here 1 seemed to 
 see a whole people rising like a phoenix from its 
 ashes — a people filled with vitality and energy 
 
AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 13 
 
 and the radiant enthusiasm of youth but in con- 
 stant grapple with the omnipresent and sinister 
 forces of a hostile government. 
 
 My military year finished I returned to the 
 University of Graz in Styria. But here the Ger- 
 manized student life with its copious beer drinking, 
 its sabre duels, and its shallowness, combined with 
 the insufferable arrogance of the German students, 
 finally so disgusted me that I left. I resolved to 
 leave the Austrian moral and intellectual prison 
 and go out into the great world. As the best con- 
 trast to that which I was seeking to escape I first 
 went to Paris, the ville lumiere, and established 
 myself in the Quartier Latin to study law and 
 political economy at the Sorbonne and to seek in 
 the art museums relaxation from my more sombre 
 studies. It was in Paris that I came to realize 
 that collaterally with the struggle between Slav 
 and Teuton the furrows were ever being ploughed 
 deeper between Teuton and Gaul. 
 
 Up to this time educated exclusively in German 
 schools and instigated to despise the very name 
 of my Slav parents I felt that here in Paris I had 
 completely broken the chains which the German 
 drill masters had tried to fasten upon me for life. 
 I had already learned to read the Slavonic Bible 
 and I had learned the old Cyrillic characters. I 
 had also, in violation of the law, mastered Russian. 
 I procured some Russian books directly from St. 
 Petersburg and took them home to read during 
 
14 THE INSIDE STORY OF 
 
 my vacations. I read the voluminous "History 
 of the Russian Empire" by Karamzin, the fables 
 of Krilov, and the writings of Tolstoi, the great 
 Slav apostle of peace. My Russian studies brought 
 me some of the greatest revelations of my life. 
 I was thrilled to discover how closely related was 
 our Slovene language, spoken by only one and a 
 half million people, to the tongue of the great Slav 
 Empire. Although our ancestors had left Russia 
 sixteen hundred years before our language had re- 
 mained faithful in essentials to the parent tongue. 
 Thrilling with the inspiration of Tolstoi's teachings 
 of the universal brotherhood of man I finally re- 
 turned to my mountain-valley home in the won- 
 drous Alpine world. Trout fishing in the deep 
 gorges with their roaring rivers, chamois hunting 
 on the rugged slopes of the Styrian Alps, and 
 all kinds of mountaineering filled my carefree 
 days for some months. I have often wondered 
 why I ever left my mountain paradise to go into 
 the heart-breaking welter and tumult of a diplo- 
 matic career. Perhaps a pair of beautiful Oriental 
 eyes was responsible. They belonged to a cousin, 
 of about my own age, who had married an 
 Austrian diplomat and to whom all doors were 
 open in the great world of politics and diplomacy. 
 She aroused my ambition and arranged for my 
 entrance into the foreign service. I decided to 
 finish my law studies and then to take the exam- 
 inations for the service of the Ministry of Foreign 
 
AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 15 
 
 Affairs. I was the more ready to make this deci- 
 sion because some of our leading racial leaders, 
 my uncles among them, had recently decided that 
 we Slavs of the Dual Monarchy should enter 
 governmental service when and where possible 
 in order that we might have some voice at least 
 in sharing and executing the policies of the govern- 
 ment under which we were obliged to live. Thus 
 it came about that I who had from childhood 
 up felt an ever-growing repugnance to the govern- 
 ment to which we were unhappily subject became 
 a servant of that government. These reflections 
 and many more passed through my mind as I 
 approached the Serbian capital and realized that 
 I was about to step into the centre of momentous 
 events which might ultimately affect the whole 
 world and the course of history. 
 
 Arriving in Belgrade I found the Legation in 
 charge of a baron who had grown old in the service 
 of His Majesty, but the real soul of the Legation 
 was Major of the General Staff Joseph Pomian- 
 kowski, a Galician Pole, and one of the most 
 zealous and unscrupulous "privileged" spies I 
 ever met in the service. He was commonly called 
 "Pomy." He seemed to be omnipresent and om- 
 nipotent, giving orders to everybody, including 
 even his nominal chief. He was directing the policy 
 of the Legation, inspiring its reports, and generally 
 trying to make himself indispensable to his real 
 masters, the General Staff. He radiated health, 
 
16 THE INSIDE STORY OF 
 
 energy, and aggressiveness, and was constantly in- 
 structing military and political spies and receiv- 
 ing their depositions. I soon found out indeed 
 that our Consulate, also dominated by "Pomy," 
 instead of devoting itself to its legitimate work 
 of studying and bettering commercial relations, 
 was deeply engaged in a feverish search for Pan- 
 Serb conspiracies and conspirators. 
 
 One afternoon, after I had been installed in my 
 new office. Consul Corossacz, who was in temporary 
 charge of the office, a good-natured, inoffensive 
 man, opened the safe and showed me a large 
 photographic plate. On examining it I saw that 
 it was an autograph letter from Prince Nicholas 
 of Montenegro to King Peter of Serbia, in which 
 a defensive and offensive alliance between the two 
 countries was proposed. I knew that such an 
 alliance was one of the standing bugaboos of our 
 government. Upon my expressing some doubt 
 as to the authenticity of this letter the Consul 
 said with a good-natured laugh: "You are right. 
 This is one of the documents which the Ministry 
 of Foreign Affairs found upon examination to be 
 not genuine. We paid 2,000 dinars [francs] for 
 it. We bought it from a former chef of the royal 
 household who had been dismissed. He allowed 
 us to photograph the letter and then restore it to 
 him in order that it might he put back on King 
 Peter's desk whence, as he alleged, he had pur- 
 loined it. Well, for once we were taken in, but 
 
AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 17 
 
 we will make many good bargains to offset this 
 bad one." 
 
 I handed the plate back to the Consul with a 
 feeling of revulsion. Buying alleged royal letters 
 from discharged chefs was to me a new and shock- 
 ing kind of diplomacy and I was further disgusted 
 to see that the personally inoffensive Consul re- 
 garded it as both a natural and legitimate transaction. 
 I was soon to find that a swarm of individuals 
 of the same character as this discharged servant 
 were doing a flourishing business with our office 
 at the expense of the taxpayers of Austria-Hungary. 
 
 Not long after my arrival as Vice-Consul in 
 Belgrade an individual slunk into the back door 
 of that little capital city who was to play a role 
 in international affairs as important as he was 
 himself Insignificant. On his first arrival in Serbia 
 he was, to use a bit of expressive American slang, 
 "down and out." 
 
 Shortly after his arrival in Belgrade he published 
 a pamphlet on the Jesuits of Bosnia in which he 
 denounced the activities of the Archbishop of 
 Sarajevo and the whole Roman Catholic propa- 
 ganda. He represented himself as a Serb who had 
 been ruined and persecuted by our government 
 because of his pitiless exposure of Jesuitical plots. 
 On the strength of this pamphlet and these repre- 
 sentations, George Nastic, whose name was to 
 become scandalously linked with the leading 
 diplomats of the Dual Monarchy, wormed his 
 
18 THE INSIDE STORY OF 
 
 way into the students' club in Belgrade known 
 as the Slovenski Jug, and had made himself per- 
 fectly at home there by the time Count Forgach, 
 the new Austro-Hungarian Minister, arrived in 
 Belgrade, in the summer of 1907. 
 
 On July 22, 1908, a cataclysm occurred in the 
 Turkish Empire which greatly alarmed our govern- 
 ment. On that day the standard of revolt was 
 raised by the Young Turk Party in Macedonia. 
 The Young Turks announced that as soon as they 
 had overthrown the bloody and bigoted rule of 
 Abdul Hamid they would open a parliament at 
 Constantinople to which all the nationalities of 
 the empire would be invited to send representa- 
 tives and in which all should have equal rights. 
 This announced intention to turn the Turkish 
 Empire from a shambles into a happy family was 
 for the moment accepted at its face value and hence 
 aroused great enthusiasm among the polyglot 
 peoples of the realm. 
 
 But this feeling was not shared by the Austrian 
 Government. One of the many quarrel-fomenting 
 and war-breeding provisions of the Congress of 
 Berlin of 1878 was that Bosnia and Herzegovina 
 should be temporarily occupied by Austria-Hun- 
 gary while remaining under the suzerainty of the 
 Sultan. As an inevitable result, the actual con- 
 trol of those provinces was in the hands of the 
 Emperor of Austria, while the Sultan of Turkey 
 exercised a nominal control. Our statesmen were 
 
AUSTRO GERMAN-INTRIGUE 19 
 
 now greatly alarmed lest these provinces should be 
 absorbed by a reformed and democratized Turk- 
 ish Empire and that they might thus be forestalled 
 in their ultimate intention to seize the provinces 
 and make them integral parts of our empire. 
 Whether the Young Turks knew of Austria's de- 
 signs on Bosnia and Herzegovina and hastened 
 their revolution in order to forestall them I do 
 not know, but it is altogether probable that such 
 was the case. I do know, however, that our diplo- 
 macy became almost hysterical in its redoubled 
 zeal to demonstrate that the annexation of these 
 provinces, in violation of international law and 
 treaty rights, had become necessary to the safety 
 and integrity of our monarchy. 
 
 In May, 1908, I was ordered to Nish, the former 
 capital of Serbia and situated in the southern part of 
 the country, to take charge of the Consulate. On 
 July 22d, the very day the Young Turks started 
 their revolution, I was called back to Belgrade and 
 placed in charge of the Consulate General there. 
 
 On arriving at Belgrade I soon realized that 
 portentous events were impending. Some of my 
 colleagues freely expressed the opinion that we 
 were going to create a situation in the near future 
 which would force the annexation of Bosnia and 
 Herzegovina. Therefore, I was not much sur- 
 prised when I learned that George Nastic, whose 
 very existence I had forgotten, had issued a pamph- 
 let purporting to expose his experiences as a 
 
20 THE INSIDE STORY OF 
 
 member of the Slovenski Jug, the students' club 
 into which he had forced his way, and alleging 
 that it was in fact not a students' club at all, but 
 a revolutionary society. Coming, as it did, on 
 the heels of the startling events in Turkey, this 
 pamphlet created a sensation. 
 
 Nastic asserted that the club was the chief 
 medium by which the Serbian Government fo- 
 mented revolution among the southern Slavs of 
 the empire. He supplied lurid details of the 
 club's activities. For example: to further its 
 terrorist propaganda, it had bombs made at the 
 Serbian military arsenal at Kragujevac. He him- 
 self, so he declared, had been sent to the arsenal 
 to inspect the manufacture of these bombs, and 
 they were finally brought to Belgrade and stored 
 in the club. They were intended for use on 
 Austrian soil but were finally diverted to another 
 purpose at which Nastic represents himself as 
 flying into a rage, leaving the club, and resolving 
 to expose the whole conspiracy in order to avenge 
 himself upon his companions. In September, 
 1907, he did in fact leave Belgrade and returned 
 to Bosnia. 
 
 Nastic sought to support these assertions by 
 some postal cards written him from Brussels by a 
 member of the club. The pamphlet concluded 
 with an alleged reproduction of a document known 
 as *'the statute of organization for the liberation 
 of the Jugoslavs." This "statute" set forth as 
 
AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 21 
 
 the aim of the Jugoslavs the attainment of national 
 unity through the establishment of a great Jugo- 
 slav Federation of Republics. To accomplish 
 this purpose a revolutionary organization was to be 
 developed. 
 
 Nastic originally attributed the authorship of 
 the document to a certain Austrian Slav by the 
 name of Milan Pribicevic; later to several different 
 authors; and finally to the Serbian Foreign Office. 
 The original, while repeatedly called for, was never 
 produced, although there was eveiy reason why 
 Nastic should wish to produce it and none why 
 he should not. 
 
 By my colleagues in the Legation and Consulate 
 these "revelations" were eagerly accepted as a 
 convincing indictment of the Serbian dynasty, 
 government, and people. By the Serbs, on the 
 other hand, they were looked upon as an object 
 of scornful mirth. The idea that a students' 
 club with a few rooms on the main street of a town 
 of 80,000 inhabitants, and with a reading room 
 open to almost everyone, should be the headquarters 
 of a huge revolutionary movement seemed to them 
 ludicrous. 
 
 As a result of this publication, many arrests 
 were made by the Austrian police. The first 
 in the batch of "conspirators" were two brothers 
 of the alleged author of the statute for the liberation 
 of the southern Slavs, one a petty official in a re- 
 mote town and the other a teacher in the theologi- 
 
22 THE INSIDE STORY OF 
 
 cal seminary of the Serbian Orthodox Church. 
 They were followed by six schoolmasters of obscure 
 Croatian villages, six petty merchants, two stud- 
 ents, two Serbian priests, a forest guard, and the 
 mayor of a small town. In all thirty-three people 
 were arrested, not one of whom was a person of any 
 prominence. They were taken in chains to Zagreb, 
 thrown into prison, forced to associate with crim- 
 inals of the lowest type, and refused the opportun- 
 ity to communicate with counsel. 
 
 Now that George Nastic had become a notorious 
 character, I resolved to acquaint myself more 
 fully with his career and connections. I already 
 knew that he was connected with our secret police 
 in Vienna, Sarajevo, and Zagreb. I soon dis- 
 covered that he was also closely associated with 
 certain correspondents of German and Austro- 
 German papers who had been evicted from Serbian 
 soil because of their slanderous attacks upon the 
 Serbian Government. After office hours in the 
 beautiful summer days of 1908 I often went bj'' 
 boat up the Danube to Zemun, a Croatian town 
 opposite Belgrade. Usually a party of us, from 
 the German and Italian legations, as well as our 
 own, went together. On these trips I frequently 
 met a Jewish newspaper correspondent by the 
 name of Steinhardt. He was one of the newspaper 
 men who had been expelled from Belgrade and 
 he now glowered across the river and brooded 
 vengeance. I asked him, banteringly, one day 
 
AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 23 
 
 where he picked up his amazing tales of Serbian 
 affairs. "All things," he replied, pointing to 
 his head, "originate here, and I will teach the 
 Serbian police that on Austrian soil they cannot 
 reach me." Knowing that Nastic was a friend 
 of his, I asked him if Nastic got his facts from the 
 same source, to which he replied in the affirmative. 
 My conversations with this resourceful yellow 
 journalist of the East led me to believe that Nas- 
 tic received from him at least the inspiration for 
 his sensational pamphlet. 
 
 Toward the end of September I was ordered 
 back to Nish. There I had begun to renew my 
 many pleasant acquaintances among the officials 
 and civilians of the city when on October 7, 
 1908, the news that Austria had formally annexed 
 Bosnia and Herzegovina fell like a bomb into the 
 quiet old city. Although they knew that I sym- 
 pathized with them, my Serbian friends avoided 
 me. It was generally felt among the Serbs that 
 this was only the first step leading to events much 
 more ^important and more tragic. This fear was 
 increased by the fulminations of the German and 
 Magyar press, which now became more vitupera- 
 tive than ever in their attacks upon the Serbian 
 dynasty, government, and people. The Austrians 
 took it for granted that Serbia's resentment would 
 lead to war, and the Austrian Government pro- 
 ceeded with military preparations based upon 
 that assumption. 
 
24 THE INSIDE STORY OF 
 
 The annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina 
 brought Aehrenthal an honour which he had long 
 coveted. The Emperor raised him from Baron 
 to Count and permitted him to drop Lexa, the name 
 of his Jewish father, of which he was not proud. 
 In spite of this reward, Aehrenthal winced under 
 the all-but-universal condemnation of his lawless 
 act throughout the world. Germany alone among 
 the nations at once recognized and approved his act. 
 This recognition had little weight internationally 
 as everyone knew that it was merely Germany's 
 necessary repayment in kind for Austria's con- 
 donation of the Kaiser's arbitrariness in the Moroc- 
 can affair. Aehrenthal craved justification for 
 his act, or at any rate the appearance of justifica- 
 tion. He wanted to impress the public, both at 
 home and abroad, that the annexation was es- 
 sential to the protection of the empire. All the 
 subsequent feverish activit es of the Ballplatz, 
 through the medium of its "literary" or press 
 bureau, to prove Serbia's guilt in anti-Austrian 
 plots were justified on the same ground. Aehren-' 
 thal's Magyar colleagues were alarmed by the 
 report that both Archduke Francis Ferdinand, 
 the heir to the throne, and even the old emperor 
 himself, were disposed to look with some favour 
 upon the Trialism programme as a possible cure for 
 the Dual Monarchy's chronic disorders and wanted 
 to frighten them away from the plan by some 
 dramatic demonstration of the Pan-Serb menace. 
 
AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 25 
 
 Trialism contemplated the creation of an au- 
 tonomous southern Slav state which should be 
 linked to the Vienna Government very much as 
 was Hungary. Thus would the Dual Monarchy 
 be changed to a Triple Monarchy. This plan 
 was very repellent to the Magyars of Hungary 
 because it would end their power to oppress and 
 exploit the Slavs and the other subject races. 
 Subsequent events indicated that both Francis 
 Joseph and his heir were as hostile to this plan 
 as 'the great Magyar junkers themselves. It is 
 probable, however, that they allowed their power- 
 ful and difficult Magyar subjects to believe that 
 they favoured Trialism in order that they might 
 use it as a club over their heads. 
 
 On November 4, 1908, Emperor William ar- 
 rived at Eckartsau as hunting guest of Archduke 
 Francis Ferdinand. In the stillness of this Austrian 
 hunting castle, situated on a branch of the Danube 
 below Vienna (the abode of ex-Emperor Charles, 
 the last of the Hapsburgs before he went to Switzer- 
 land), an agreement was reached for common ac- 
 tion between Austria and Germany. The "critical 
 days" for Europe in this first crisis were in Decem- 
 ber, 1908, and also, as will be later seen, at the end 
 of March, 1909. 
 
 By November, 1908, our preparations for war 
 with Serbia were completed and I daily expected 
 an order from the Legation to destroy all the evi- 
 dences of the secret activities of my predecessors 
 
'26 THE INSIDE STORY OF 
 
 and to leave Nish and Serbia by the shortest route 
 and cross into Bulgaria. At this time I resolved 
 to go to Belgrade and find out how matters stood 
 at headquarters. On my arrival I called upon the 
 then Charge d' Affaires, Otto Franz, the Minister, 
 Count Forgach, being absent. He greeted me 
 with an outburst of wrath and bitterly reproached 
 me for leaving my post at a time when our ultima- 
 tum to Serbia was expected hourly. I told him 
 that I did not regard war as imminent unless our 
 diplomacy were so unwise as deliberately to force 
 it. I assured him that the so-called Pan-Serb 
 peril was a nightmare conjured out of nothing 
 more real than the distraught imaginations of our 
 diplomats. I pointed out to him the absurdity 
 of little Serbia being dangerous to our great empire 
 — the second strongest military power in the world. 
 He violently repudiated my assertions and vehe- 
 mently protested that Serbia would always imperil 
 Austria's very existence until she was humbled 
 and taught a lesson. He went on to say that 
 Serbia was deliberately corrupting the Jugoslav 
 leaders, especially those of Dalmatia, Croatia, 
 and Bosnia. I retorted that as a Jugoslav I 
 resented these accusations against my racial kins- 
 men and that he well knew that there was no valid 
 evidence with which to support them. He replied 
 heatedly: "On the contrary, we already have the 
 proofs in our hands. We know how much each 
 Jugoslav leader and each member of the Croatian 
 
AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE £7 
 
 Diet has received for his support of the Croato- 
 Serb coalition against us. 
 
 "You may have the names of these men and 
 the amounts paid to each one, but I tell you that 
 your so-called proofs for which we have paid so 
 much of the taxpayers' money are nothing but 
 clumsy forgeries. As you know, some of the 
 documents we have purchased have already been 
 repudiated as forgeries by our own Ministry of 
 Foreign Affairs . ' ' 
 
 The next day I was peremptorily ordered back 
 to Nish, but before leaving I had opportunity 
 to observe the frantic efforts of our legation to 
 gather material which should place on the shoulders 
 of little Serbia the responsibility for the war which 
 was now assumed to be imminent and inevitable. 
 A confidant of one of the attaches told me that 
 all the files of the Legation were being packed in 
 readiness to be sent, some of them across the 
 Danube into our territory and others to the German 
 Legation. One of the Legation secretaries told 
 me that they had been working nearly twenty- 
 three hours out of the twenty-four for several days. 
 Our new military attache. Major Tanczos, was 
 feverishly engrossed in gathering together through 
 our spies, both military and civil, the final military 
 data about the Serbian territory which he believed 
 our armies were soon to occupy. 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 The Second Attempt of Austro-German Di- 
 plomacy TO Precipitate European War, 1909 
 
 AND HOW BOTH WAR PLOTS WERE UNMASKED 
 
 BESIDES preparing public opinion in Aus- 
 tria-Hungary for war against Serbia and 
 Russia, our diplomacy tried to inflame 
 Serbian public opinion against us. Repeated at- 
 tempts were made to incite the Serbs to some rash 
 act which would serve as a pretext for war. De- 
 spite all such efforts the Serbs kept their heads and 
 refused to furnish us with the desired pretext for a 
 declaration of war. The two pillars in this cam- 
 paign to arouse the war spirit in both countries 
 were the "Literary Section" or Press Bureau of 
 the Foreign Office in Vienna and our legation in 
 Belgrade. The latter furnished the material and 
 the former skilfully disseminated it among the 
 press organs controlled by the Ballplatz. It was in 
 the midst of such stirring scenes and events that I 
 returned heavy hearted to my post in Nish where I 
 was retained but a short time before being recalled 
 to my former position in Belgrade. 
 To stimulate the war fever in Austria, the Ball- 
 
 28 
 
AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 29 
 
 platz brought forward charges of a widespread Pan- 
 Serb conspiracy. Numbers of obscure individuals 
 were arrested. In January, 1909, I learned that 
 fifty-eight Serbs awaited trial for high treason 
 in the prison at Zagreb. It was not until the mid- 
 dle of January, nine months after the arrest and im- 
 prisonment of the first prisoners, that they were 
 indicted. And it was not until March 3d that 
 their trial began at Zagreb. 
 
 Meanwhile, in February, 1909, the Neue Freie 
 Presse of Vienna, the propaganda organ of Count 
 Aehrenthal, had printed as a ballon d'essai "that 
 the question of a European mandate to Austria- 
 Hungary for a 'punitive expedition' against Ser- 
 bia or even the occupation of Serbia was under 
 consideration among the Great Powers, because 
 of the Serbian armaments and for other reasons." 
 This was to repeat Austria's coup in Bosnia and 
 Herzegovina in 1878 which provinces were also 
 "temporarily" occupied at the "request" of the 
 signatory powers of the Congress of Berlin. 
 
 Moreover, on March 6th, Count Forgach, our 
 Minister to Serbia, by direction of Count Aehren- 
 thal, informed the Serbian Government that we 
 should refuse to lay the proposed Austro-Serbian 
 Commercial Treaty before the Parliaments of 
 the Dual Monarchy for ratification unless their 
 attitude toward us was immediately and radically 
 changed. In the meantime, we had massed 200,000 
 troops on the Bosnian border. Count Aehrenthal 
 
30 THE INSIDE STORY OF 
 
 notified our Belgrade office that five high officers 
 of the General Staff had been sent into Serbia on 
 "special mission." Their real names and fictitious 
 names were given in case these spies should be 
 in need of consular protection. 
 
 At this point Serbia issued a circular note to 
 the powers placing her case in their hands and 
 requesting that representatives of the powers 
 investigate the relations between Austria-Hungary 
 and Serbia and report upon them. She expressed 
 her willingness that Austrian representatives should 
 be present and should have access to all the evi- 
 dence, besides offering their own evidence. She 
 also renounced in advance any indemnity in case 
 it should be found that she had been wronged by 
 Austria-Hungary. 
 
 In the meantime, Count Forgach feverishly 
 awaited an ultimatum from Count Aehrenthal 
 and countless cipher telegrams passed between 
 them. At this critical time I was suddenly re- 
 called from my Belgrade post and returned to 
 Vienna to learn what fate the Foreign Office had 
 in store for me. On arriving in Vienna I reported 
 at once to Baron Sonnlei timer, the head of the 
 Consular Department of our Foreign Office. After 
 greeting me with studied lack of courtesy he broke 
 out upon me with the wrathful words: "Politically 
 you have failed to live up to the expectations of the 
 Ministry." On my suggesting, during the ensuing 
 conversation, that I be sent back to Russia, where 
 
AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 31 
 
 I was already so well acquainted with conditions, 
 he exploded with so vehement a negative that I 
 realized that my services in Slav countries were 
 no longer wanted. Instead, he told me to prepare 
 myself to sail for the United States where I would 
 be employed In future. I spent the month before 
 my departure for America in watching at head- 
 quarters the further manoeuvres of our diplomats 
 to precipitate war against Serbia and Russia. 
 Before the end of the month, in fact, we were to 
 present an ultimatum to Serbia, and simultaneously 
 Kaiser Wilhelm would send an ultimatum to Russia 
 demanding the recognition of our annexation of 
 Bosnia and Herzegovina. 
 
 On March 24, 1909, I learned that this long- 
 awaited ultimatum had finally been sent to Count 
 Forgach in Belgrade. On the same day there ap- 
 peared in the Vienna papers an interview with a 
 *'high Austrian diplomat In Belgrade" (presumably 
 Forgach himself) in which the diplomat said that 
 he expected the ultimatum that evening and that 
 it would be presented the next day. Further, he 
 stated that it might well happen that there would 
 be no declaration of war, just as was the case when 
 Frederick the Great attacked Silesia; and Japan 
 the Russian fleet at Port Arthur. The interview 
 concluded with the following question and answer: 
 
 Correspondent: "Could the departure of the 
 Minister be interpreted as equivalent to a declara- 
 tion of war?" 
 
32 THE INSIDE STORY OF 
 
 Diplomat: "Count Forgach might even hear 
 the first shots fired while stepping over the thresh- 
 old of his palace." 
 
 The same day a Budapest paper said: "The 
 responsible factors in the monarchy believe that 
 it is both feasible and desirable to do away with 
 Serbia at this time." And it added: "Such favour- 
 able conditions for the war could hardly be ex- 
 pected to recur in the future." Herr Von Wekerle, 
 the Hungarian premier, declared: "If the mainte- 
 nance of peace does not prove feasible at this time 
 it is best that the poison-tongue of the Balkans 
 be pulled out at once. It is by no means advisable 
 to wait until the at-present-weakened Russia 
 sufficiently regains her powers to take the field 
 against ourselves and Germany. It is much 
 more judicious to fight at once." 
 
 In the midst of these breathless events, while 
 the Austrian and German armies were poised like 
 hawks awaiting their prey in Serbia and Russia, 
 the astoundingly disconcerting news arrived on 
 March 25, 1909, that the latter countries had 
 meekly accepted the Austrian and German ulti- 
 mata and had dutifully recognized as legal the 
 notoriously illegal annexation of Bosnia and Her- 
 zegovina. 
 
 Thanks to Russia, the World War had been 
 averted — for the time being. But the crisis left 
 behind an incident destined to become famous — 
 or infamous — in history. The incident was the 
 
AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 33 
 
 suit for libel arising out of the notorious "Fried- 
 jung Documents." Among the most inflammatory 
 articles that had appeared in the Austrian press 
 at the time was one written by Professor Fried jung, 
 the foremost living Austrian historian. It was 
 printed in the Vienna Neue Freie Presse on the 
 day on which the Austrian ultimatum was de- 
 livered in Belgrade. In this article Friedjung 
 scored the "insolent attitude" of Serbia toward 
 the Dual Monarchy and gave our whole list of 
 grievances against Serbia from the time of the 
 accession of her present dynasty. The main 
 accusation was that "Pan-Serbian conspirators 
 were seeking to erect a great Serbian empire on 
 the ruins of Austrian and Turkish rule. The 
 Croato-Serb coalition is directed from Belgrade 
 and large gifts of money to influential Serbs in 
 southern Hungary and Croatia are nourishing the 
 alliance between Croats and Serbs." 
 
 In support of these familiar accusations, Doctor 
 Friedjung quoted a confidential report alleged to 
 have been sent by Doctor Spalajkovic, Serbian 
 Under Secretary for Foreign Affairs, to Premier 
 Pasic, in which he gave a detailed account of his 
 meetings with a representative of the Croato-Serb 
 coalition on Croatian territory, opposite Belgrade. 
 This man, a member of the Croatian Diet, offered 
 in the name of the coalition to place five news- 
 papers at the disposal of the Serbian Government 
 for the modest sum of 12,000 kronen (about 
 
31 THE INSIDE STORY OF 
 
 $2,400). Professor Friedjung further asserted that 
 M. Supilo, the founder and head of the coahtion, 
 had urged the Serbian Premier, Doctor Pasic, 
 "to spend his summer hohdays on the Croatian 
 Coast in order to be in touch with his pohtical 
 friends." In conclusion, Professor Friedjung chal- 
 lenged: "Should any of the heads of the Serbian 
 Government dispute any of these assertions they 
 would be supplied with further details and would 
 be given the names of Croatian deputies and the 
 amounts of money paid to them from the Serbian 
 treasury." 
 
 The Professor then repeated the revelations 
 made by George Nastic in his pamphlet, "Finale," 
 with which we are already familiar. This article, 
 which was entitled :" Austria-Hungary and Serbia," 
 exploded like a bomb not only in Austria-Hungary 
 and Serbia, but throughout Europe generally. 
 It contained the first concrete charges against the 
 Jugoslav leaders who had been engaged in alleged 
 treasonable relations with the Serbian Government, 
 and these charges were made not by an obscure 
 and disreputable individual like Nastic, but by 
 an historian of international reputation. Friedjung 
 was the author, among other well-known books, 
 of the great work entitled: "The Struggle for 
 Predominance in Germany," in which he sought 
 to prepare the Austrian Germans for the dominance 
 of Germany over Austria, which he rightly saw 
 would result gradually but inevitably from their 
 
AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 35 
 
 defeat at the hands of the Prussians at Sadowa 
 in 1866. He was, in fact, the first exponent of the 
 Middle Europe idea which has since been more fully 
 expounded by Naumann, Rohrbach, and others, 
 and the foundations for which later seemed to 
 have been laid in the World War by the successes 
 of German arms in the Near East. It was known 
 also that he bore the same intimate relation to the 
 Vienna Government as did the great publicist, 
 Maximilian Harden, to that of Berlin. When it ap- 
 peared that the war was inevitable. Professor Fried- 
 jung was asked by Count Aehrenthal to prepare 
 a series of articles which would provide the great 
 indictment of Serbia. These articles were pre- 
 pared from material furnished by the "Literary" 
 Bureau. When in the evening of March 24th 
 Professor Friedjung learned that Russia was not 
 going to back up Serbia, he tried to withdraw the 
 article in question, but it was too late. 
 
 Two days after the publication of Professor Fried- 
 jung's article two members of the Croato-Serb 
 coalition, in a telegram to the Neue Freie Presse^ 
 declared the Professor's charges against the coali- 
 tion to be "pure inventions" and challenged him 
 to name the guilty persons. Friedjung declined 
 to give the names, but said that he was ready to 
 face court action and would produce before the 
 court "proofs of his assertions." He added that 
 he was fully competent to "distinguish genuine 
 documents and historial sources from the false 
 
S6 THE INSIDE STORY OF 
 
 ones." x\t the same time Messiem-s Supilo, Pri- 
 bi6evic, and Lukinic started suit for a slander 
 against the Reichspost, the organ of the Christian 
 SociaUsts, which had made charges against them 
 similar to those made by Professor Friedjung. 
 Simultaneously Doctor Spalajkovic, the Serbian 
 Under Secretary, denied all the charges which 
 Friedjung had made against him. Thus started 
 the second of the famous so-called high treason 
 trials, only in this one, unlike the first, the anti- 
 Serbs were the defendants. 
 
 Aehrenthal and Forgach realized that the Fried- 
 jung charges were unable to withstand even the 
 meagre degree of impartial investigation which 
 an Austrian court in political cases sometimes af- 
 forded. Hence, through intermediaries, they has- 
 tened to bring to bear all their powerful pressure 
 for an out-of-court settlement. Unfortunately 
 for them, in this case they had brought their 
 charges against men who were powerful even 
 though members of despised and subject races. 
 As a result their pressure was successfully resisted 
 and the to them unwelcome trial had to proceed. 
 It was constantly postponed, but finally on the 
 ninth day of December, 1909, in a Viennese court, 
 it opened. 
 
 I was already at my new post in America, serving 
 as Vice-Consul in Denver, Colorado, when the 
 news of the opening of the great trial reached me. 
 I carefully examined the documents as they were 
 
AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 37 
 
 published in the course of the trial and found that 
 all but two were familiar to me, as they had been 
 gathered during my service in Serbia. I found 
 also that I had challenged the genuineness of 
 several of them and had protested both to Count 
 Forgach and the First Secretary, Mr, Franz, 
 against their use. Among the documents, further- 
 more, there was not one whose charges were not 
 perfectly familiar to me and indeed to everyone 
 who knew anything of the relations between the 
 Jugoslavs and the Budapest and Vienna govern- 
 ments. It all boiled down to the old, old charge 
 that the Jugoslav leaders of our monarchy were 
 in the pay of the Serbian Government in their 
 efforts for unity among Croats and Serbs inside 
 our borders. 
 
 In support of his charges Professor Friedjung 
 submitted to the court twenty-four documents. 
 Like the Government's evidence in the former trial, 
 they were offered in German translations and not 
 in the original. Furthermore, they were not given 
 complete, but merely as fragments. Of these 
 twenty-four documents, nineteen were alleged 
 minutes of the Slovenski Jug. On these there 
 appeared six names. Of these the three more prom- 
 inent were those of Professor Bozidar Markovic, 
 professor of criminal law at the University of 
 Belgrade, who was president of the club; a former 
 president of the Serbian Parliament, and a former 
 Minister of Education in the Serbian Cabinet. 
 
38 THE INSIDE STORY OF 
 
 The five remaining documents consisted of: a 
 circular issued by the Governor-General of Croatia; 
 the report oi Doctor Spalajkovic to the Premier 
 already referred to; a telegram of the Serbian 
 Minister in Petrograd ; a telegram from the Serbian 
 Consul in Budapest to the Serbian Foreign Minister, 
 and a confidential order of the Serbian Foreign 
 Office. 
 
 Professor Fried jung concluded his defence with 
 these words: "My life work has been historical 
 research, and thus my defence takes the form of a 
 chapter in a historical work, the history of the 
 Balkan problem. I have spoken to you gentlemen 
 as my judges, but at the same time I address my 
 fellow historians, who will also give their verdict as 
 to whether in examining these documents I have 
 acted critically and conscientiously, sifting the 
 true from the false. Every impartial person will, 
 I am sure, admit that I have built upon the sure 
 foundation of reliable documents, and hence I 
 await with complete calm the final verdict of the 
 jury." 
 
 When the Professor had finished, Doctor Funder, 
 the editor-in-chief of the Reichspost, gave his 
 defence. He was more specific than Professor 
 Friedjung in referring to the sources and authentic- 
 ity of their documents. He said: "I know their 
 origin ; in most cases I know how they were obtained 
 and how carefully their authenticity was tested.'* 
 He said finally that his attacks in the Reichspost 
 
AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 39 
 
 were based mainly upon the report of Doctor 
 Spalajkovic to the Serbian premier, Doctor Pasic, 
 a photograph of the original of which document 
 had been shown to him and to Professor Friedjung. 
 
 The alleged minutes of the Central Committee 
 of the Slovenski Jug for February 26, 1908, showed 
 that at a meeting held on that day, 6,000 dinars 
 (about $1,200) was appropriated to be sent to 
 M. Supilo, the head of the Croato-Serb coalition, 
 to be used by him in the "impending elections" 
 to the Diet of the Triune Kingdom in Croatia. 
 The prosecution proved that the elections in 
 question had taken place fourteen days before 
 this meeting was held and this money appropriated. 
 On being presented with this dilemma Professor 
 Friedjung said that the money must have been in- 
 tended for use in a later election. He had to aban- 
 don this supposition, however, when it was shown 
 that the resolution by which the money was appro- 
 priated stated that it was to be used to help defeat 
 the candidates of "The Frank and Starcevic 
 party," and that these candidates had already 
 been defeated two weeks before the date of the 
 alleged meeting. Unable to parry this blow, the 
 learned historian contented himself with an apolo- 
 getic admission that he had failed to verify the 
 date on which the election actually occurred. 
 
 At this point in the trial there appeared, from 
 the point of view of the eminent historian, a very 
 unwelcome volunteer witness. This was Professor 
 
40 THE INSIDE STORY OF 
 
 Bozidar Markovic, the president of the Slovenski 
 Jug, the alleged revolutionary society. Professor 
 Markovic took the stand and quietly pointed out 
 to the court that the alleged minutes of meetings 
 held October 20th and October 21st, at which he 
 was represented as presiding, could not be genuine 
 since he was in Berlin on those dates attending 
 lectures on criminal law. He added that his state- 
 ment could readily be verified by reference to the 
 Berlin police, to whom he had reported his arrival 
 and departure as well as to the hotels where he 
 stopped and where his signature could be found 
 on the registers. This statement caused great 
 excitement in the court room, and the Berlin police 
 were at once communicated with. Wliile their 
 reply was awaited, the Professor continued his 
 testimony. He stated that no central committee 
 had ever existed ; that no reports of the secretary's 
 activities were ever submitted to Prince George; 
 that no one by the name of Jovanovic, whose 
 name appeared in one set of alleged minutes as 
 vice-president of the club, had ever held that 
 office ; that as he had never been in Salonica in his 
 life he could not have there conferred with the 
 Young Turk Committee as he was represented 
 to have done; that the non-existent central 
 committee of the club could never have conferred 
 with a guerrilla band committee regarding the 
 outfitting of raids into Bosnia; that one Milan 
 Stefanovic could never have signed their minutes 
 
AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 41 
 
 as secretary as they had never had a secretary 
 of that name; and that the club was founded in 
 1902 and not in 1904 as stated. 
 
 While the court, and indeed all Austria, awaited 
 Berlin's report on Professor Markovic's alibi, an- 
 other uninvited and most unwelcome witness 
 made his appearance. This was Doctor Spalaj- 
 kovic. Under Secretary for Foreign Affairs of 
 Serbia, and the alleged author of some of the docu- 
 ments upon which the defence rested its case. 
 Taking up the report headed : " Ministry for Foreign 
 Affairs, Political Department, Belgrade, June 4, 
 1907, Confidential No. 3027," he pointed out that 
 the total number of confidential reports issued 
 by the department during the entire year of 1907 
 numbered only 1991 and that the numbers used 
 between June 1st and June 30th ran from 832 
 to 1040. Turning next to the documents upon 
 which Doctor Funder had stated that he chiefly 
 based his charges, he called attention to the fact 
 that it bore the number 5703 while the highest 
 number actually used by his department on the 
 day in question was 367; also that the paper was 
 signed by a cashier as well as himself, whereas no 
 cashier had ever signed a political report in the 
 Serbian Foreign Office or had ever been connected 
 with the political department. He also asked the 
 jury to note that this report, dated June 4, 1907, 
 spoke of a certain loan which was to be negotiated 
 that coming fall, whereas he had personally com- 
 
42 THE INSIDE STORY OF 
 
 pleted the negotiations for this loan in Geneva 
 a year previous to the date of the report. After 
 he had pointed out many more such inconsistencies 
 he expressed the readiness of the Serbian Govern- 
 ment to have representatives of the Great Powers, 
 including Austria, visit Belgrade and personally 
 verify the accuracy of his statements and publish 
 their respective findings. x\s a parting shot Doctor 
 Spalajkovic remarked: "There are clever forgeries 
 and stupid forgeries, and those contained in the 
 Green Book of the eminent Austrian historian 
 do not belong to the former category." 
 
 After the cross-examination of Doctor Spalaj- 
 kovic, and after the court had admitted the ac- 
 curacy of his statement about the loan having been 
 negotiated a year previous to the time stated in 
 his alleged report, two perverse handwriting ex- 
 perts, Austrians at that, both testified that the 
 author of the reports, attributed to the Serbian 
 Under Secretary for Foreign Affairs, was evidently 
 a person imperfectly acquainted both with Serbian 
 grammar and orthography ! 
 
 On the 21st of December the eagerly awaited 
 report from the Berlin police arrived. It estab- 
 lished Professor Markovic's alibi. That two of 
 the most important documents in evidence were 
 forgeries was now admitted not only by the court 
 but by the defendants. We wonder with what 
 degree of satisfaction Doctor Funder recalled at 
 this point his remark when he announced to the 
 
AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 43 
 
 court: "The genuineness of our documents is 
 demonstrated not merely by the character of each 
 individual document, but far more by their mutual 
 connection and interdependence. As soon as any 
 part of these documents is proved to be unques- 
 tionably genuine the whole chain of evidence is 
 complete and irrefutable." Perhaps he recalled 
 this expression with as much gratification, however, 
 as did his co-defendant his appeal to his fellow 
 historians when he said: "I address my fellow 
 historians who will also give their verdict as to 
 whether in examining these documents I have 
 acted critically and conscientiously, sifting the 
 true from the false." 
 
 The next morning, while the trial was proceeding, 
 there appeared on the scene Dr. J. M. Baernreither, 
 a leading Austro-German member of the Reichsrat, 
 and a man known to be in the confidence not only 
 of Count Aehrenthal, but of the Archduke Francis 
 Ferdinand. At the request of this dignitary the 
 court adjourned in order that he might confer 
 with the litigants. Doctor Baernreither drew M. 
 Supilo and his colleagues aside and urged them 
 for the reputation of Austria and the dynasty 
 to drop their suit against Professor Friedjung 
 and accept his retraction of the charges against 
 them. He promised them that, if they would 
 do this, the bitterly resented absolute government 
 in Croatia would be modified and they would be 
 given a voice in it. This was the kind of appeal 
 
44 THE INSIDE STORY OF 
 
 to which no one in an absolutist country Hke 
 Austria or Hungary could turn a deaf ear without 
 incurring the implacable hostility of the Govern- 
 ment and thus becoming the victim of constant 
 persecution. Taking all this into consideration, 
 and also realizing that the trial had gone far enough 
 fully to vindicate their reputations and to blacken 
 those of their opponents, they accepted the 
 Deputy's proposition and agreed to receive Pro- 
 fessor Friedjung's public retraction in place of a 
 verdict against him. After this agreement was 
 made the puppet court was reconvened and the 
 puppet defendant called upon for his retraction. 
 Whereupon the eminent historian, whose scholarly 
 tail feathers had suffered so sorely in the service 
 of his Emperor and his country, was required to 
 rise and make the following retraction : 
 
 "I made all the assertions in my articles after 
 thorough examination and only reached the fun- 
 damental views expressed after conscientious con- 
 sideration of all the circumstances before me. 
 I am no swashbuckler, however, and know how to 
 appreciate the importance as evidence of Professor 
 Markovic's stay in Berlin now officially confirmed. 
 I therefore conscientiously acknowledge that the 
 two documents of October 20th and 21st must be 
 eliminated, and I should no longer like to base 
 any claims upon the remaining documents. Hav- 
 ing made this declaration I can say with a clear 
 conscience that in my whole attitude in this affair 
 
AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 45 
 
 and also in to-day's declaration I have had in view 
 solely the welfare of our common Fatherland." 
 
 With these lofty sentiments the once famous 
 and now notorious scholar took his seat, the court 
 adjourned, and the greatest international politico- 
 legal farce and scandal of recent times came to its 
 abrupt end. 
 
 Meanwhile, also, the Zagreb high treason trial 
 came to a close. On October 5, 1909, after the 
 trial had been dragged out for fully five months, 
 or fourteen months from the arrest of those first 
 accused, thirty-six of the fifty-eight accused were 
 found guilty of high treason and twenty-two were 
 acquitted. In spite of the law which fixes death 
 as the only penalty for high treason, terms of im- 
 prisonment were inflicted upon those pronounced 
 guilty. The court accompanied the verdict with 
 this statement: "The court has relied upon the 
 evidence of the so-called crown witness, George 
 Nastic, only in so far as it was by other unquestion- 
 able evidence or documentary proofs supported. 
 The rest of the evidence the court has rejected as 
 irrelevant." Thus ended the first great treason 
 trial — in a fiasco. 
 
 Not long after this the Septemviral Table, the 
 Court of Appeals of Croatia, set aside the verdict 
 on the ground that the evidence produced by the 
 public prosecutor failed to prove high treason. 
 The thirty-six persons, some of whom had now been 
 in prison under constant punishment for alleged 
 
46 THE INSIDE STORY OF 
 
 refractory behaviour for more than a year, and 
 in association with the lowest common criminals, 
 were set free and declared to be innocent. One 
 may imagine that these individuals were scarcely 
 in a frame of mind and body to be grateful for the 
 good character which their government had finally 
 given them. 
 
 Nearly a year later a Belgrade journalist by 
 the name of Vasic confessed to M. Supilo that 
 he was the Milan Stefanovic, the alleged secretary 
 of the Slovenski Jug, in whose handwriting, ac- 
 cording to the testimony of Professor Fried jung 
 himself, all the minutes were written — the mysteri- 
 ous secretary whose very existence was unknown 
 to Professor Markovic, the president. Vasic fur- 
 ther admitted that he made these forgeries in the 
 Belgrade Legation with the knowledge of the Min- 
 ister, Count Forgach, himself. Each document 
 was then photographed and these photographs 
 were sent regularly both to Count Aehrenthal and 
 Archduke Francis Ferdinand. In December, 1910, 
 Vasic was brought before a Belgrade court, and, 
 on his own confession, condemned to five years' 
 imprisonment. The confession of Vasic made such 
 a stir that Count Aehrenthal finally felt obliged 
 to make an explanatory statement. Accordingly 
 he explained in his organ, the Fremdenhlatt, that 
 *'he [Vasic] belongs to the category of individuals 
 which ... in critical times press their in- 
 formation upon diplomatic agents. His state- 
 
AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 47 
 
 ments were received," he added, "by a subordinate 
 clerk of the Belgrade Legation until their worth- 
 lessness became apparent." Although perhaps 
 not so intended, this statement of the noble 
 count was an official admission of the worthless- 
 ness of the documents upon which Professor 
 Fried jung and Doctor Funder had based their 
 charges, which were to serve as a basis for a great 
 war. In Vasic I recognized one of the many 
 shady individuals with whom our legation had had 
 clandestine transactions during my service in 
 Belgrade. 
 
 I now watched with interest to see what means 
 would be used in the effort to rehabilitate the tar- 
 nished reputations of my former chiefs and col- 
 leagues in our Vienna and Belgrade offices. The 
 faithful Forgach, after the Emperor had made 
 him a Privy Councillor for his efforts, was banished 
 as Minister to the Court of Dresden for their 
 failure. Otto Franz was also sent to Dresden, 
 but without even the empty title of Privy Councillor 
 as a consolation. To go from Belgrade, at that 
 time the seething centre of Near Eastern politics, 
 to Dresden, the centre of nothing except memories, 
 was indeed a setback for ambitious diplomats. 
 My former chief, Herr Hann von Hannenheim, 
 was sent for political fumigation to Montreal, 
 Canada. 
 
 Count Aehrenthal and his associates were indeed 
 under a cloud. They had not only failed to justify 
 
48 AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 
 
 in the eyes of Europe the illegal annexation of 
 Bosnia and Herzegovina and failed to bring on a 
 war with Serbia and Russia — a war so eagerly 
 coveted by their party — but they had actually 
 fastened upon themselves and upon Austrian 
 diplomacy the obloquy of aiding and abetting 
 forgers and forgeries. And worst of all, perhaps, in 
 a monarchical country they had placed a stigma 
 upon the head of the heir to the throne. The 
 Archduke Francis Ferdinand, the patron if not 
 the actual head of the War Party, of course suffered 
 a diminution of prestige in common with his fol- 
 lowers. The old emperor was said to be very 
 angry at the methods which had been employed, al- 
 though it is more probable that his anger was 
 aroused chiefly by their lack of success. 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 Austro-German Plans for the Conquest 
 AND Partition of Russia 
 
 BISMARCK EFFECTIVELY OPPOSES THESE PLANS 
 
 BEFORE proceeding with my personal nar- 
 rative I will introduce the reader to the 
 origin of the Austro-German plans for the 
 conquest and partition of Russia. The world 
 drama is a continuous performance. One scene 
 kaleidoscopically follows another in quick succes- 
 sion. The assassination of Archduke Francis 
 Ferdinand and the critical period following before 
 the curtain was rung up for the World War were 
 merely the epilogue to the drama of intrigue which 
 opened with the Russo-Japanese War, which itself 
 marked only the revival of plans originated during 
 the Crimean War. Those who witnessed the cul- 
 mination only of this titanic drama naturally found 
 it as illogical and inexplicable as thunder and 
 lightning coming out of a clear sky. It is to such 
 observers that Prince Bismarck's revelations on 
 Austria's and Prussia's intrigues in the Crimean 
 War should be recalled in order that they may see 
 in proper perspective the managers and stage- 
 hands of the World War. 
 
 49 
 
50 THE INSIDE STORY OF 
 
 The Teutonic war parties of the World War were 
 in fact merely the reincarnation of the Austrian 
 and Prussian war parties of the Crimean War. 
 In Berlin as well as in Vienna there was at the time 
 of the Crimean War, according to the testimony 
 of Prince Bismarck, a powerful war party urging 
 immediate war against Russia. The propaganda 
 for war against Russia in 1854 was spread chiefly 
 by the Berlin newspaper, Preussisches Wocheti' 
 blatt. Bismarck said: "The party of the Woch- 
 enblatt, as it was called, played a curious double 
 game. I recollect the comprehensive memoranda 
 which these gentlemen interchanged among them- 
 selves, and how by imparting them to me they 
 even sought, now and then, to win me over to their 
 side. The aim specified was the dismemberment 
 of Russia (Die Zerstuechelung Russlands), by the 
 forfeiture of the Baltic provinces, including St. 
 Petersburg, to Prussia and Sweden, the loss of the en- 
 tire territory of the Republic of Poland in its widest 
 extent, and the disintegration of the remainder by 
 a division between Great and Little Russia."* 
 
 On what grounds was dismemberment of Russia 
 proposed? "In justification of this program" 
 (for the dismemberment of Russia), Prince Bis- 
 marck says, "the theory of Baron Von Haxthausen- 
 Abbenburg ('Studies of the International Econ- 
 omy of Russia, the Life of the People and in Partic- 
 
 *Bismarck's "Reflections and Reminiscences"; Transl. by A. J. Butler, 
 Vol. I, pp. 119-120. 
 
AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 51 
 
 ular, the Agrarian Institutions') was made use 
 of; namely, that the three zones, with their mu- 
 tually supplementary products, could not fail to 
 secure predominance in Europe to the hundred 
 millions of Russians provided they remained united. 
 From this theory grew the corollary that the 
 natural bond between us and England should be 
 developed with the added dark insinuation that 
 if Prussia and her army served England against 
 Russia, England on her side would further the 
 Prussian policy."* 
 
 From the above, it appears that the dismember- 
 ment of Russia was proposed on the ground that if the 
 Slavs, especially the Russians, remained united, they 
 would inevitably attain preponderance in Europe. 
 
 The official propaganda for the dismemberment 
 of Russia in 1854 was conducted by Bethmann- 
 HoUweg, uncle of the Bethmann-Hollweg of the 
 World War. It was financed by him and other big 
 capitalists, whose relatives later played leading 
 roles in bringing about the World War. 
 
 "The active and practical realization of these 
 hopes," Bismarck continues, "was confined to the 
 little circle of the Court opposition, which, under 
 the name of the Bethmann-Hollweg group, tried to 
 win over the Prince of Prussia to themselves and 
 their efforts. The party, or more correctly, coterie, 
 found its original mainstay in Count Robert von 
 
 *Bismarck's "Reflections and Reminiscences"; Transl. by A. J. Butler, 
 Vol. I. p. 120. 
 
52 THE INSIDE STORY OF 
 
 der Goltz, a man of unusual competence and energy. 
 The 'financing' of the business (to use a stock-ex- 
 change expression) was provided for by the vast 
 wealth of Bethmann-HoUweg, Count Fuersten- 
 berg-Stammheim, and Count Albert Pourtales." 
 
 Bismarck discloses a report from the Prussian 
 Ambassador to London from which it appears that 
 England at that time favoured the programme of 
 the Teutonic war parties, going even so far as prom- 
 ising the whole south of Russia with the Crimea to 
 Austria, as reward for cooperation against Russia. 
 
 "While Goltz and his colleagues at Berlin," 
 Bismarck further says, "were conducting their 
 affairs with a certain dexterity, of which the article 
 just mentioned is a sample, Bunsen, our Ambassa- 
 dor in London, was imprudent enough in April, 
 1854, to send to the Minister, Manteuffel, a lengthy 
 memorandum calling for the restoration of Poland, 
 the extension of Austria as far as the Crimea, the 
 deposition of the Ernestine line from the throne of 
 Saxony, and more of the same kind ; and recommend- 
 ing the cooperation of Prussia in this programme." 
 
 Bismarck then gives a very true picture of the 
 position of the Emperor Francis Joseph, who lived 
 long enough to realize the ambitions of his youth, 
 for a war against Russia: "The Emperor Francis 
 Joseph is in the hands of his police — and during the 
 last years I have learned what that means — and 
 has allowed himself to be deceived by lies as to how 
 Russia incited Kossuth and so forth. He has 
 
AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 53 
 
 stifled his conscience therewith, and what the 
 pohce cannot compass {nicJit vermag), Ultramon- 
 tanism achieves, namely, rage against the Orthodox 
 Church and against Protestant Prussia. On this 
 account there is even now talk of a Kingdom of 
 Poland under an Austrian Archduke. 
 
 "With these childish Utopias, heads clever 
 enough, no doubt, of the Bethmann-Hollweg party 
 played at being statesmen, believing it poss^ible to 
 treat a body of sixty-six million Great Russians as 
 if it were a caput mortuum in the future of Europe, 
 which they could misuse as they pleased without 
 making it a certain ally of every future enemy of 
 Prussia in every war with France, to guard her 
 rear in the direction of Poland, seeing that any 
 arrangement likely to satisfy Poland in the prov- 
 inces of Prussia and Posen and even in Silesia 
 is impossible without the breaking up and decom- 
 posing of Prussia. Not only did these politicians 
 consider themselves wise, but they were honoured 
 as such by the Liberal Press." 
 
 Bismarck sharply criticizes Bethmann-Hollweg 
 and his group of dismemberers of Russia; and 
 flays the liberal press which supported them. In 
 order to understand the Austro-German declara- 
 tions of war against Russia in 1914 one must go 
 back to this Austro-Prussian programme of 1854. 
 
 To carry out their ambitious plan for the con- 
 quest and partition of Russia in 1854, the Court 
 plotters of Vienna and Berlin needed only a justi- 
 
54 THE INSIDE STORY OF 
 
 fiable pretext for war, and right here came their 
 great diflSculty. Russia was a traditional friend 
 of Prussia. As for Austria, only six years before 
 the Russian Czar had saved the throne of Em- 
 peror Francis Joseph, and Austria from dismem- 
 berment in the revolutionary years of 1848-49. 
 For this generous act the Czar had asked nothing 
 in return. But the conscience of Francis Joseph 
 was at no time very sensitive, and that of his 
 Minister for Foreign Affairs and adviser, Count 
 Buol-Schauenstein, a German from Germany, 
 was even less so. He soon found the desired casus 
 belli. When the Russian armies crossed the 
 Danube to attack Turkey, the ally of England, 
 France, and Sardinia, the Ballplatz became very 
 indignant and demanded the withdrawal of the 
 Russians behind the Danube. 
 
 "The efforts of Count Buol, Austrian Minister 
 of Foreign Affairs, to create a casus belli were 
 frustrated by Russia's evacuation of Wallachia 
 and Moldovia," says Prince Bismarck, concluding, 
 "If we do not hold Austria fast as long as practi- 
 cable, we burden ourselves with a serious task." 
 
 Regarding these events we have also the testi- 
 mony of the Austrian historian Heinrich Friedjung 
 in his work: "The Crimean War and Austrian 
 Politics" (Der Krimkrieg und die Oesterreichische 
 Politik) where he says: "For the next step in the 
 development of affairs the stipulation was of special 
 importance that Austria must make demand on 
 
AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 55 
 
 Russia to evacuate the Danubian principalities, 
 and that Prussia must support this demand. Fur- 
 thermore, a mihtary convention was concluded 
 under which Austria undertook to put in the field 
 an army of 350,000 men and Prussia an army of 
 200,000 men. The Czar gave vent to his wrath by 
 ordering the removal of the statue and picture of 
 the Emperor Francis Joseph from his study ; giving 
 the statue to his personal valet. The Czar ex- 
 pressed himself on that occasion to the Austrian 
 minister to this effect: "Sobieski and I were the 
 most stupid Kings of Poland for having saved 
 Austria." 
 
 What do we learn from these illuminating remi- 
 niscences of Bismarck? 
 
 First, that the HohenzoUerns and the Hapsburgs 
 had as far back as 1854 painstakingly worked out, 
 and their governments had actually adopted, a com- 
 plete plan for the invasion and partition of Russia; 
 laboured at all costs to create a casus belli; that 
 the Ultra-Catholic Party at the Court of Vienna 
 was instigating war, and that the party led by 
 Bethmann-HoUweg, Prussian Minister and uncle 
 of Bethmann-HoUweg of the World War, was doing 
 the same. 
 
 Let us compare the Teutonic war parties of 1914 
 with those of 1854. With the difference that in 
 place of the defunct ringleaders we find their sons 
 and nephews or other relatives — the personnel 
 is almost identical. In the place of the Prussian 
 
56 THE INSIDE STORY OF 
 
 Crown Prince who was plotting with the Beth- 
 mann-Hollweg group of the Crimean War we 
 find his grandson, Kaiser Wilhelm II; in place of 
 Moritz von Bethmann-Hollweg, the original leader, 
 we find his nephew, Theobald von Bethmann- 
 Hollweg, the Chancellor who came into office in 
 1909; General Von der Goltz has been replaced by 
 his relative General von der Goltz Pasha, one 
 of the greatest military writers of Germany and 
 the organizer of the Turkish army; Count Pourtales 
 is represented by his relative of the same name and 
 title, who was German Ambassador in Petrograd 
 at the outbreak of the World War; and finally 
 Prince Fuerstenberg-Stammheim is represented 
 by his relative Prince Egon Fuerstenberg, the 
 Croesus of the aristocrats of Austria-Germany. 
 
 In Austria, Emperor Francis Joseph alone sur- 
 vived to see his youthful dream undertaken; 
 Count Buol-Schauenstein was successively rep- 
 resented by Counts Aehrenthal, Berchtold, Czer- 
 nin, and Burian. As for Hungary, close relatives 
 of Counts Tisza, Apponyi, and Andrassy, the 
 great conspirators of the World War, were among 
 the leading plotters for war against Russia in 1854. 
 
 The same families, the same groups, the same 
 business interests, court, aristocracy, big land 
 owners, and big bankers. The pro-war bankers 
 of 1854 as well as those of 1914 originated in the 
 Semitic banking centre of Frankfort-on-the-Main 
 in Germany, the birthplace of the Bethmann- 
 
AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 57 
 
 Hollwegs, the Goldschmidts, the Seligmans, Jacob 
 Schiff, and the Rothschilds. 
 
 All the vast wealth of the banking house of the 
 Rothschilds, amounting at the beginning of the 
 war to some twenty billion francs, was made chiejfly 
 in war operations, war financing. The Rothschild 
 brothers of the Central Empires have in fact some- 
 times financed simultaneously rival groups of 
 belligerents. 
 
 Frankfort-on-the-Main is, and has been for more 
 than a hundred years, the chief source of financial 
 backing for wars. Kings, emperors, and war min- 
 isters have had to await the pleasure of these bank- 
 ers before issuing their ultimata. To that centre 
 have been added Vienna, Berlin, and Budapest, 
 the other more important centres of Jewish world 
 finance. In Vienna the Rothschilds' word is 
 law; in Berlin the Hahnemans, Bleichroeders, 
 Mendelssohns, especially the last named, who of 
 late years have controlled Russia's finances. To 
 these same sources may be traced the origin of the 
 World War. In order to distinguish between the 
 Hollweg groups of 1854 and 1914 let us designate 
 them as Bethmann-Hollweg groups No. I and No. 
 II, or that of the Crimean War and that of the 
 World War. 
 
 What prevented the HohenzoUerns and Haps- 
 burgs from carrying out their plans in 1854.^' The 
 firm but conciliatory policy of Russia: by immedi- 
 ately withdrawing her troops from the Balkans, by 
 
58 THE INSIDE STORY OF 
 
 her rapid concentration of a great army in Poland; 
 and by the courage, discipline, and stubborn 
 loyalty with which her armies fought the invasion 
 of their country in the south; and were prepared 
 to do the same in the west. Bismarck also played 
 an important part in frustrating these designs. 
 *' Prussia has no real cause for war with Russia," 
 he said, and refused to be a party to these plans. 
 
 Thus the Bethmann-HoUweg War Party of 1854 
 finally sank into oblivion. But in the degree that 
 Prussia grew stronger and bolder through the suc- 
 cessful Bismarckian wars, this anti-Russian war 
 party both in Austria-Hungary and Germany first 
 raised its head again, during the Russo-Turkish 
 War of 1878, but not until the weakening of Russia 
 through the Russo-Japanese War was it restored 
 to full vitality once more. The role of Count Buol 
 of 1854-5 was played in 1878 by a Hungarian, 
 Count Andrassy, the Minister for Foreign Affairs 
 of Austria-Hungary. 
 
 But not until a British fleet appeared before 
 Constantinople to hold in check the victorious 
 Russian armies which stood before the gates of that 
 city, did Andrassy take heart. Great Britain's 
 preparations for war and her declaration that Rus- 
 sia must choose between war and a congress at 
 which the Treaty of San Stefano should be revised 
 instantly revived the bellicose spirit of Austria 
 which had been somewhat dampened by her defeat 
 at Sadowa in 1866 at the hands of Prussia. 
 
AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 59 
 
 Incredible as it may seem, the "adventurous" 
 diplomacy of D'Israeli, Russia's arch-hater, made 
 it possible for Andrassy to enthrone Austria- 
 Hungary in the Balkans by extorting at the Con- 
 gress of Berlin the mandate for her occupation of 
 Bosnia and Herzegovina. This prevented the 
 solution of the Balkan question and still further 
 whetted the territorial appetite of Austro-Hungar- 
 ian diplomacy. So dangerous grew the situation 
 that Bismarck was forced in 1887 to conclude with 
 Russia his famous "Reinsurance Treaty" in order 
 to checkmate the intrigues of the war advocates 
 in Austria-Hungary and Germany who would 
 have endangered his life work, the creation of the 
 German Empire. The "Reinsurance Treaty" 
 stipulated — according to recent disclosures — ^that 
 in case either party became involved in war the 
 other would preserve benevolent neutrality and do 
 its best to keep other powers from coming in; 
 exceptions being made in case of a Russian attack 
 upon Austria or a German attack upon France. 
 
 Germany, furthermore, recognized Russia's "his- 
 torically acquired rights in the Balkan Peninsula, 
 especially her preponderant influence in Bulgaria," 
 and both parties pledged themselves to act in con- 
 cert in Balkan affairs and to prevent any territorial 
 changes there without their consent. Turkey 
 was to be forbidden, under penalty of a Russo- 
 German attack, to admit the armed forces of any 
 other power to the Straits, as the British fleet 
 
60 THE INSIDE STORY OF 
 
 had been admitted in 1878 when a Russian army 
 sat outside Constantinople. 
 
 So much for the treaty, which was secret. An 
 appendix, described as "very secret," went still 
 further. Above all, Germany promised benevolent 
 neutrality in case Russia herself should undertake 
 to seize the Bosphorus and hold it against any out- 
 side power, and to give moral and diplomatic 
 support to any steps which the Czar might find 
 necessary "to keep the keys of his empire in his 
 hands." 
 
 Bismarck in his memoirs supported his Reinsur- 
 ance policy with the following reflections : 
 
 "I believe that it would be advantageous for 
 Germany if the Russians in one way or another, 
 physically or diplomatically, were to establish 
 themselves at Constantinople and had to defend 
 that position. We should then cease to be in the 
 condition of being hounded on by England and 
 occasionally also by Austria, and exploited by them 
 to check Russian lust after the Bosphorus, and we 
 should be able to wait and see if Austria were at- 
 tacked and thereby our casus belli arose. 
 
 "It would be better for the Austrian policy also 
 to withdraw itself from the influence of Hungarian 
 chauvinism until Russia had taken up a position 
 on the Bosphorus, and had thereby considerably 
 intensified its friction with the Mediterranean 
 states — that is with England, and even with 
 Italy and France — ^and so had increased the neces- 
 
AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 61 
 
 sity of coming to an understanding with Austria 
 a Vaimahle. Were I an Austrian minister I would 
 not prevent the Russians going to Constantinople 
 but I would not begin an understanding with 
 them until they had made the move forward. 
 Under any circumstances, the share which Austria 
 has in the inheritance of Turkey will be arranged 
 in understanding with Russia, and the Austrian 
 portion will be all the greater the better they know 
 at Vienna how to wait, and to encourage Russian 
 policy to take up a more advanced position. As 
 regards England, the position of modern Russia 
 might perhaps be considered as improved if it 
 ruled Constantinople; but as regards Austria and 
 Germany, Russia would be less dangerous as long 
 as it remained in Constantinople. It would no 
 longer be possible for Prussia to blunder as it 
 did in 1855, and to play ourselves out and hazard 
 our stake for Austria, England, and France, in 
 order to earn a humiliating admission to the 
 congress and a mention honorable as a European 
 Power."* 
 
 Unfortunately this policy of Bismarck for pre- 
 serving the peace between Germany, Austria- 
 Hungary, and Russia was abandoned shortly after 
 Kaiser Wilhelm II came to the throne and the 
 old War Party received a new impetus. From 
 the beginning of his reign the clamour for 
 war against Russia grew every year bolder and 
 
 *Bismarck's "Reflections and Reminiscences," Vol. II, pp. 288-289. 
 
62 THE INSIDE STORY OF 
 
 louder. The Pan-German Party took the lead 
 in this hue and cry and its publications were 
 not only sanctioned but inspired by the Wilhelm- 
 strasse. 
 
 War, according to Prussian conceptions, being 
 a business enterprise, Austria-Germany sought to 
 secure its lasting beneiSts in a business-like way. 
 Russia's national income is based on her exports 
 to foreign countries; two thirds of those exports go 
 by way of her Black Sea ports and thence through 
 the Bosphorus and the Dardanelles. These straits 
 are Russia's real outlet. Once this outlet is closed, 
 Russian commerce comes to a standstill and the 
 nation is ruined. The other third of her exports 
 go through the Baltic ports. The sea, therefore, 
 is the life-giving medium which keeps Russia in 
 touch with the outer world and makes possible 
 her economic life. 
 
 Austria-Germany's military plan was then a 
 business plan: namely, to cut Russia off from the 
 approaches to the sea both in the north and the 
 south, in the Baltic and Black seas, and undoubt- 
 edly to close forever against her the Dardanelles. 
 Whoever owns the coast of a country owns its 
 hinterland — Germany's "liberation" of the Baltic 
 provinces, Austria's "liberation" of the Ukraine, 
 were to be a cloak for the economic robbery, and 
 hence the ultimate political annihilation, of Russia. 
 No country can permanently import more com- 
 modities than it can pay for with its exports. Thus 
 
AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 63 
 
 might Russia be reduced to impotence and made a 
 virtual colony of the Central Empires. Like a 
 red thread is this idea woven into the great tissue of 
 all Austro-German designs on Russia. Along these 
 lines both Bethmann-HoUweg groups No. I and 
 No. II conceived their plans. 
 
 It took Bethmann-Hollweg and Co. sixty years 
 to bring to realization that which Bismarck called 
 their "Ausschlachtung" or "Zerstueckelung" of 
 Russia — a butcher's term, meaning respectively 
 the "carving out" of a slaughtered animal, and 
 cutting it up into small portions. Of the original 
 "partners" of the original joint-stock company 
 one only, the Emperor Francis Joseph, lived long 
 enough to see the great operation for which the 
 company was founded actually begun. All the 
 other partners had died and their places had beei 
 taken by their heirs and successors. The task 
 which the company set itself in the Crimean War 
 was at that time much easier to accomplish. Four 
 powers were already fighting Russia in the south 
 — England, France, Sardinia, and Turkey. Had 
 Prussia and Austria joined them as they planned, 
 the ring would have been complete. In the sixty 
 years that elapsed the magnitude of the task grew 
 immeasurably, Russia had grown stronger both 
 militarily and economically. To overthrow her 
 quickly she must be invaded from all sides at the 
 same time. Furthermore, modern wars are wars 
 of peoples, of "peoples in arms" as the Germans 
 
64 THE INSIDE STORY OF 
 
 put it. Preparations had to be widened and deep- 
 ened. New silent associates had to be brought in 
 and the scope of the whole enterprise had to be 
 enlarged and so popularized as to win to its support 
 the common people. The acquisition of new silent 
 partners was an easy matter, as all the Germanic 
 princes of Europe were eager to join Austria- 
 Germany in such an enterprise. The nation-wide 
 propaganda which had to be carried on at home was 
 of a far more difficult nature. In 1854-55, when 
 the peoples were ruled absolutely and decisions for 
 war or peace were the sole concern of the rulers 
 and a few powerful men, it actually sufficed, as 
 Bismarck has said, to "exchange comprehensive 
 secret memoranda among themselves" to bring 
 things to a head. In these days this is impossible 
 even in the most reactionary countries. In 1854 
 rulers dealt with armies of 200,000 men; in modern 
 wars millions have to be called to the colours. 
 These people had to be told what there was in the 
 enterprise to make it worth while to risk the lives 
 of millions. Therefore war aims could no longer 
 be kept secret. They had to be explained and 
 popularized in the widest sense of the word. It 
 would take an encyclopaedia to enumerate the 
 literature that Austria and Germany used for this 
 purpose. This voluminous Pan-German literature 
 is well exemplified by two books which have never 
 been translated into English and which are little 
 known in the English-speaking world. One is 
 
AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 65 
 
 entitled: *' Neither Communism nor Capitalism" 
 {Weder Kommunismus noch Kapitalismus) , written 
 by Dr. Karl Jentsch of Leipzig and published in 
 1893. The other is called: '* Germany's Problems 
 as a Great and World Power" {Deutschlands Auf- 
 gaben als Gross-und Weltmacht) written by Otto 
 Delffs and published in 1901. 
 
 The quotations from these volumes which follow 
 will show how the theory of Baron von Haxthausen- 
 Abbenburg, already mentioned, was enlarged. 
 These publications were among the first fruits of 
 the Pan-German League, which was established in 
 1890, in response to an editorial in the Koel- 
 nische Zeitung, entitled: "Germany, Wake Up!" 
 The Koelnische Zeitung is one of the principal or- 
 gans of the German Catholic Party. Long before 
 the World War it openly advocated war against 
 Serbia and Russia; and, during the war, clamoured 
 for annexations in the East. 
 
 In his book Doctor Jentsch says of Russia: 
 
 *'It has been said that Russia finds it necessary 
 to have access to the Mediterranean, but this is 
 nonsense. 
 
 *'The Russians need for their existence only two 
 things: that instead of Schnapps (brandy) there 
 should be put into their hands hatchets, ploughs, 
 and spades, and that in lieu of the knout they 
 should be given intelligent leadership; both things 
 we could bring them. ... In the East, there- 
 fore, lies, quite naturally, the war danger, but not 
 
66 THE INSIDE STORY OF 
 
 because Russia wants the Golden Horn but because 
 Germany wants Russia's land. 
 
 *' Germany and Austria, as the executors of the 
 allied powers, should lead their land armies into 
 Russia, while the other powers should assist them 
 in their operations with their fleets. . . ." 
 
 And later the author thus defines the modest lim- 
 its of Pan-Germany. He says: 
 
 "How would matters develop after the opening 
 up of Russia and Asia Minor .'^ The colonist 
 groups would form republics under the nominal 
 suzerainty of the Czar and the Porte. The German 
 colonists, spread over these wide areas, would be 
 under the protection of the German Kaiser. In 
 this manner the whole European East, as well as 
 Asia Minor, would form one mighty German Em- 
 pire, a rampart for European culture against Rus- 
 sian and Mongol hordes, Germany becoming the 
 Empire of empires. {Das Wahre Reich der echten 
 Mitte.) 
 
 "Whoever does not believe that the German 
 nation, whose ancestors have crushed the Roman 
 Empire and have once already dominated Europe, 
 is capable of performing this task, should be 
 ashamed of himself and had better give up his Ger- 
 man name. . . ." 
 
 In speaking of Germany's relation to Austria- 
 Hungary the author says : 
 
 " . . . . The union of Austria to Germany, 
 through which alone the German power may 
 
AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 67 
 
 become compact and solidified, belongs to the 
 problems which our grandchildren will have to 
 solve." 
 
 Otto Delffs makes the following observations 
 on Russia: 
 
 "The first step is to get back into our fold the 
 lost brother tribes on all sides; the second, our 
 colonization of Siberia and Trans-Caucasia; the 
 third, to push Russia back from the Baltic and 
 Black seas and to settle their coasts with German 
 colonists. Captain Mahan has established the 
 guiding principle : 'Who rules the sea, rules also the 
 land back of it' as we ourselves have established 
 in Africa as our state maxim: 'He who owns the 
 seacoast must own also the hinterland.' In 
 view of these our claims we must without scruples 
 force Russia to transfer her capital to Moscow 
 and let her dream out her existence as a German 
 enclave. 
 
 "And for this same reason we must annihilate 
 her before she gets too strong. The ''C aster um 
 censeo Russiam esse delendaiii must become to 
 every German of culture as familiar as the Pater 
 Noster, and this annihilation must be a literal one; 
 the complete elimination of Russia from the 
 ranks of the Great Nations. If we are too short- 
 sighted and pusillanimous eventually to claim the 
 whole Russian Empire for ourselves and our allies, 
 and consequently firmly to hold it, or if we are 
 afraid of the colonization problems in the Vistula 
 
68 THE INSIDE STORY OF 
 
 regions, then we must at the very least demand the 
 cession of Siberia, as through this we get what we 
 need above all — an intracontinental uninhabited 
 colonization area with approximately a European 
 climate . Later we could, if need be, crush the rest 
 of the Muscovite Empire between our two buffers. 
 Allies we will easily find and richly compensate: 
 Hungarians, Rumanians, Turks, Scandinavians, 
 Austrians, Chinese, and Japanese." 
 
 Later he adds : 
 
 "When, therefore, after the death of Francis 
 Joseph, the collapse of the Danube Monarchy 
 comes, we must stand ready to step in with strong 
 hands and take over the heirloom of the Danube. 
 The main thing in all this is that it must be done 
 before Russia gets too strong." 
 
 The learned Pan-German concludes with this 
 scornful reference to the old-fashioned views of 
 Prince Bismarck: 
 
 *'But we have already outgrown Bismarck's 
 narrow range of vision. In forming his plans, he 
 did not foresee that we were firmly to establish 
 ourselves in China and Asia Minor. Here our 
 motto must be for the moment: * J'?/ suis, J'y 
 reste.^ We are already placing Russia between 
 two fires. But Bismarck had no idea of all this; 
 otherwise he would have followed the wise counsel 
 of the great Moltke and would have annihilated 
 Russia when the time was ripe. In the year 1871 
 or in 1881, after the death of Alexander, the oppor- 
 
AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 69 
 
 tunity was offered to carry out this idea with rela- 
 tive ease." 
 
 As early as 1871, flushed with the victory over 
 France, Field Marshal Von Moltke advised an 
 immediate attack upon Russia. Again in 1881 
 when Alexander I, the Czar-liberator and friend 
 of the Slavs, died. Von Moltke urged the overthrow 
 of Russia. 
 
 This preliminary war propaganda was of two 
 kinds, according to the composition of the peoples 
 from whom the fighting material was sought—' 
 Pan-Germanic and Pan-Turanian; the first was 
 used with all the Germanic peoples in the alli- 
 ance; the second with all Turanian or Ugro- 
 Mongol peoples. It may suffice here to say that 
 to win them over the war-makers played on all 
 the passions, hatreds, cupidity, religious intoler- 
 ance, etc., of all the peoples. 
 
 Indeed, Germany's world policy since the time 
 of Bismarck, and especially during the time of 
 Kaiser Willielm II, was stupendous. By estab- 
 lishing herself in Morocco, she sought to drive the 
 British from Egypt, and to bring both doors of 
 the Mediterranean Sea and the sea route to India 
 and the Far East into her hands; through her 
 policy in Asiatic Turkey she aimed to create for 
 herself a sure road on dry land to the Indian Ocean ; 
 and through the continuation of the Bagdad Road, 
 to reach through Persia the gates of India. 
 Through her policy in Central Africa, Germany 
 
70 THE INSIDE STORY OF 
 
 sought to prevent England from building the 
 Transafrican Cape-to-Cairo Railway. By the 
 irrigation of Mesopotamia and the final settle- 
 ment of that country by German immigrants, she 
 planned to prevent Russia from reaching a south- 
 ern port. Finally, Constantinople was and is 
 the real key to Austro-German world policy, for 
 this great cosmopolitan city was the apex and 
 common meeting point for the two territorial 
 triangles which Austro-German diplomacy had 
 constructed for itself — one spreading out like a 
 fan north and northwest into Europe, the other 
 running south and southeast into Asia: the first 
 extending on its one side through Salonica and 
 Trieste to Antwerp and Rotterdam in the north 
 and on its other side extending from Constantinople 
 through the delta of the Danube and Kieff as far 
 north as Reval. This triangle, then, embraced 
 the following territories: the empires of Germany 
 and Austria-Hungary with Holland and Belgium 
 added to those of Germany, and the Balkans 
 with Rumania added to Austria-Hungary, while 
 Poland and Little Russia under the joint domina- 
 tion of the two Teutonic empires comprised the 
 remaining territory within it. The other triangle 
 included the whole of Asiatic Turkey, Persia, and 
 Arabia as far as the distant lands of India. 
 
 Constantinople was, therefore, the keystone 
 in the arch of Germany's world power and world 
 greatness. Around this pivotal point centred 
 
AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 71 
 
 Germany's world policy, directed — ^both militarily 
 and economically — on the one side against Russia, 
 on the other against Great Britain. Deprived 
 of Constantinople as the centre from which to 
 direct the destinies of these vast territories, the 
 whole structure, consolidated with so much blood 
 and iron, has crumbled, and the German hege- 
 mony over Europe and the world has vanished. 
 England remains mistress of the seas, and a 
 regenerated Russia must break through to the 
 south and again find access to the life-giving sea. 
 That Germany may absorb Russia through com- 
 mercial penetration before this regeneration has 
 had time to take place is now the greatest danger 
 which faces not only Russia but the world. 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 The Ofener Hofburg War Conference 
 October, 1912 
 
 bethman-hollweg commits germany to war, 
 december, 191^ 
 
 4LL the actors in this war drama — ^Forgach, 
 /_\ Franz, Tanczos, Hann, and their numerous 
 .X 9l satelHtes, foiled, humiHated, and discred- 
 ited, had been removed from the Imperial stage 
 and were, with what patience they could summon, 
 awaiting their re-engagement. All, that is, except 
 their supreme leader, Count Aehrenthal and his 
 royal sponsor, the Archduke Francis Ferdinand. 
 Aehrenthal, discredited, feared, hated, almost 
 blind, a broken and dying man, although compar- 
 atively young, was forced in bitterness to realize 
 that he could no longer achieve his consuming 
 ambition for the conquest, destruction, and parti- 
 tion of the country whose hospitality he had en- 
 joyed for ten long years. Even the brilliance of 
 the Great Cross which his master, Francis Joseph, 
 "the All Highest," now conferred upon him, could 
 not dispel his gloom. Nor was his despondency 
 lessened by being involuntarily placed upon the 
 
 72 
 
AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 73 
 
 retired list a few hours before his end in order 
 that his Countess on his death might draw the 
 pension of a former Minister instead of the hberal 
 allowance bestowed upon the widows of those who 
 die in office. 
 
 The dying man summoned to his sick bed his 
 understudy and successor, Count Berchtold, and 
 to him confided his state secrets and implored 
 him to continue with all his energy the programme 
 and policy of the War Party, just as he had con- 
 tinued Austria's underground work as his successor 
 in Petrograd. Not much more than two years 
 later Berchtold fulfilled the dying trust of his 
 predecessor; the great war was a ghastly reality. 
 
 Just as Aehrenthal's plans were for the time up- 
 set by the unexpected Turkish Revolution, so 
 were Berchtold's thrown into confusion by the 
 still more unexpected Balkan Alliance followed by 
 the Balkan Wars. When our General Staff and 
 Foreign Office, which since the advent to power 
 of Aehrenthal had been one soul in two bodies, 
 learned that Serbia and Bulgaria were allied and 
 about to enter the baptism of fire as brothers in 
 arms, they were for the moment paralyzed with 
 rage and amazement. As the Literary Section 
 of the Foreign Office expressed it: "Enemies to 
 the death have become friends." 
 
 For the benefit of those not familiar with Balkan 
 affairs it should here be explained that the Balkan 
 Peninsula is surrounded by three seas and forms 
 
74 THE INSIDE STORY OF 
 
 a mosaic of small and great nations, Greeks, Turks, 
 Albanians, and Slavs, of whom the Slavs form the 
 great majority of the population, extending in an 
 unbroken stretch of territory from the Soca 
 (Isonzo), that is, from the confines of Italy, to the 
 shores of the Black Sea. For two thousand years 
 the land has been cursed by bloody, racial, religious, 
 and dynastic wars. Neither all-powerful Rome 
 of the Western Empire, nor cunning Byzantium 
 of the Eastern Empire; neither the Bulgarian 
 Simons nor the Serbian Dushans had succeeded 
 in welding the peoples of the Peninsula into organic 
 unity. Through the centuries the Balkan Penin- 
 sula, with its vast stores of undeveloped mineral 
 wealth, has been the coveted prey of Eurasiatic 
 conquerors. It is to-day the beautiful Helen of 
 Troy for whose possession was started this last 
 titanic Trojan war. 
 
 At the time of which we are writing there were 
 two proposed solutions for the never-ending Ballcan 
 turmoil and bloodshed, one Russian and the other 
 Austrian. The Russian solution sought, through 
 the confederation of the autonomous national 
 states bound together by a custom's union and 
 a military convention and represented by one 
 diplomatic body, to build up on the Peninsula 
 a powerful state which should be the tenth world 
 power. The Austrian solution aimed to perpetu- 
 ate the turmoil by engendering rivalry and hatred 
 among the several states until it should be possi- 
 
AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 75 
 
 ble for Austria gradually to absorb or crush them 
 and finally to bring the whole Peninsula into a 
 position of vassalage to the Hapsburg crown. 
 
 The Balkan Alliance was the first step in carry- 
 ing into effect the Russian plan. It was brought 
 about by Russian diplomacy. Russia felt that 
 only through the creation of an alliance between 
 the Balkan States could she liberate the Christian 
 peoples of the Peninsula from the Turkish yoke 
 and protect Serbia's independence from the en- 
 croachments of Austria. After long and difficult 
 conferences the "Serbian-Bulgarian Treaty" of 
 March 13, 1912, was negotiated. This treaty 
 provided that each power should help the other 
 with all its forces if attacked, and that both to- 
 gether should guarantee to prevent the occupation, 
 even temporarily, of any portion of the Peninsula 
 by any other power; and that in the event of war 
 neither state should under any circumstances 
 make a separate peace. The treaty was to remain 
 in force until September 31, 1920. To the original 
 treaty was added a secret treaty which stipulated 
 the portions of Macedonia which should go to 
 each country in case of a war with Turkey and 
 the occupation of Macedonia. In case of dispute 
 between the parties to the treaty, the Czar of 
 Russia was to be the arbitrator. A few months 
 later the treaty was completed by a mihtary con- 
 vention between the two states to which Monte- 
 negro and Greece later adhered. 
 
76 THE INSIDE STORY OF 
 
 During my service in Serbia I had never tired of 
 pointing out to the Bulgarian diplomats the great 
 advantages which would accrue to both countries 
 and to all Slavs from an economic and military 
 alliance between Bulgaria and Serbia and the cor- 
 responding dangers from hostility between these 
 neighbouring states. Consequently in those Oc- 
 tober days of 1912 one of my life-long dreams 
 seemed about to be realized. Slavs the world over, 
 whether in Austria-Hungary, the Balkans, Russia, 
 America, Africa, or Australia, rejoiced at this mani- 
 festation of Slav solidarity. 
 
 To show how completely Austro-Hungarian 
 diplomacy was caught unawares by the outbreak 
 of the Balkan Wars, on October 12, 1912, when Herr 
 von Ugron, our Minister at Belgrade, was asked 
 by a correspondent of the Neue Freie Presse, the 
 principal Austrian war organ, whether there was 
 any danger of war between Serbia and Turkey, he 
 replied: "Does this peaceful city suggest the out- 
 break of war? " On October 14th, Serbia, Bulgaria, 
 and Greece presented their ultimatum to Turkey, 
 demanding autonomy for Macedonia, and four 
 days afterward the actual fighting started. In 
 spite of its feverish suspicion and army of well-paid 
 spies, the Ballplatz had been caught napping. 
 This caused an outburst of indignation and ac- 
 cusation in the German and Magyar circles of 
 Vienna and Budapest. 
 
 My service in Serbia had also made it clear to 
 
AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 77 
 
 me that little as we wanted Serbia to enter this 
 alliance and this war we were at bottom the cause 
 for her action — that is, that our policy of economic 
 strangulation toward her had forced her to try- 
 drastic remedies in self-defence. During my two 
 years' service in Belgrade and Nish I had come into 
 closer touch with the Serbian exporters, merchants, 
 and peasants than had any other member of our dip- 
 lomatic or consular corps. I knew their fundamen- 
 tal problem was how to export their farm products. 
 I knew that our government had deliberately made 
 this problem all but insoluble. Serbia is an agricul- 
 tural country with cattle and hogs, wheat, corn, 
 and prunes to export. For the last eight years, since 
 the overthrow of the pro-Austrian Obrenovitch 
 dynasty, the country had, in spite of our efforts at 
 strangulation, been in a state of rapid economic 
 development. 
 
 The iniquitous Congress of Berlin of 1878 had 
 given Serbia impossible boundaries. She had no 
 harbour, no outlet to the life-giving sea. She 
 was almost surrounded by the high tariff walls of 
 Austria and Turkey. For Serbian exports there 
 were three routes only: the Danube down stream 
 across Rumania to the harbours of the Black 
 Sea; the Danube up stream and the railway via 
 Budapest- Vienna through Austro-Hungarian ter- 
 ritory; and the Belgrade-Uskub-Salonica railroad 
 through Turkish territory. Our economic policy 
 toward Serbia was dictated by the big export 
 
78 THE INSIDE STORY OF 
 
 houses of Vienna and the big Magyar swine- 
 breeders of Hungary, the so-called "swine barons. " 
 The first group aimed to monopolize for their prod- 
 ucts the Serbian market and the second to prevent 
 Serbia from competing with them in the great 
 food markets of Vienna and Berlin; by their 
 monopoly of which markets they were enabled 
 constantly to raise their prices. 
 
 But the almost prohibitive duties on Serbian 
 products were not enough to satisfy the greed of 
 the Magyar "swine barons." They developed 
 a device for shutting off the importation of Serbian 
 swine completely and at will. This device was 
 simplicity itself. There was a Hungarian veteri- 
 nary attached to our Belgrade Consulate. When- 
 ever the "swine barons" desired a complete monop- 
 oly of the hog market or whenever our diplomacy 
 desired to extort from Serbia some further political 
 or economic favour, we would learn that disease 
 was rampant among Serbian live stock which would 
 infect our own stock unless importations were 
 stopped. The Hungarian veterinary would then 
 be called upon to investigate. His researches 
 always confirmed the worst fears of our diplomats, 
 and Serbian importations were stopped. The 
 fact that no country in Europe had a better health 
 record for its live stock than Serbia made no 
 difference to this veterinary and from his decision 
 there was no appeal. Doctor Kramarz, the fore- 
 most authority on foreign relations among the 
 
AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 79 
 
 Austrian Slavs, said in commenting on this treat- 
 ment of Serbia: "No nation can very well depend 
 for its existence upon a Hungarian veterinary 
 doctor." 
 
 Our repressive measures went further than an 
 attempt to monopolize Serbian markets for our 
 products while keeping Serbian products out of our 
 markets. We actually tried to prevent her from 
 securing markets elsewhere. We prohibited her 
 from exporting via Croatia-Trieste to Italy. We 
 would not allow her to transport her wheat destined 
 for Belgium via the Danube and through Austria- 
 Hungary. She was therefore obliged to take it all 
 the way down the Danube to the Black Sea and 
 then through the Black Sea and the Mediterranean. 
 
 It should be added that our government pur- 
 sued exactly the same policy of economic oppres- 
 sion also toward its own southern Slav provinces, 
 such as Bosnia and Herzegovina, except that 
 having absolute control over them we could be, 
 and we were, more ruthless in their oppressive 
 exploitation. 
 
 Through the elimination of some of these 
 flagrant injustices during my brief term at the head 
 of the Consulate General in Belgrade the Serbian 
 exports more than doubled during the next year. 
 This showed how rapidly Serbia could develop 
 if given opportunity. Is it any wonder that one 
 of Serbia's great patriots cried out in despair: 
 "I would give my life if I could take my country 
 
80 THE INSIDE STORY OF 
 
 on my back and carry her away from the hostile 
 combination which surrounds her!" 
 
 The only solution for Serbia was a port on the 
 Adriatic Sea, to be reached either through an 
 autonomous Albania, or better, through a strip 
 of northern Albania ceded to Serbia for the pur- 
 pose. With such an outlet for her products Serbia 
 would be in a position to negotiate a commercial 
 treaty with Austria-Hungary in which not quite 
 all the advantages would be on the side of Austria- 
 Hungary, as had always been the case heretofore. 
 All these facts show what inimitable, unconscious 
 humourists inspired oui* "Literary Bureau" to 
 circulate at this time the slogan that "Austria 
 was again called upon to save a Balkan people 
 just as, through the Congress of Berlin, she had 
 saved Bosnia and Herzegovina."* What our 
 "Literary Bureau" did not say to our peoples 
 and to Europe in general was that our diplomats 
 and statesmen were mortally afraid for the security 
 of the old empire. With the prices for food and 
 all necessaries of life soaring higher every year, 
 with discontent increasing among its peoples, our 
 statesmen found it necessary to rule Hungary 
 by the brutal force of a Tisza and a Lukacs; Croa- 
 tia and Slavonia with the dictatorship of a Cuvaj; 
 to threaten Bosnia and Herzegovina with absolut- 
 
 *Now that Austria-Hungary and Germany are eliminated from the Bal- 
 kans, Italy is the only Power which threatens to continue the "meddling 
 policy" instead of leaving the Balkans to the Balkanians. 
 
AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 81 
 
 ism; to establish in Croatia a military dictatorship. 
 Slovenia and Bohemia were placed at the mercy 
 of German reactionaries, while Galicia was in a 
 state of latent revolt, because of our encourage- 
 ment of the rivalry between the Poles andRuthenes. 
 The Slovaks of North Hungary were dominated 
 by the Magyars, while the peasants of Hungary 
 were exploited by the gentry and the Jews. 
 
 Events followed one another with such rapidity 
 in the Balkan War that it was impossible for our 
 Foreign Office to formulate any constructive policy 
 to rob the Balkan Allies of the fruits of their mili- 
 tary successes. Consequently Count Berchtold 
 came out with the negative policy of preserving 
 the "status quo"; no matter what the military 
 results no territorial changes should be allowed. 
 In order to avoid complications which might lead 
 to a general European war Russia agreed to this 
 policy. The most apt criticism of Berchtold's 
 proposal was made by the Serbian Minister of 
 Finance, Mr. Pacu, who in an interview in Bel- 
 grade, in the middle of October, said: *' Europe 
 is for peace, but there is no peace. Peace in the 
 Balkans is a never-ceasing, an exhausting war. 
 Europe is for the * status quo,' but the 'status 
 quo' is chaos. Where was the 'status quo' when 
 Austria-Hungary annexed Bosnia and Herzego- 
 vina? Why did not the Great Powers guard the 
 'status quo' when Italy seized Tripoli .^^ As a 
 matter of fact, the 'status quo' does not exist 
 
82 THE INSIDE STORY OF 
 
 for the Great Powers. They remember it only 
 when our needs are in question. They treat us 
 as they treat Moroccans. They conspire behind 
 our backs and then show us their notes or more 
 properly present us with their commands, saying: 
 'Shut up you there in the Balkans.' Europe 
 regards Turkey as its heirloom, but the Powers 
 cannot agree over the division of the spoils. 
 Therefore Europe protects Turkey." But even 
 this *' status quo" formula was only a diplomatic 
 cloak with which to hide the real purposes of our 
 diplomacy. 
 
 On the night of October 9, 1912, four days 
 before Serbia, Bulgaria, and Greece presented their 
 ultimatum to Turkey, a joint session of the Aus- 
 trian Ministerial Council took place which lasted 
 until three o'clock the next morning. At this 
 meeting our new credits for armaments were dis- 
 cussed and it was agreed to ask for 400,000,000 
 kronen, 250,000,000 for the army and 150,000,000 
 for new men-of-war. This item is especially signifi- 
 cant since these ships could not be launched in 
 time to be used in connection with any war that 
 might result from the tension existing between 
 the Balkan allies and Turkey. It was a patent 
 absurdity that a nation of 52,000,000 inhabitants, 
 rated the second strongest military power in the 
 world, should require enormous special military 
 credits in order to go to war with Serbia, a nation 
 of only two and a half million people. The long- 
 
AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 83 
 
 planned war against Russia was, therefore, the 
 only possible explanation. In order not to arouse 
 the suspicions of Europe we announced the formula 
 that we were going to place our southern frontier 
 on a "reinforced peace footing." 
 
 Immediately after this conference the "Liter- 
 ary" Bureau began its propaganda for the Ball- 
 platz. In reference to Serbia's known desire for 
 a harbour on the Adriatic it was said that if Serbia 
 had such a harbour it would in effect be a Russian 
 port. As soon as the Balkan War opened we 
 started to sow seeds of dissension between Bulgaria 
 and Serbia. One inspired article said: "After the 
 war against Turkey what will happen to poor 
 and so-often deluded Serbia at the hands of Bul- 
 garia will form a laughable comedy or a tragedy 
 that will bring tears to the eyes according to the 
 sympathies of the spectator." In order to offset 
 this propaganda as far as possible, Doctor Kramarz, 
 the Czech leader and authority on foreign afifairs, 
 made a speech in the Austrian Delegations in which 
 he said: "If the Balkan peoples win a permanent 
 victory then will one of the greatest menaces to 
 the peace of the world have been removed with 
 sacrifices which will be slight in comparison with 
 those of a world war. This is the psychological 
 moment for Austria, while guarding her economic 
 interests in the Balkans, to win the sympathies 
 of the Balkan peoples." 
 I How differently our Foreign OflBce viewed the 
 
84 THE INSIDE STORY OF 
 
 situation was shown when Count Berchtold spoke 
 of *' Austria's protectorate over the Roman CathoHc 
 Church in Albania." Freed of diplomatic camou- 
 flage this meant that we should intervene in Al- 
 bania so as to be able to attack Serbia on her flank 
 and come to the rescue of Turkey. Speaking the 
 same day in the Hungarian Delegations Berch- 
 told said: "The monarchy stands for the * status 
 quo ante bellum'. We have in the Balkans vital 
 interests touching our very existence and we are 
 determined to guard them under all circum- 
 stances." These words should be borne strictly 
 in mind because they are almost identical with 
 those spoken by him in the critical days of March, 
 1913. Light was thrown upon what was meant 
 by the guarding of "our vital interests" by an 
 inspired article appearing soon after the speech 
 which said: "Austria-Hungary can no more toler- 
 ate the formation on her southern frontier of a 
 combination of powers hostile to the monarchy 
 than could she tolerate being cut off from the 
 great thoroughfares of the world." In the same 
 article our attitude toward Russia was illuminated 
 by these phrases: "It is difficult to speak of Serbia 
 without thinking of Russia," and again: "It is 
 difficult to see that what is Serbian is not at the 
 same time Russian." 
 
 The threadbare rumour that our Minister in 
 Belgrade had been assassinated was again cir- 
 culated on the very evening when Maximilian 
 
AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 85 
 
 Harden, the great German publicist, arrived from 
 Berlin to make the keynote speech in this campaign 
 of our War Party. He spoke before a distinguished 
 audience which included the Foreign Minister, 
 Count Berchtold, and a dozen of the leading gen- 
 erals of our army. He first referred affectingly 
 to "the sad report which he had just heard that 
 Herr Von Ugron, your Minister in Belgrade, has 
 been treacherously murdered." "Russia," he said, 
 "needs at least a year and a half from the purely 
 military standpoint to be ready for war, and even 
 then it will be a great question whether her internal 
 political situation will permit her to withdraw from 
 the interior her few trustworthy elite troops with- 
 out endangering the dynasty. France, on her 
 part," he added, "has at the moment no powder." 
 He said further: "All the difficulties which Austria- 
 Hungary has had of late years and which it has 
 to-day, spring from the fact that it is the companion 
 of the German Empire, both together forming 
 the Greater Germany which knows no frontiers. 
 Should we not succeed this time in opening the 
 way into the ^Egean and the Black seas for Ger- 
 manic hegemony, then have we reached the be- 
 ginning of the end. Germany is concerned that 
 the way to Salonica shall not be blocked. The 
 question is not," he continued, "whether one is 
 for war or peace; on the contrary, it is our duty 
 to make war at the time best suited to us and not 
 our enemies, because in the future we shall not be 
 
86 THE INSIDE STORY OF 
 
 able to stave off the war. In this world-historic, 
 grave, psychological, and critical moment for 
 Austria-Hungary and Germany it is essential 
 that we be guided by a single purpose. You 
 may," he said, in conclusion, *'draw the frontier 
 to which you will permit others to grow; when 
 you have once found that line I solcnnily exhort 
 you not to give in a hair's breadth. Do not let 
 yourselves be induced to go to a European con- 
 ference where a majority would decide against 
 you. Every war is justified, even against a small 
 people, if it is for the purpose of guarding national 
 prestige and if it brings advantage to your coun- 
 try." Some of us recalled this speech of the mis- 
 sionary of the German war party when in 1914 
 our government turned a deaf ear to tlie entreaties 
 of (ireat Britain, France, and Russia that we sub- 
 mit our controversies with Serbia to a conference 
 of the Great Powers. Also when the German 
 Kaiser stated that he could not be a party to 
 "dragging his ally before a European tribunal." 
 
 This speech of Ilarden's applied to the then- 
 existing conditions and to the philosophy and 
 principles of the Austrian and German war par- 
 ties. For Austria these principles and this phi- 
 losophy of international relations had been set forth 
 in the Ocsicrrcichischc Riindschaii^ in an article 
 by General of Infantry, Emil von Woinovich, en- 
 titled: "War Fear." This was a review of an 
 
 •Vol. 30-31, Jan., June, 19H. pp. f 13-8. 
 
AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 87 
 
 article called "The Policy of Concentrated Arma- 
 ments" which had appeared a month before in 
 Danzer's Armee Zeitung under the signature, Salva- 
 tor R. This article caused a sensation, particularly 
 because Count Julius Andrassy, Jr., published at 
 the same time a statement in which he said: 
 "There should be no war party in Austria-Hungary 
 because only imbeciles can desire war." Salvator 
 R., whose opinions were admiringly set forth by 
 General Woinovich, an Austrian minor edition 
 of Bernhardi, held the opposite view. The Gen- 
 eral said: "Without regard to the opinions and 
 sentiments in vogue, Salvator R. opposes with 
 pitiless logic the opinion that war, as is generally 
 believed, is the worst evil. He holds, on the con- 
 trary, that the peace which Europe has maintained 
 for a generation is foul stagnation. By war he 
 hopes to purify tlie social and political atmosphere. 
 The many unsolved social and political questions 
 between the states and the state groups of Europe 
 are distasteful to him. He wants, therefore, a 
 radical solution by the sword after the example 
 that has been set us from time immemorial by 
 the greatest genuises and the mightiest states and 
 nations. He advocates this radical solution by 
 the sword at a moment when the political constellations 
 are favourable and our military strength is at its 
 highest point. Salvator R. therefore strongly ad- 
 vocates the surprise attach as a matter of war 
 policy, which surprise attack he characterizes as an 
 
88 THE INSIDE STORY OF 
 
 unprecedented concentration of all one^s forces in tJie 
 space of a few years, brought about through a supreme 
 effort of all the military and political forces of the state, 
 followed at once by an attack upon the enemy. This 
 artificial calling forth of war must not be considered 
 as frivolous or unprecedented. It has, on the 
 contrary, happened many a time in the last hun- 
 dred years. For instance, ' Cavour brought on 
 deliberately through proddings the war against 
 Austria in 1859, as is admitted by the work of the 
 Italian General Staff which appeared not long ago. 
 Bismarck, through the alteration of the Ems tele- 
 gram, brought about the Franco-Prussian War at 
 the moment which best suited him. This can be 
 attained only by a war policy which stands above 
 the situation, dominating and leading it, a policy 
 which is concentrated upon well-defined objectives 
 to be achieved at definite times, after the manner 
 of Frederick the Great, Napoleon, Bismarck, 
 Cavour, or Japan. Also we may say that Prince 
 Kaunitz with wonderful skill precipitated the 
 Seven Years' War, and our great Empress, Marie 
 Theresa, did not hesitate a moment to assume 
 responsibility for it. To speak of the horrors of 
 war is to-day, at least in wars between civilized 
 people, an anachronistic exaggeration. Even wars 
 with an unhappy issue have often helped the re- 
 birth of states which were on a decline, as was 
 the case with Prussia in 1806 and with Austria 
 in 1866. It seems almost as if states and peoples 
 
AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 89 
 
 needed wars from time to time, because otherwise 
 they would sink into a moral morass." 
 
 Not long after Maximilian Harden had delivered 
 his speech in Vienna there was a great war rally 
 in the Ofener Hofburg, the royal palace in Budapest, 
 at which momentous decisions were reached — 
 decisions calculated to preserve the peoples of 
 Austria-Hungary from sinking into the "moral 
 morass" so dreaded by General Woinovich and all 
 the other members of the war party. This rally 
 corresponded precisely both in personnel and sub- 
 jects discussed with a similar gathering held in 
 1908 when it was thought that Serbia and Russia 
 would fight rather than accept the illegal seizure 
 of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The personages were 
 identical, that is, with one exception: in the place 
 of the late Count Aehrenthal sat his successor, 
 Count Berchtold. Then, as now, Herr Von 
 Tschirschky, the German Ambassador, had an 
 audience with the old emperor just before the con- 
 ference. From a high personage whom I may not 
 name I heard these comments on this great confer- 
 ence. The German Ambassador had brought to our 
 Emperor Kaiser Wilhelm's carte blanche for im- 
 mediate war upon Serbia and Russia. Francis 
 Ferdinand and Berchtold also had audiences with 
 the Emperor just before the conference. When 
 the conference convened under the presidency 
 of the old emperor. Archduke Francis Ferdinand, 
 supported by Count Berchtold, the former Chief 
 
90 THE INSIDE STORY OF 
 
 of Staff, General Conrad von Hoetzendorf, and 
 the joint Minister of War for Austria-Hungary, 
 carried the meeting for immediate war, or war as 
 soon as it could be precipitated. To Berchtold 
 was assigned the task of arranging in the shortest 
 possible time a suitable casus belli. Also these 
 questions were decided at this conference: an 
 independent Albania should be created; the pro- 
 posed Danube-Adriatic Railway should run ex- 
 clusively through Austrian territory and not 
 through Serbian territory to San Giovanni di 
 Medua, or Durazzo, as desired by Serbia; 200,000 
 men from the military classes of the last three years 
 in six army corps should be immediately mobilized. 
 
 In order that Turkey might be free to resist 
 Bulgaria, Serbia, Greece, and Montenegro with all 
 her powers, Germany and Austria had, some weeks 
 before this royal war conference, vigorously urged 
 their ally, Italy, to make peace with the Ottoman 
 Empire. Italy promptly followed this highly disin- 
 terested advice and on October 15, 1912, signed 
 with Turkey the peace treaty of Ouchy. 
 
 In commenting on this imperial conference, the 
 war party's paper, the Neue Freie Presse, made 
 this significant statement: "We feel that a great 
 hour is near in which will fall the decision for war 
 or peace and that the destiny of this ancient empire 
 and the peace of the world depend upon what is 
 now happening in the Ofener Hofburg." Also 
 the writer sees in the great event "the sign of the 
 
AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 91 
 
 clenched hand raised about to strike." This was 
 the Austrian version of *'the mailed fist" of the 
 German Kaiser. 
 
 In order to carry out this policy we needed not 
 only the backing of Germany but the consent 
 of Italy. Accordingly, Count Berchtold had gone 
 to Italy where on the 23d of October, 1912, at 
 San Rossore, he had had an interview with the 
 Italian Foreign Minister, San Giuliano, who as- 
 sented to our so-called status quo policy in the 
 Balkans in recognition of our friendly neutrality 
 during Italy's war for Tripoli. 
 
 Five days later the Berliner Tageblatt announced 
 that it had learned "from leading Viennese circles" 
 that *'the monarchy (Austria-Hungary) will ac- 
 tively intervene in the Balkans if the status quo 
 should not be observed." A week later we dis- 
 patched a naval division to Balkan waters "for 
 the protection of our interests." On November 
 5th Marquis di San Giuliano, the Italian Foreign 
 Minister, went to Berlin where on the 8th he had 
 a conference with Kiederlen-Waechter, the German 
 Foreign Secretary, and Herr Von Szogyeny-Marich, 
 our Ambassador in Berlin. It was the day after 
 this interview and just before the imperial war 
 conference in Budapest that Herr Von Tschirschky, 
 the German Ambassador, had his famous audience 
 with the Emperor, Francis Joseph, at which he 
 delivered his imperial master's carte blanche for 
 the war. 
 
92 THE INSIDE STORY OF 
 
 This conference produced a profound effect 
 upon the peoples of Austria-Hungary. A dread 
 foreboding of calamity fell among them which a 
 friend of mine described as like the "Chiliastic 
 terror" of the end of the world which spread dread 
 throughout Europe in the one thousandth year 
 after the birth of Christ. This foreboding was by no 
 means abated by the fulminations of the Ballplatz 
 press. Baron Chlumetzky, the mouthpiece of the 
 Foreign Minister, issued a statement in which he 
 said: "Serbia must know that Germany stands 
 back of Austria-Hungary at this time just as she 
 did at the time of the annexation." "Serbia is 
 the pathfinder of Russia," was another official 
 comment. The Budapesti Naplo, an organ of 
 the Hungarian Government, declared openly: 
 "Serbia must never occupy Albania. This is so 
 important for us that if not to-day, then to-morrow, 
 we must go to war to prevent it." 
 
 While this agitation was going on, the Goeben 
 of subsequent World War fame suddenly appeared 
 off Malta on November 12th. The transportation 
 to Bosnia of 200,000 reservists, just called to the 
 colours from all parts of the monarchy, was begun. 
 At the same time, the joint Minister of Finance, 
 Herr Von Bilinski and Premier Wekerle of Hun- 
 gary, conferred with representatives of the large 
 banking and credit institutions, to facilitate the 
 raising of two and one half billion kronen for a 
 three months' campaign, a third of which was 
 
AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 93 
 
 designated exclusively for the Diobilization of our 
 troops. The gold reserve in the vaults of Austria- 
 Hungary was about to be commandeered as a war 
 treasure. 
 
 But while oflBcial Austria was straining every 
 nerve to start the war the subject nationalities 
 of the empire were violently opposing our policy 
 of bellicose meddling in the Balkans. Especially 
 loud in this condemnation were the Czechs, Croats, 
 Slovenes, and the Ruthenes of Galicia. So de- 
 termined was this protest that a German deputy 
 in the Reichsrat actually advised against the war 
 because, as he said, "the great majority of the 
 Slavs of the monarchy are opposed to it." 
 
 But these protests had not the slightest effect 
 in modifying the bellicose course of our govern- 
 ment. The Department of the Interior had been 
 given the task of lining up for the war the various 
 political parties. The Polish deputies from Gali- 
 cia were told that events in Russian Poland might 
 have fatal consequences for the Austrian Poles. 
 Baron Werburg, our Consul General in Warsaw, 
 with a host of spies and agents provocateurs, working 
 chiefly through Socialists and Jewish organiza- 
 tions, was stirring up the spirit of revolt against 
 the Russian Government. By the same means 
 we worked incessantly among the members of the 
 Polish Social Democratic Parliamentary club in 
 Vienna. So successful were these efforts that on 
 October 25th this club passed the following resolu- 
 
94 THE INSIDE STORY OF 
 
 tion: "As the legal representatives of the Polish 
 people, we express our conviction that in the event- 
 ual conflict between Austria-Hungary and Russia, 
 all the forces of the Polish people must be directed 
 against Russian Czarism." This resolution con- 
 cluded with an appeal to the Russian Poles to 
 show "a common front against our greatest 
 enemy." 
 
 At the same time leaflets were circulated, through 
 the agency of our Socialists, among the Polish work- 
 men throughout Russian Poland urging them, 
 when called to the colours on the outbreak of 
 hostilities, to destroy as far as possible all military 
 materials, to "spoil everything that could aid the 
 Russian armies in their advance," and above all, 
 "to let themselves be taken prisoners." The all- 
 Polish organ, Sloivo Polskie of Lwow, capital of 
 Galicia, published an article which concluded with 
 these words: "In holding before its eyes the re- 
 construction of the Kingdom of Poland, the Polish 
 nation must hold itself in readiness for war at any 
 moment." These anti-Russian and pro-German 
 protestations occurred at the very time when the 
 forcible expropriation of Polish estates in the 
 German Ostmark was at its height. In this cam- 
 paign the Socialist, Polish, Jewish, and Pan-German 
 press was ably supported by organs controlled 
 by the Vatican. Among these the Oesterreichs 
 Katholische Sonntags Blatt came out at the begin- 
 ning of the first Balkan war with this declaration: 
 
AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 95 
 
 "Our ideal is not to perpetuate European Turkey, 
 but to bring the Balkan Peninsula into the posses- 
 sion of Catholic Austria and the Catholic Church.'* 
 This ideal was thus defended in their issue of Octo- 
 ber 27th: "Just as a violent storm refreshes and 
 cleanses the oppressive atmosphere, so we hold 
 when it once comes to real war the moral and 
 economic gain to Europe will in the end be very 
 great. The social democracy is not yet strong 
 enough to prevent a war. As a result of the emo- 
 tional pressure of a European war it will break to 
 pieces with its millions of casual followers, and under 
 the same pressure modern liberalism will also 
 break down. It will not hurt Europe if its condi- 
 tions are for once well shaken up." Likewise 
 the organ of the Catholic movement in Germany, 
 Das Katholisehe Deutschland, said in its issue of 
 October 6, 1912, only a few days before the out- 
 break of the Balkan War: "But Austria will not 
 be negligent. It has already determined not to 
 allow Serbia to take the Sandjak of Novi Bazar 
 [old Serbia] which long since should have become 
 Austrian. Therefore Austria must take it. With 
 Austria's troops in readiness the military progress 
 will probably continue to the gates of Constanti- 
 nople. And we can only exclaim: 'Good luck to 
 you, Austria!' May the rotten Turks be driven 
 once for all from Europe! The Turks who in ad- 
 dition to their dirty Islamism have become Free- 
 Masons and on that account doubly hate Christian- 
 
96 THE INSIDE STORY OF 
 
 ity. Constantinople must belong to Western Euro- 
 pean Christendom and not remain under the Turks 
 or go to the Russians. May Austria act as supreme 
 arbitrator between the Balkan States, for which 
 position she is especially fitted. May it have the 
 glory of planting again the Catholic Cross on St. 
 Sophia! It truly deserves this glory after its 
 century-old strife against Islamic culture. Good 
 luck to you, Austria! Don't let yourself be dis- 
 turbed! England is afraid of us. Russia is rent 
 by revolution. France has spoiled powder, and 
 has not invented new powder, and Germany stands 
 behind thee. Now or never Russia's game may 
 be spoiled." 
 
 This pro-war campaign was brought to its high- 
 water mark by the speech of the German Chancel- 
 lor, Doctor Bethmann-HoUweg, delivered on the 
 second of December, 1912. He said: "Germany 
 will stand at the side of its ally, Austria; and, if 
 needs be, will fight." A word as to the heredity 
 of Bethmann-HoUweg will, we believe, be il- 
 luminating at this point. His family came from 
 the Netherlands whence it had fled to escape the 
 persecution of the Jews to the little town of Nas- 
 sau near Frankfort-on-the-Main. Here, where the 
 Bethmanns may be traced back to the seventeenth 
 century, the forefathers of Bethmann-Hollweg 
 had a great banking house, under the firm name 
 of Bethmann, which handled big state loans for 
 Austria. (It should be noted here that at Frankfort- 
 
AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 97 
 
 on-the-Main was also located the original Roths- 
 child banking house which also handled great war 
 loans for the Austrian Government.) Emperor 
 Francis I of Austria elevated the Bethmanns to 
 the nobility. Soon after this, in 1854, a son of 
 the banker Bethmann was created a Baron by the 
 King of Baden. His daughter married a Johann 
 Jakob Hollweg, who became the founder of the 
 family of Bethmann-Hollweg. Two of Bethmann- 
 Hollweg's sisters were married to land junkers of 
 East Prussia. 
 
 The German and Magyar press in both empires 
 'gloated over the Chancellor's admission that 
 Germany would "fight." They applauded the 
 wisdom of Germany's decision "not to allow its ally 
 to be beaten down and the enemy to come up to her 
 own walls, but to be beforehand in the defence of 
 her frontiers." The leader of the National Liberal 
 Party said in the Reichstag, in support of the Chan- 
 cellor: "Germany must stand firmly and faith- 
 fully beside Austria." The press of both govern- 
 ments expressed the hope that both Italy and 
 Rumania might help them in the coming struggle 
 and that the smouldering war spirit of Turkey 
 might break out anew into flames. This was just 
 after Turkey, as the result of her disastrous defeats 
 at the hands of the Balkan Allies, had signed with 
 Bulgaria, Serbia, and Montenegro a protocol to 
 last until the conclusion of peace negotiations. 
 The next sensation was an article by Baron Chlum- 
 
98 THE INSIDE STORY OF 
 
 etzky, the confidant of Archduke Francis Ferdinand, 
 in which he described a meeting between the heir 
 to the throne and Kaiser Wilhelm in the latter's 
 hunting lodge at Springe. In commenting upon 
 the interview he said: *' There are many ways of 
 manifesting friendly feeling — Germany chose the 
 strongest and places herself on our side with the 
 whole strength of her political and military weight." 
 In conclusion he said: *'Our demands must not be 
 passed upon at a conference; their acceptance 
 must not depend upon the consent of a European 
 congress; in this also Germany is completely on 
 our side." This was the standing formula of 
 our diplomacy, as we have seen before and shall 
 see later, to look upon a European conference 
 that might settle peacefully our self -created dis- 
 putes with Serbia as the Devil looks upon holy 
 water. 
 
 But in spite of all the fervid enthusiasm on the 
 part of the government-controlled press there 
 were dissenting voices in Germany and these not 
 alone among the Socialists. The Taegliche Rund- 
 schau, for instance, a paper which normally sup- 
 ported the war party, said: "By going to war 
 now we would fall into the position of having to 
 say to our soldiers : *We are going to war, not for 
 God and the Fatherland, but in order that the 
 Serbs shall not get possession of Durazzo!'" Along 
 the same line the Rheinisch-Westfaelische Zeitung, 
 a paper controlled by the Krupp interests, said: 
 
AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 99 
 
 "In such a case we should not be going to war for 
 the vital interests of Germany." But in spite of 
 these occasional voices of dissent the war spirit 
 in Germany as in Austria was ever growing more 
 clamorous. 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 Count Berchtold, Aehrenthal's Understudy, 
 Concocts the Notorious Prochaska Affair 
 
 how the third attempt to start the war failed 
 
 NOTHING ever kindled this spirit in Austria 
 as did the single word "fight" as uttered 
 by Bethmann-Hollweg. The so-called Na- 
 tionalverband, a parliamentary organization repre- 
 senting the Pan-German interests in Austria, was 
 jubilant over the prospect of the German Empire 
 being entangled with us in a life-and-death struggle 
 over Albania. Old Francis Joseph had completely 
 given himself over to the war party which was eager 
 to show the world, and particularly Germany, what 
 a perfect military machine Austria had become. 
 Everything was being done to whip up to the high- 
 est pitch the fighting spirit and artificially to create 
 the jingo atmosphere (hurrastimmung) . In the 
 cabarets and even in the disreputable night resorts 
 the playing and singing of the Hapsburg hymn and 
 the Prince Eugene song became universal. In fact, 
 when on December 16th the Balkan Peace Con- 
 ference opened in London, we were awaiting the 
 word from the General Staff to fire the first shot. 
 
 100 
 
AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 101 
 
 While public opinion was thus being lashed to 
 fever heat, on the 16th of November Count Berch- 
 told made the following pregnant announcement: 
 "For many days now Vienna has received no 
 news of the xA.ustro-Hungarian Consul Prochaska at 
 Prisrent. This circumstance has caused many 
 anxieties which have been increased by the fact 
 that the Foreign Ministry has no information 
 regarding the Consul and has been unable to 
 establish communication with him." On the same 
 day the report was given out that "The Austro- 
 Hungarian Consul in Mitrovitza, Herr Ladislaus 
 von Tahy, has just arrived in Budapest after a 
 successful flight under great difficulties. The 
 Serbian military authorities had interned the Con- 
 sul in Mitrovitza and had thus sought to deprive 
 him of his personal liberty." Two days later it 
 was announced that "the Minister of Foreign 
 Affairs will in the immediate future demand of 
 the Serbian Government an explanation of these 
 occurrences." At the same time the Foreign 
 Office announced that "Serbia's treatment of our 
 consuls has created an estrangement in diplomatic 
 circles." These statements were made the very 
 day that Doctor Pasic, the Premier of Serbia, 
 declared that Serbia must have an outlet to the 
 sea. 
 
 On December 4th the Neue Freie Presse gave 
 these further details regarding the flight of Consul 
 Von Tahy: "As is already known, the Austro- 
 
102 THE INSIDE STORY OF 
 
 Hungarian Consul in Mitrovitza, Herr Ladislaus 
 von Tahy, fled to Uskub on account of the attitude 
 of the Serbian military authorities. From Uskub 
 Consul Von Tahy made his way to Budapest via 
 Nish and Belgrade. On the trip he met a Turkish 
 journalist, Galib Bahtiar, editor of the Constan- 
 tinople Sabah, who, during his stay in Vienna, 
 gave the following interesting news concerning 
 the flight of Herr Von Tahy to the representatives 
 of the Neue Freie Presse: "In a cold railway car, 
 without light, without heat, Consul Von Tahy 
 and myself made the trip which lasted approxi- 
 mately forty hours. During all this time we were 
 never quite sure of our lives. Consul Von Tahy 
 spoke pessimistically regarding the Consul Pro- 
 chaska affair. He said: Tn a coffee house a 
 drunken komitagi [volunteer] was boasting that 
 Prochaska was murdered. I heard with my own 
 ears that fellow tell how the Serbs invaded the 
 Consulate; how, when Consul Prochaska had pro- 
 tested, a dispute followed in the course of which 
 the Consul was struck with a bayonet. I naturally 
 can only say what I heard'." 
 
 The same day it was announced that Consul 
 Edl, in service at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 
 had been dispatched to Prisrent to investigate the 
 Prochaska affair on the spot, and that a report on 
 the treatment of Consul Prochaska at the hands 
 of the Serbs would be issued the following week. 
 All the while distressing rumours were circulated 
 
AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 103 
 
 arid published as to what had befallen the Consul. 
 Besides the rumour of his murder there came a re- 
 port that he had been seriously wounded and that 
 the Austrian flag had been desecrated by Serbian 
 soldiers, and then came word that the Consul had 
 been outraged in a manner too vile to be described. 
 Even the old emperor, who had the coolest head in 
 the small group of men with whom rested all de- 
 cisions as to war or peace, when he heard these 
 harrowing stories, exclaimed in anger: "There are 
 some things which cannot be tolerated!" Even the 
 quietest and most pacific of his subjects, particu- 
 larly the people of Vienna and Budapest, began to 
 shake their heads and say that the honour of the 
 empire could no longer tolerate such barbarities. 
 The proofs only were required to make the people 
 themselves demand war in reprisal for the inhuman 
 treatment of our representative. 
 
 On December 5th, toward evening, the report 
 spread that on the following day the renewal of 
 the Triple Alliance would be officially announced. 
 It was universally felt in well-informed circles 
 that we were on the verge of war, not war against 
 Serbia alone, but war against Serbia and Russia, 
 which would mean the beginning of a world war. 
 Never before, not even at the time of the annexa- 
 tion crisis in 1908-09, were there such wild and 
 contradictory rumours afloat as on that night. 
 The "Literary" Bureau announced that "Count 
 Berchtold is pursuing a peace policy which can 
 
104 THE INSIDE STORY OF 
 
 only be shattered by Serbia's obstinacy. Count 
 Berchtold will only abandon that policy when all 
 diplomatic means have failed and the principle 
 of the German military writer, Herr Von Klause- 
 vitz, comes into effect; namely, that 'war is the 
 continuation of politics by other names'." The 
 renewal of the Triple Alliance was officially an- 
 nounced on December 7, 1912, in the following 
 form: "The treaty of alliance concluded be- 
 tween the sovereigns and governments of Austria- 
 Hungary, Germany, and Italy has been renewed 
 without any alteration." On the same day the 
 various political parties began to announce in the 
 Reichsrat their position on the war with Serbia 
 and Russia which was assumed to be inevitable 
 and immediate. 
 
 Also at this time the Ballplatz press issued this 
 warning to Serbia: ''Serbia should hasten to clear 
 her international conscience ere it be too late, 
 or, rather, ere Consul Edl returns from Prisrent. 
 Then it might be too late and then very likely the 
 accusation which would be laid before the public 
 of Europe would be such as to deepen the impres- 
 sion of the difficulty of maintaining a policy of 
 peace toward such a neighbour as Serbia." Si- 
 multaneously the Prochaska incident was again 
 brought up. "In regard to the Prochaska affair, 
 it is reported in political circles that the report 
 of Consul Edl is already substantially in the hands 
 of the Minister of Foreign Affairs. But since in 
 
AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 105 
 
 so important and delicate a matter it is necessary 
 to give a complete picture of what occurred, the 
 final personal report of Consul Edl, who examined 
 thoroughly on the spot all phases of the episode, 
 is awaited. Consul Edl is still making the neces- 
 sary investigations in Prisrent. After his return 
 to Vienna it will be possible to form a final judg- 
 ment on the treatment of the Consul by the Serbian 
 authorities. At such time, it is said, our govern- 
 ment, if the circumstances demand it, will not fail 
 to act in the matter with the utmost energy." 
 
 Our " Literary " Bureau in announcing on Decem- 
 ber 6th that the Powers were planning a conference 
 of ambassadors on Balkan affairs to sit in London 
 during the deliberations of the Balkan Peace Con- 
 ference, made this significant remark : *' Difficulties 
 may arise in this conference owing to Serbia's 
 injury to Austrian prestige and violations of in- 
 ternational law in the Consul Prochaska affair." 
 About this time an enterprising Budapest paper 
 published its recommendations for the punish- 
 ment of Serbia in the Prochaska affair. These 
 suggestions were so acceptable to the war-party 
 press that they were widely copied throughout 
 both Austria and Germany. They were briefly 
 as follows: "First, all the culprits should be 
 severely punished; second. King Peter should be 
 obliged to crave forgiveness through diplomatic 
 channels for the affront to the monarchy; third, 
 the Serbian Crown Prince should be required ^o 
 
106 THE INSIDE STORY OF 
 
 ask the forgiveness of Consul Prochaska personally; 
 fourth, the Serbian Government should agree to 
 pay the Consul by way of damages a life annuity 
 of 70,000 crowns annually." In connection with 
 this final provision it should be mentioned that 
 Prochaska was a young and vigorous man. Mean- 
 time the German war press was echoing that of 
 Austria and Hungary. To cite a single example 
 typical of many others the Deutsche Tages Zeitung 
 of Berlin declared itself in full accord with the 
 Chancellor's willingness to "fight" and added, 
 "The case of Consul Prochaska is, according to our 
 view, a casus belli; Germany must act before it is 
 too late and must stand for the furthest possible 
 consequences of the alliance with Austria." 
 
 Our previous possible war aims having been re- 
 moved by the unexpected and undesired acceptance 
 by Serbia and Russia of our status quo formula 
 left our diplomacy in the embarrassing position 
 of having everything in readiness for the war ex- 
 cept a plausible and defensible cause and purpose. 
 They hastily set about to repair this oversight. 
 Their efforts were rewarded by the discovery of a 
 mostmodern and appealing object. Poor, oppressed 
 Albania, which had so long been ground under the 
 heel of the Turk, was now about to be seized and 
 forced into vassalage to the tyrannous government 
 of Serbia. Albania, small and defenceless though 
 she was, should be rescued. She should be made 
 self-governing — an autonomous principality. The 
 
AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 107 
 
 timely discovery was made that an Albanian prince 
 some hundreds of years before had been distantly 
 related to the Hapsburgs. That made our duty 
 even more apparent. To be sure the scant infor- 
 mation we were able to glean about our new proteges 
 was not very reassuring. They were wild mountain 
 tribes numbering eight to nine hundred thousand 
 people, mostly Mohammedans, who had spent 
 most of their abundant leisure serving as mercen- 
 aries in the armies of Abdul Hamid, the Red Sultan. 
 They had no literature and not even a practical 
 alphabet. Even their first grammar had been com- 
 piled by a studious young man in the employ of 
 our Foreign Office ! 
 
 Carping critics might have found our sudden 
 solicitude for these down-trodden mountaineers 
 somewhat inconsistent with our traditional cus- 
 toms and practices at the time. Bosnia and Herze- 
 govina, which we had rescued from the Sultan 
 by means of the Treaty of Berlin in 1878, had been 
 so ungrateful as to permit themselves to grow ever 
 poorer, more illiterate and discontented. Accord- 
 ing to the official statistics of 1910 there were 
 among the inhabitants of Bosnia, seven to twenty 
 years of age, 87| per cent, of illiterates, which il- 
 lustrates the nature of the cultural efficiency of 
 the Black-Yellow Party which was alleged as the 
 justification for the annexation of these provinces. 
 Things had come finally to the point where absolu- 
 tism was threatened to curb their waywardness. 
 
108 THE INSIDE STORY OF 
 
 Croatia and Slavonia were under dictatorships. 
 In Hungary two thirds of the population were pro- 
 testing at being turned over to the tender mercies 
 of the remaining third — the ruUng Magyar land 
 junkers. In Galicia Poles and Ruthenes were at 
 loggerheads. In Slovenia a handful of German 
 land junkers were dominating the country. Every- 
 where, in fact, national self-assertion and develop- 
 ment were being suppressed with an iron hand. 
 But our statesmen had robust consciences and 
 found little difficulty in adjusting themselves to 
 the equivocal situation. Whatever its sentimental 
 shortcomings it was evident that an autonomous 
 Albania would furnish an inexhaustible supply of 
 provocations for war as well as a constant men- 
 ace to our hated little neighbour, Serbia. At all 
 events, we certainly could not tolerate the dismem- 
 berment of European Turkey without satisfying 
 the dynastic lust for conquest of our Hapsburg 
 rulers. 
 
 And Germany, too, made the discovery that her 
 imperial interests would be jeopardized by per- 
 mitting Serbia to hold a port on the Adriatic. So 
 the Kaiser and Bethmann-HoUweg and their 
 followers also became solicitous for the autonomy 
 of Albania. Consequently the "war maniacs" or 
 *' Black- Yellow jugglers of Vienna," as they were 
 called by the people at large, were not only backed 
 up but egged on by their confederates in Berlin. 
 
 As has been said, no sooner had the renewal 
 
AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 109 
 
 of the Triple Alliance been announced than the 
 various political parties in the Reichsrat began to 
 proclaim their attitude in the war against Serbia 
 and Russia which they assumed was about to be- 
 gin. Herr Liebermann, the spokesman of the 
 Polish Social Democratic Party, declared: "The 
 Polish Social Democrats are not willing to back 
 up the imperialism of Serbia; they will fulfil their 
 duty and stand faithfully at Austria's side if she 
 is attacked by Russia." Whereupon Herr Karl 
 Renner, a member of the German Social Demo- 
 cratic Party of Austria (later the first Chancellor 
 of the Austrian Republic) sprang to his feet and 
 declared that "the German Social Democrats, too, 
 are In accord with the declaration of comrade 
 Liebermann and will act as one man in using 
 all their powers against 'Russian czarism'." This 
 became the standard formula for their approval 
 of the World War in 1914. These declarations 
 were surprising to the superficial observer since 
 the Social Democrats — comprising in their member- 
 ship Germans, Poles, Ruthenes, Czechs, Slovenes, 
 and Croats — had in a plenary sitting put them- 
 selves on record as opposed to a European war.* 
 
 I was one of the first to question the genuineness of the peace professions 
 of these so-called socialists, and during the first year of the war I prepared a 
 pamphlet entitled : " The Betrayal of Socialism " to expose these false apostles 
 of the socialist doctrine. In this paper I pointed out that there was collu- 
 sion between the war-mad Pan-Germanists of Germany and Austria and 
 the peace-mad socialist extremists of Russia. My prophecies have been 
 all too well fulfilled by the first and second Russian Revolutions of 1917, and 
 their lamentable consequences. 
 
no THE INSIDE STORY OF 
 
 At the same time that the Socialist deputies 
 in the Reichsrat were declaring themselves for the 
 war, word reached Vienna that the foremost rep- 
 resentatives of the Ukrainian parties of Galicia 
 had held a meeting in Lvow (capital of Galicia) 
 where they had proclaimed the following: *'It is 
 vital to the Ukrainian nation that in a serious con- 
 flict between Austria and Russia the whole Ukrain- 
 ian nation should stand united and firmly for 
 Austria." After all this the resolution which 
 follows of the always-servile Austrian Poles oc- 
 casioned little surprise. *'In the present serious 
 political situation, the Polish Club proclaims that 
 all Polish people inhabiting Austria are holding 
 themselves ready and united, as the occasion may 
 demand it, to fulfil their duty with all their powers 
 toward Austria and her magnanimous and just 
 monarch, who shows understanding of our feelings 
 and recognition of our heavy fate and our national 
 rights, and who places his confidence in us. In 
 this unity with the state and its monarch, as also 
 through reliance upon our own powers and the 
 consciousness of our national aspirations, we see 
 the guarantee of a better future." The foregoing 
 expressions of blind loyalty show how well and 
 thoroughly had the Department of the Interior 
 performed its task in bringing the political parties 
 into line for the war. The only peoples of the Dual 
 Monarchy who remained in irreconcilable opposi- 
 tion to the war were the Czecho-Slovaks, the 
 
AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 111 
 
 Slovenes, the Serbs, and the great majority of the 
 Croats. 
 
 When Count Forgach, Otto Franz, Tanzos, and 
 the others were removed from their posts in Bel- 
 grade for their failure to bring on the war in 1908- 
 1909, their most active collaborator in Vienna, save 
 Count Aehrenthal himself, General Conrad von 
 Hoetzendorf, was also deposed from his position 
 as Chief of the General Staff. He was the first 
 of the faithful to be reinstated. On the tenth 
 of December, 1912, the Emperor reappointed him 
 Chief of Staff. At the same time a new joint 
 Minister of War was appointed. Both appointees 
 were favourites of the Archduke Francis Ferdinand. 
 Their appointment indicated that the Archduke 
 and the war party had gained complete sway over 
 the old emperor. Hoetzendorf was a man after 
 Francis Ferdinand's own heart. He looked upon 
 war as the panacea for all the many ills of the 
 empire. While he was particularly set upon war 
 against Serbia and Russia he had in 1911 secretly 
 urged war upon our ally, Italy, while her strength 
 was being drained by the Tripoli campaign. He 
 apparently advocated this war on the ground that 
 any war, even one against an unoffending ally, 
 is better than no war at all. 
 
 This sudden change in the highest military 
 functionaries on the verge of war still further 
 alarmed the people. And they were by no means 
 reassured when the very papers, which had previ- 
 
112 THE INSIDE STORY OF 
 
 ously assured them that the retired Minister and 
 Chief of Staff were so nearly omnipotent that to 
 question their abiUty was high treason, now turned 
 upon them and represented them as unrehable and 
 incapable. On the other hand, the Ballplatz press 
 now used every device known to the gentle art of 
 newspaper reputation making, to elevate General 
 Hoetzendorf to the position of a national hero. 
 It was this heroic figure who in the summer of 1918 
 was forced to resign because of Austria's military 
 failures. On the day after these changes in the 
 high command a conference of ministers was held 
 under the presidency of the Emperor at the Schoen- 
 brunn Palace in Vienna. 
 
 Meanwhile, we were spending hundreds of mil- 
 lions on war preparations. When the home money 
 market was exhausted we tried to raise money 
 abroad. It is significant that we were unable to 
 secure loans either in Paris or London. Finally we 
 turned to American capitalists, and after long ne- 
 gotiations obtained the paltry sum of $25,000,000 at 
 the exorbitant rate of 6j per cent. This reduced 
 us to the level of China in point of international 
 credit. Internally our financial and industrial 
 affairs went from bad to worse. Our banks 
 declined to loan money for construction and in- 
 dustrial development. The people, too, were 
 withdrawing their savings from the banks. The 
 Government tried to revive the economic life by 
 publishing all kinds of reassuring news. No one. 
 
AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 113 
 
 apparently, paid any attention to these assurances. 
 Tens of thousands of reservists and young men 
 about to reach mlHtary age hastily left the coun- 
 try. Fariiilies sold their homes, their land, their 
 personal' effects, anything to raise a little money 
 so they could escape before the storm cloud of war 
 burst upon them. In panic they fled to America, 
 CanS^da, South America, Brazil, the Argentine, the 
 Faltland Islands, and even as far as New Zealand 
 and South Africa. Finally, the Hungarian Govern- 
 ment, alarmed by the exodus, announced that no 
 further passports would be issued to men of mili- 
 tary age or to those who would come to military age 
 during the next year. This did not stop the exodus 
 but merely kept the police busy arresting, dragging 
 back, and locking up the would-be evaders of mili- 
 tary service. 
 
 Along the Serbian frontier the plans for invasion 
 were prepared in the minutest detail. An inces- 
 sant stream of ammunition was poured into Bosnia 
 and Herzegovina toward the Serbian and Mon- 
 tenegrin frontiers. The Joint Minister of Finance, 
 who was also Governor-General of Bosnia and Her- 
 zegovina, asked the Sabor (Diet) of these provinces 
 to vote in all haste the necessary credits for new 
 railways and roads of which the greater number 
 were to be constructed between the rivers Sava 
 and Drina, where, as the events of the World 
 War showed, the offensive against Serbia started. 
 These credits were asked at the very time when 
 
114 THE INSIDE STORY OF 
 
 the Prochaska affair was started. General 
 Potiorek, Governor of Bosnia and Herzegovina, 
 the very man who in 1914-1915 led our armies 
 of invasion into Serbia, in summoning the heads 
 of the various parties before him said: "We are 
 on the eve of the war and it is urgent to vote 
 in the course of the next few days the credits for 
 these railways and the annual budget." In Gali- 
 cia enormous quantities of war materials of all 
 kinds, including guns, ammunition, bridges, and 
 pontoons, were stored in Cracow, Przemysl, and in 
 Lvow, the capital. These Galician preparations 
 obviously were not directed against Serbia but 
 against Russia. We even made final preparations 
 against attack from the side of Italy. This surely 
 was farsighted on the part of our military authori- 
 ties. Ever since the annexation crisis of 1908 
 these preparations had been going forward uninter- 
 ruptedly, and every branch of our military es- 
 tablishment had been kept on a war footing; 
 312,000,000 kronen was appropriated by the 
 Reichsrat for new super-dreadnaughts for the navy. 
 Since this money could not be had quickly enough, 
 Baron Rothschild, head of the famous Jewish bank- 
 ing house in Vienna, the money power behind the 
 throne, after repeated conferences with the Arch- 
 duke Francis Ferdinand, advanced the money for 
 these ships. As a result they were known as the 
 "Rothschild dreadnaughts." 
 The joint War Minister, on top of all this, de- 
 
AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 115 
 
 manded and received a hundred million kronen 
 additional for general military purposes, for that 
 year and for each succeeding year so long as in his 
 opinion it might be needed. Even these vast 
 expenditures, relatively to our available resources, 
 were contemptuously referred to by Francis 
 Ferdinand as "miserable lumps." The obligations 
 for personal military service were increased pro- 
 portionately with the taxes. Reservists who had 
 previously been called upon for not more than eight 
 weeks' military service in a year were now called 
 to the colours for from two to three years' service. 
 The crowning blow to the rapidly waning liberties 
 of the unhappy subjects of Francis Joseph came 
 through the enactment of the " Kriegsleistungs- 
 Gesetz," a law which from the beginning of mobil- 
 ization gave the military authorities complete 
 power over not only the property but the person 
 of every man. By this law were swept aside the 
 rights of labour, the rights of travel, the rights of 
 assembly — in fact, all personal liberty of any kind. 
 It should be realized that this law was made in 
 time of peace and not under the pressure of war. 
 This law, which carried us to the furthest possible 
 extreme of military despotism, was supported in 
 the Reichsrat by all parties, including the Clerical 
 Party, the Christian Socialists, and the German 
 Liberals. 
 
 Our progress in a military way was accompanied 
 by alarming retrogression in every other direction. 
 
116 THE INSIDE STORY OF 
 
 We had no money for schools and hospitals. The 
 social insurance laws could be only partially en- 
 forced because of lack of funds. State officials 
 and employees were wretchedly paid. Our scien- 
 tists were forced to go to other countries in order to 
 find suitable conditions for their work. Meanwhile, 
 poverty and misery were rapidly increasing through- 
 out the empire, particularly in the cities. The an- 
 nual report of the Vienna Waermestuhen Verein, 
 a society to provide warming-rooms for the poor, 
 gives some idea of the conditions among the poor of 
 the capital. Between November, 1911, and March, 
 1912, a total of 1,000,218 persons came to these 
 rooms, among whom were 209,500 women and 
 597,000 children. In Vienna alone 98,857 people 
 were without shelter. An average of 5,000 children 
 daily came to these shelters and stood in line for 
 hours to receive the free soup and bread. Hun- 
 dreds of children spent the nights in these rooms, 
 huddled or sitting on benches in corners, without 
 beds, bedding, nightclothes, or sleeping accommoda- 
 tions of any kind. For the meals of the 5,000 
 children and an almost equal number of adults 
 the City Council paid 6,000 crowns daily, or about 
 half a cent per person. 
 
 One may imagine how the more intelligent of 
 these poor people felt when they heard of our 
 enormous expenditures on military preparations — 
 preparations against little Serbia so far as was 
 officially admitted — Serbia, one of whose crimes 
 
AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 117 
 
 was lier desire to export food into our empire and 
 sell it to our hungry people. 
 
 In these dreary December days, while the poor 
 shivered and starved, political events occurred 
 with such rapidity that it was difficult to keep track 
 of them. Almost every utterance made or in- 
 spired by the Government contained references 
 to the outrages committed by the Serbs on Consul 
 Prochaska. Finally, however, a lieutenant field 
 marshal, in no way connected with the Foreign 
 Office, issued this statement: "According to my in- 
 formation Prochaska is all right, and the rumours 
 about his being greatly misused are exaggerated; 
 nevertheless the treatment accorded him by the 
 Serbs did constitute an infraction of international 
 law." Thus came to an abrupt termination the 
 supposed sufferings of Consul Prochaska — sufferings 
 which had aroused the indignation and sympathy 
 of almost everyone from the old emperor down 
 to his humblest subjects. A few days later it was 
 given out that Consul Edl had returned from his 
 investigation of the Prochaska affair and that an 
 official report on the matter would soon appear. 
 Not long after this the "Imperial and Royal Vienna 
 Telegraph Correspondence Bureau" issued the 
 long and anxiously awaited report. It read: "The 
 investigation which was conducted by a delegate 
 sent by the Imperial and Royal Ministry of Foreign 
 Affairs concerning the affair of Consul Prochaska 
 in Prisrent, which has been somewhat delayed 
 
lis THE INSIDE STORY OF 
 
 owing to the great distances and the situation 
 brought about by the war [the Balkan War] has 
 now been completed. On the basis of this report 
 it can be said to our satisfaction that the rumours 
 wkich hare been in circulation^ according to which 
 Consul Prochaska had been held a prisoner at his 
 post and had been maltreated by the Serbian 
 authorities, are totally unfounded. The accusa- 
 tion made in turn by the Serbian Government 
 against the above-named consular fimctionary. 
 and the reasons given for requesting his transfer — 
 namely, that Serbian troops had been fired upon 
 on entering Prisrent from the building of the 
 Austro- Hungarian Consulate, have also been 
 found to be totally false. The Serbian mihtaiy* 
 authorities were found, however, to have com- 
 mitted an offence against international law in their 
 conduct toward Consul Prochaska and the person- 
 nel of the Consulate. This infringement will be 
 made known to the Royal Serbian Government with 
 a request for adequate satisfaction. There is. how- 
 ever, no ground for the behef that the Royal Serbian 
 Government, which has shown itself ven.' responsive 
 to the mission of the delegate of the ^linistry 
 of Foreign Affairs, wiU refuse such satisfaction.*'* 
 
 *1t Is *. stgafieant £»ct that at tliis criticai tine Ansttan monitnfs and 
 Cia i lii i i^ OB tke Dmambe vere flashing ttar searebJigiits an fidgraiie at 
 ■j^iaBdwexcpas^evdldaaievTankafpasseDgerboats. Marfirnp^gim 
 taautk e by ^'ffi*t^^ jy^Miprg along the sinre s u Lj ec ie J izaTeOecs to seriois 
 neaananaace. Sots fired from the Anstfiaa dboie noperiOed Serfaiaa 
 pg«gM*g wmki i g m. the fields. AH o£ these mancennrres vore calcolated to 
 pKodate aoBK fcutia "■addeat" vUch coaid be osed as a pretext for war. 
 
AUSTRO-OER^L\^■ INTRIGUE 119 
 
 Thus was our Ministry of Foreign Affairs finally 
 obliged to repudiate the alleged pei^ecution of 
 Consul Prochaska which had for so long been 
 utilized to arouse the war spirit of our long-suffer- 
 ing people. Knowing Consul Prochaska as I did 
 and realizing that he had in him none of the stuff 
 of which martyrs and heroes are made, I had from 
 the first been ver^• much amused at the highly 
 imaginan.' and dramatic accounts of his hardships 
 and heroism. \Mien I learned what had actually 
 hapi>ened I was still more amused. "While this 
 martyred hero was, in the imagination of Francis 
 Joseph and his credulous subjects, lying wounded 
 and shockingly disfigured at his lonely jxjst in the 
 Black Mountains of the tottering Turkish Empire, 
 he was, in fact, sitting quietly in his official resi- 
 dence in the best of health and spirits, carefully 
 guarded by stately harasses (^guards; in their 
 gorgeous Montenegrin uniforms, leisurely sipping 
 his coffee a la Turque, prepared by his Balkan 
 ser\'ants, while his Httle c-ompanion of the Viennese 
 demi-monde, with her bright blue eyes and flaxen 
 curls, anticipated the shghtest wish of her lord and 
 master. All of which goes to show how hard it is 
 to avoid being a hero if the Powers That Be so 
 will it. 
 
 Why the Prochaska affair had been abandoned 
 as a possible casus belli was soon apparent, A 
 few days later, on the twenty -first of December, 
 the Conference of Ambassadors — ^that nightmare 
 
120 THE INSIDE STORY OF 
 
 of the Ballplatz, which had been convened in 
 London, at the instance of Sir Edward Grey, the 
 British Foreign Secretary, in order to prevent the 
 Balkan War from becoming a world war — ^had 
 recommended that Serbia accept Austria's harsh 
 demands, renounce her claim to the strip of ter- 
 ritory on the Adriatic Sea, and again bow to our 
 policy of commercial tyranny over her. Rather 
 than precipitate a general war Serbia and her 
 natural protector and adviser, Russia, had ac- 
 cepted this unjust settlement. Once more, as in 
 the case of Bosnia and Herzegovina, iiustria and 
 her big ally, greatly to their disgust and disappoint- 
 ment, had won their alleged object without plung- 
 ing the world into war. This time, as before, their 
 plans had been frustrated by the unexpected and 
 undesired acceptance by Serbia and Russia of their 
 unjust demands. In confirmation of our assertions 
 about the London Conference of Ambassadors we 
 are now able to quote no less an authority than 
 Prince Lichnowsky, the German Ambassador who 
 took part in that conference. On page 11 of his 
 famous confessions, he says : 
 
 "As a matter of fact, we had again successfully 
 emerged from one of those trials of strength which 
 characterize our policy. Russia had been obliged 
 to give way to us on all points, as she was never in a 
 position to procure success for the Serbian aims. 
 Albania was established as a vassal state of Austria 
 and Serbia was pressed back from the sea. Hence 
 
AUSTRO-GERIVIAN INTRIGUE 121 
 
 this conference resulted in a fresh humihation for 
 Russian self-esteem. As in 1878 and in 1908, we 
 had opposed the Russian plans although no 
 German interests were involved; but we continued to 
 pursue in London the dangerous path upon which 
 we had once entered in the Bosnian question, nor did 
 we leave it in time when it led to the precipice." 
 
 The Pan-Germans and Pan-Magyars can stom- 
 ach anything that succeeds, but the Prochaska 
 affair had not succeeded and was therefore inex- 
 cusable. Moreover, it had proved an immensely 
 expensive joke. Through the falling of stocks 
 alone investors had lost two billion kronen. Aside 
 from the hundreds of millions which had been un- 
 necessarily spent on armaments, the dynasty and 
 the diplomacy of Austria had been for a second time 
 exposed to the contemptuous derision of Europe. 
 Consequently Count Berchtold and his associates 
 fell under a cloud just as had Aehrenthal and his 
 fellow conspirators four years before. Berchtold 
 was for a time unable to muzzle even the most 
 venal and subservient newspapers and politicians. 
 The old emperor was again in a rage at being 
 duped, and the courtiers who had neglected him to 
 pay homage to the rising power of Francis Ferdi- 
 nand scuttled back to sit at the feet of their old 
 master and criticized as far as they dared the con- 
 duct of the heir to the throne. 
 
 Even the leading Jewish paper, the great Neue 
 Freie Presse of Vienna, sullenly commented: "The 
 
122 THE INSIDE STORY OF 
 
 Prochaska affair began as a swollen river and has 
 now shrunk to a little brook that one may ford dry 
 shod. The question remains why the monarchy, 
 through a word of explanation spoken in time, 
 did not quiet the situation." Another Viennese 
 paper, the Zeit^ wrote: "There are things in the 
 Prochaska affair for which not Serbia, but our 
 own government, is responsible and should give 
 us satisfaction." 
 
 A member of the Hungarian House of Lords 
 criticized Count Berchtold for leaving the public 
 so long in the dark in the Prochaska matter. As a 
 result of these proddings an inspired statement ap- 
 peared a few days later which read as follows: "In 
 all probability the Prochaska aft'air will come to a 
 peaceful and final solution in a very short time. 
 The Austro-Hungarian Minister in Belgrade, Herr 
 Stephan von Ugron, has communicated to Premier 
 Pasic the desire of Austria-Hungary that after the 
 return of Consuls Prochaska and Von Tahy to 
 Prisrent and Mitrovitza, the Austro-Hungarian 
 flag be given military honours by a Serbian detach- 
 ment commanded by an officer. Serbia has agreed 
 to comply with this demand as soon as Herr Pro- 
 chaska and Herr Von Tahy return to their posts. 
 Also the official Serbian Press Bureau published 
 yesterday an official communique in which the 
 regret of the Serbian Government was expressed 
 over the affronts committed by the Serbian military 
 authorities against the consuls." 
 
AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 123 
 
 But while Consul Prochaska was no longer a 
 boon to our diplomacy but rather a "millstone 
 around our necks," he appeared still capable of 
 being served up once more to whet the jaded ap- 
 petites of the fire-eating Pan-Germans in Germany. 
 Totally disregarding the official denial of our 
 Foreign Office, German newspapers, including not 
 only Pan-German organs like the Vossische Zeitung, 
 but also the Frankfurter Zeitiing, repeated as true 
 the familiar charges now officially branded as 
 falsehoods. The latter paper, for good measure, 
 added some further lurid details to the effect that 
 Serbian soldiers had forced their way into the Con- 
 sulate, where they had torn down and besmirched 
 the Austrian flag, and finally had murdered with- 
 out cause some Albanian families who had taken 
 refuge in the Consulate. Count Berchtold issued an 
 official denial of these stories which finally ended 
 Consul Prochaska's vicarious career as an inter- 
 national figure and a possible cause of world war. 
 
 Both Prochaska and the runaway. Consul Von 
 Tahy, were brought back and reinstated in their 
 respective offices. Serbian military detachments 
 both in Prisrent and Mitrovitza presented arms 
 in honour of the Austro-Hungarian flag, and this 
 world-stirring diplomatic incident and "outrage 
 against international law" was closed except for 
 those immediately concerned. 
 
 Just as the Fried jung charges had kept recurring 
 to plague Aehrenthal long after their usefulness 
 
124 THE INSIDE STORY OF 
 
 had ceased, so now the Prochaska charges refused 
 to be buried by Berchtold's -olemn official denials. 
 Professor Masaryk, the distinguished scientist — at 
 this writing the President of Czecho-SIovakia 
 who, as will be recalled, had been characterized 
 by one of the judges in the first high-treason trial 
 at Zagreb as a "raggamuffin, a nobody, and a refuse 
 of human society" — now further displayed his rag- 
 gamuffinly traits by insisting upon washing the 
 dirty linen of the Prochaska matter in public. 
 "Consul Prochaska," said Professor Masaryk, 
 "complained that the attitude of the Serbian 
 soldiers toward the Catholic priest in Prisrent 
 was indecent, that they forced their way into the 
 Catholic church and into the house of the Sisters 
 of Mercy to look there for concealed weapons, 
 and that they threatened him with death. In this 
 complaint Consul Prochaska made it clear that 
 the Catholics of Albania were under the protector- 
 ate of Austria. The Consul demanded that the 
 officer who commanded the platoon of soldiers who 
 committed these acts, apologize. To offset this 
 complaint we have the deposition of the Catholic 
 priest himself, stating that nothing had happened 
 to him, that no one had forced his way into the 
 church, and that the officers had merely come to 
 the church and the premises of the church to see 
 whether they contained any weapons." "A sec- 
 ond complaint of the Consul states that Serbian 
 soldiers had' 4:dke» from the mail carrier^ the cor- 
 
AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 125 
 
 respondence of the Consulate as well as a revolver 
 which he carried on his person. This was con- 
 sidered by Vienna as a particularly aggravated 
 offence."* 
 
 "The third complaint stated that Serbian sol- 
 diers had led away a pony that was grazing in a 
 pasture and which was said by some peasants to 
 belong to the Consul." These three complaints 
 were, according to Professor Masaryk, "the main 
 causes of the Prochaska affair, and led to the offi- 
 cial complaints lodged by our government in 
 Belgrade." 
 
 There was a final charge that the Serbs had made 
 hostile demonstrations against the Consul when 
 he left Prisrent. After Serbian diplomatic agents 
 had investigated this charge it was pointed out as 
 tactfully as possible that such hostile demonstra- 
 tions as may have occurred were undoubtedly 
 directed not at the Consul, but at the lady of doubt- 
 ful reputation who accompanied him. 
 
 For my part I must admit that the treatment 
 accorded his lady companion must have been gall- 
 ing and humiliating to the hero, Prochaska ! Some 
 Serbs later described to me the circumstances of 
 this international event. It appears that as the 
 consular cortege left Prisrent, the Consul was 
 seated in one carriage and his dame de compagnie 
 
 *TJndoubtedly the Serbian authorities had prevented the Consul from 
 sending telegrams in cipher. This prohibition is common in war time and 
 is not regarded as a violation of international law. 
 
126 THE INSIDE STORY OF 
 
 in another. The ratthng of some tin cans, which 
 some street boys with no sense of international 
 etiquette, had attached to her carriage, so alarmed 
 the poor lady of the demi-monde that she sprang 
 from her carriage and clambered breathless and 
 protesting into that of the accredited representative 
 of the Imperial and Royal Government. 
 
 When Prochaska returned to Vienna His Majesty 
 soothed his outraged feelings by promoting him 
 to be a Consul General and sending him in that 
 capacity to the distant but beautiful city of Rio de 
 Janeiro, where, like the prince in the fairy story, 
 he lived happily until the overthrow of the mon- 
 archy which he had served so picturesquely. 
 
 Probably Prochaska did not know himself who 
 had made him famous until the ofHcial organ of the 
 Ballplatz published the news the following May 
 that "Herr Koloman Kania de Kanya, Hofrat 
 and Consul General, head of the Literary Section 
 of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, has been given 
 by Emperor Francis Joseph the title and character 
 of Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotenti- 
 ary," adding: "This nomination is in recognition 
 of the services rendered by this official in the recent 
 past. He will retain his post as head of the Liter- 
 ary Section of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs." 
 So this was the man through whose ingenuity the 
 peaceful entry of a church to look for concealed 
 weapons, the search of a Consular mail pouch, and 
 the seizure of a pony, had developed into an 
 
AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 127 
 
 international imbroglio which threatened the peace 
 of the world. No one can deny that he was indeed 
 an "Envoy Extraordinary" long before his royal 
 master gave him the title. 
 
 There were some people in Austria who thought 
 that the international opera-bouffe performances 
 of this distinguished individual did not merit 
 reward. Among these there arose a storm of 
 indignation. Two days after the announcement 
 of the new honours for the head of the Literary 
 Section, the Government was faced by some very 
 embarrassing interpellations in the Austrian Dele- 
 gations. Among other things a demand was made 
 for a judicial inquiry into the conduct of the official 
 whom His Majesty had just honoured, x^t this 
 point Premier Count Stuergkh made an appeal 
 to the deputies that for the honour of Austria and 
 the Hapsburg Dynasty they drop the matter and 
 refrain from dragging the foreign policy of the 
 monarchy through the mire of a judicial investiga- 
 tion. This appeal was strangely reminiscent of a 
 similar appeal which, four years before, had been 
 made by the representative of Francis Ferdinand 
 and Aehrenthal to the litigants in the Fried jung 
 trial. This appeal, like that one, was successful 
 except that one deputy, Doctor Kramarz, re- 
 fused to be silenced until he had freed his mind. 
 He said: "An abominable crime was committed 
 against the welfare of Austria through the Pro- 
 chaska affair, when it was undertaken artificially 
 
128 THE INSIDE STORY OF 
 
 to arouse war fever in the populace." "I contend," 
 he said, "and if necessary I can prove it, that the 
 Ministry of Foreign Affairs knew all along that 
 nothing had happened to Prochaska. In the Liter- 
 ary Bureau originated all the sufferings which so 
 wrought upon us. There originated the war fever; 
 there our terrible economic losses had their origin; 
 thence came the ruin of our economic life, those 
 who paid for the crisis with their financial existence 
 have them to thank. What did we attain by the 
 Prochaska affair? Nothing. At least, nothing 
 except to become the laughing stock of Europe 
 and to awaken grave doubts as to the conduct 
 of our foreign policy among all honest men at 
 home." 
 
 Had it not been for these revelations the world 
 would never have had authentic knowledge of the 
 real inwardness of the Prochaska affair. In the 
 official Red Book published by our government in 
 April, 1914, and covering this memorable period 
 of our history, the affair is not even mentioned. 
 This modest reticence was apparently followed as 
 a precedent in our later Red Book which sought 
 to place upon Serbia and Russia the guilt of causing 
 the World War. In this book one may search in 
 vain for the numerous dispatches which passed 
 between Berlin and Vienna in the critical days pre- 
 ceding the outbreak of the great war. 
 
 As for Prochaska's impresario, the Envoy Ex- 
 traordinary, as a sop to popular indignation, and 
 
AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 129 
 
 with one of its consummate strokes of unconscious 
 humour, our Foreign Office sent him as Minister 
 to Mexico where later he perhaps found famihar 
 and congenial occupation in helping Foreign Secre- 
 tary Kuhlmann of Germany partition the United 
 States — on paper. 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 Berchtold's Albanian Comedy 
 
 PRINCE HOHENLOHE's MISSION TO THE CZAR 
 
 A FTER the exposure of the Consul Prochaska 
 /jk fraud and Europe's narrow escape from 
 A. m. war in December, 1912, through the efforts 
 of the London Conference of Ambassadors and the 
 acceptance by Serbia and Russia of the unjust 
 demands of Austria and Germany, there came a 
 great reaction among the peoples of Austria- 
 Hungary. The war spirit rapidly subsided and 
 the artificially created patriotic enthusiasm evapo- 
 rated overnight. Noisy patriots no longer marched 
 to the Deutschmeister Monument to bellow the 
 Prince Eugene song. In the cabarets and all- 
 night resorts the guests were no longer stirred by 
 the singing of the national hymn. The lust for 
 war and conquest was gone. After its jingo de- 
 bauch the whole nation seemed to be suffering from 
 a " morning-after " headache and depression. The 
 people felt bitter and resentful toward the Govern- 
 ment for having "led them by the nose." The 
 Balkan experts with their "inside sources of infor- 
 mation" and the staff trumpeters of the Ballplatz 
 
 130 
 
AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 131 
 
 press became mute. The people saw with anger 
 that every foot of territory which had been snatched 
 from the Serbs and given to Albania was, so to 
 speak, covered with Austrian gold — ^Albania whose 
 longevity as a nation everyone questioned. This 
 depression was nowhere greater than in the ranks 
 of the "Black-Yellow Party" itself. All of them 
 from the iVrchduke Francis Ferdinand down to the 
 least of the Ballplatz "press reptiles" (the con- 
 temptuous term by which the nobles in the Foreign 
 Service always refer to the Jewish reporters) were 
 plunged in gloom. But the War Party, although 
 disgusted, was by no means discouraged. It began 
 at once to formulate new plans to accomplish its 
 purpose. 
 
 The new programme appeared in the January, 
 1913, number of Baron Chlumetzky's magazine, the 
 Oesterr. Rundschau, under the title "Evil Forebod- 
 ings," and read: "We have not spent uncounted 
 millions and brought upon our empire many a 
 heavy crisis to create an Albania that should fall 
 chiefly under the influence of other powers. Even 
 less can we permit this Albania to have a miscarriage 
 which would soon demand of us new and costly 
 cures. Austria-Hungary has assumed, in opposition 
 to Serbia, the responsibility of the fatherhood of the 
 new Albania. We have already paid for the de- 
 livery of Albania high birth tolls. We must not 
 now be satisfied with half-way measures. We 
 must, on the contrary, summon the will power to 
 
132 THE INSIDE STORY OF 
 
 bring about in the Balkans a new order of things 
 in the way best suited to our interests — the creation 
 of the form of Albanian autonomy most favourable 
 to our requirements, with territorial boundaries 
 such as will guarantee to the new state the pos- 
 sibility of untrammelled growth — ^the securing 
 from Serbia of guarantees, to be given at once be- 
 fore the final settlement of the Balkan question, 
 of trade rights in Macedonia and Albania and fi- 
 nally a free passage to Salonica. These are in gen- 
 eral the problems which must be solved before we 
 can look into the future with anything like con- 
 fidence. To back down on any one of these points 
 would be to invite grave misfortune for the mon- 
 archy. The world would interpret it as a symptom 
 of weakness — as a confession that we had indeed 
 lost that power to act and that vitality which is 
 essential to a great power, as indeed to any state 
 if it shall not gradually fall into decay." In an ar- 
 ticle supplementing this, entitled: "Austria- 
 Hungary's Interest in a Strong Albania," which 
 appeared in the next number of the same publica- 
 tion, this statement was made: "The military 
 importance of a Greater Serbia in relation to the 
 radius of action of the monarchy consists in this, 
 that such a Serbia would be able to put into the 
 field half a million men and would thus neutralize 
 in each international complication an equally 
 large Austro-Hungarian force, and would thus 
 withdraw it from the main theatre of war. [That 
 
AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 133 
 
 is, from the Russian theatre of war.] This would 
 also affect the military value of the monarchy in 
 the German-Austrian Alliance. Only a strong 
 Albania can serve as a counterweight to this. 
 But for the Austro-Hungarian and the German 
 policy this must serve as the last bulwark against 
 the advance of Pan-Slavism to the Adriatic. 
 Finally, Albania is the last bridge over which 
 Middle Europe can unopposed extend its hegemony 
 into the Western Balkans." We shall see that all 
 the subsequent efforts of the Austro-Hungarian 
 and German governments up to August 9, 1913, 
 when Italy wet-blanketed their plans by refusing 
 to join them in an attack upon Serbia and in a 
 world war, were strictly in accord with the aims set 
 forth in these quasi-official statements. 
 
 It should be noted that these statements are 
 based on purely military and strategic consider- 
 ations. The former military assumption that 
 Turkey could be counted upon at least to iiold in 
 check the Balkan States while Austria and Ger- 
 many attacked Russia had been upset by the al- 
 liance between Serbia and Bulgaria and destroyed 
 by the victory of the Balkan Alliance over Turkey. 
 The Alliance could put a million soldiers in the 
 field to checkmate Austria-Hungary should the 
 long-cherished scheme for the conquest and parti- 
 tion of Russia be attempted. The Balkan Alli- 
 ance or, as it was well termed, the Tenth World 
 Power, was in its ethnic composition predominately 
 
134 THE INSIDE STORY OF 
 
 Slav. Serbs and Bulgars outnumbered the Greeks 
 three to one, while all three peoples were adherents 
 of the Greek Orthodox Church, and, as such, natur- 
 ally looked to Russia as the leading Greek Orthodox 
 Slav power. As a result of the shabby treatment 
 we had always given Serbia, as well as our consis- 
 tent oppression of our own southern Slavs, we well 
 knew that we could expect nothing of this new 
 world power. We therefore decided that it must 
 be crushed. To crush the Balkan Alliance we 
 believed it was only necessary to crush Serbia and 
 give her allies, Bulgaria and Greece, a share in the 
 spoils. While, on the one hand, we continued 
 our elaborate preparations to crush Serbia by 
 force, we, on the other hand, started, through the 
 underground channels of secret diplomacy, to 
 detach Bulgaria from the alliance with her. Count 
 Adam Tarnowski, our Minister in Sofia, the same 
 man who in the World War actually brought 
 Bulgaria on to the side of the Central Empires, 
 was entrusted with this diplomatic task. His 
 efforts were greatly facilitated by the pro-Austrian 
 sympathies of King Ferdinand. The secret ambi- 
 tion of King Ferdinand for a Bulgarian domination 
 of the Balkan Peninsula, to make Bulgaria the 
 Prussia of the Balkan States, coupled with the de- 
 termination of Serbia, now that she had been 
 denied her "little window on the Adriatic," to hold 
 her economic outlet on the ^Egean through Mace- 
 donia, played admirably into the hands of our 
 
AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 135 
 
 diplomacy. Serbia held that the harbour on the 
 Adriatic which she had won with blood and treasure 
 could never have been wrested from her at the 
 behest of Austria had Bulgaria been true to the 
 Alliance and honestly supported Serbia's claims. 
 Since Bulgaria had not helped her to keep her 
 hold on the Adriatic she declined to turn over to 
 Bulgaria, in accordance with the terms of the Al- 
 liance, the portions of Macedonia which Serbia's 
 armies had conquered and thus lose her outlet on 
 the JEgesLTi as well as the Adriatic and place her- 
 self again in the position of economic dependence 
 which she had fought a victorious war to escape. 
 In order to crush Serbia and rescue Turkey, and 
 to forestall the interference of Russia, we decided 
 to try to cajole Russia into demobilizing on our 
 northern front. It will be recalled that at the out- 
 break of the First Balkan War we had begun to 
 mobilize our armies. We had gradually concen- 
 trated 400,000 men on the Serbian frontier who 
 were ready at a moment's notice to invade Serbia. 
 We had also mobilized against Russia on our 
 northern frontier. Russia's only answer to this 
 unusual provocation had been to retain one class 
 of the year 1910 with the colours instead of sending 
 the men to their homes. But even these men she 
 held in the interior and not near our border. We 
 sought, by playing upon the well-known pacific 
 ideals of the Czar and by cultivating in Russia a 
 false sense of security, to have these reservists sent 
 
136 THE INSIDE STORY OF 
 
 home. With Russia fully demobilized our Gen- 
 eral Staff had calculated that we could crush Serbia 
 before Russia could come to her assistance. 
 
 Accordingly the three objectives of our diplo- 
 macy at this time were: to rekindle the war spirit 
 in Turkey, to detach Bulgaria from her allies and 
 thus break up the Balkan Alliance, and, by playing 
 upon the Czar's pacific ideals, to secure the de- 
 mobilization of Russia's army and thus obtain a 
 clear field for the crushing of Serbia. Adrianople, 
 the second Holy City of the Ottomans, had been 
 conquered by the Balkan Allies. We told the 
 Turks that upon their recapture of the "fortress 
 of Adrianople hung the peace of the world." And 
 secretly we informed the leaders of the Young 
 Turk Party that if they, through a coup d'etat^ 
 would overthrow the existing government and 
 set up one of their own we would lend military aid. 
 
 To work upon the peace sentiments of the Czar, 
 Count Berchtold sent Prince Gottfried Hohenlohe, 
 a son-in-law of the Archduke Frederick, to Petro- 
 grad with a personal letter from the old emperor 
 proposing to his fellow monarch that he demobil- 
 ize on Austria's northern frontier provided Austria 
 should do the same. All mention of Austria's 
 heavily mobilized southern frontier was studiously 
 avoided. The alleged peace mission of Prince 
 Hohenlohe was widely heralded in the Ballplatz 
 press. Papers like the Ncue Freie Presse waxed 
 eloquent on the well-known peace sentiments of 
 
AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 137 
 
 Czar Nicholas and reminded him of his obligation 
 to be faithful to the ideals of the great movement 
 for international peace and disarmament which he 
 had set on foot through the first Hague Peace 
 Conference fifteen years before. They further 
 pointed out to the Czar that the causes which had 
 four times during the reign of Francis Joseph 
 brought Russia and Austria to the verge of war 
 had now been removed by the complete victory 
 of the Balkan States over Turkey. They said 
 that no matter who won in the war in the Balkans, 
 which threatened to break out anew, henceforth 
 the Balkans would belong to the Balkanians. 
 
 Thus having stimulated the war spirit in Turkey 
 and the peace spirit in Russia we turned our at- 
 tention to the task of recreating war enthusiasm 
 among our own sorely tried people. It seemed 
 desirable that our new proteges, the Albanians, 
 should manifest their national consciousness and 
 aspirations in some dramatic way and that they 
 should appeal to us to help them. An Albanian 
 congress with representatives from all over the 
 world as well as from Albania was just what was 
 needed. An Albanian congress organizing com- 
 mittee was accordingly quickly set to work and the 
 Congress was announced to open on March 1, 1913. 
 
 On January 24, 1913, the first act in our new war 
 drama occurred just as it had been rehearsed. 
 The Young Turks sprang their cowp d'etat under the 
 leadership of Enver Bey, the young Jewish Turk 
 
138 THE INSIDE STORY OF 
 
 who had been the hero of the Turco-ItaHan War 
 and of the Revolution. A Young Turk govern- 
 ment was set up which announced as one of its 
 cardinal principles the necessity for the recapture 
 of the Holy City of Adrianople. 
 
 With a Holy Mohammedan war thus satisfactor- 
 ily launched by our Turkish friends we were free 
 to turn to the cultivation of the budding aspira- 
 tions of our Albanian proteges. The organizing 
 committee of the Albanian Congress originally 
 planned to hold their meetings in the Festive Hall 
 of the patriotic society known as "Austria," but 
 they finally decided to hold it in Tina di Lorenzo 
 Hall of Dreher's Brewery in Trieste in order to 
 guard against arousing the suspicions of unsym- 
 pathic observers that there was collusion between 
 the congress and our government. On the ap- 
 pointed day Dreher's Brewery became the cradle 
 of the new Albanian nation. No less than 500 
 Albanian patriots had come as delegates not only 
 from their Fatherland, but from Rumania, Dal- 
 matia, Greece, Spain, Italy, and even from far-ofif 
 America. 
 
 At the opening session the president of the 
 organizing committee introduced with appro- 
 priate eulogistic remarks the representative of 
 the Imperial and Royal Government of Austria- 
 Hungary. This dignitary was none other than 
 Police Director Mahovec, who had rendered dis- 
 tinguished service in the arrest of Pan-Serb con- 
 
AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 139 
 
 spirators during the high-treason trials described 
 in a previous chapter. The poHce director closed 
 his address with the words that he hoped in the 
 near future to see Albania "a free and independent 
 state" and took his seat amid a storm of applause. 
 On the second day the congress was addressed by 
 Count Heinrich Taaffe, a member of one of the 
 greatest noble families of Austria. The noble 
 count expressed his desire to see the "birth of a 
 Greater Albania." "Austria-Hungary," he said, 
 "will help the new state in every possible way." 
 He concluded with the exclamation: "Long live 
 Greater Albania!" whereupon the 500 delegates 
 rose as one man and shouted: "Long live Austria! 
 Long live the Triple Alliance!" 
 
 A teacher delegate exhorted his hearers to go to 
 Albania and "with the sword of Scanderbeg put 
 to flight the band of brigands who want to destroy 
 the Fatherland." The delegates were greatly ex- 
 cited to discover in their midst a Prince Scanderbeg 
 who claimed descent from the national hero whose 
 sword they were thus exhorted to use. A letter 
 was read from an absent patriot in Kroja, Albania, 
 which said: "Ten thousand armed Albanians are 
 assembled in the vicinity of Allessio, and fighting 
 has already begun." On the third day a letter 
 from Count Berchtold was read in which he ex- 
 pressed his best wishes for the welfare of Albania 
 and the "Albanian Nation." This letter seemed 
 to inspire one of the delegates to spring to his feet 
 
IM) THE INSIDE STORY OF 
 
 and irijike the modest proposal that Greater Al- 
 bania should inelude the whole of Old Serbia as well 
 as Macedonia. He also proposed that " in the name 
 of the Albanian Congress a general revolt be pro- 
 claimed in Albania for the defence of the Father- 
 land." *'The Albanian," he continued, "never 
 forgets his vendetta and let whomsoever agrees 
 wiLh me," exclaimed the orato'- in Ihunderous tones, 
 "raise his hand and solemnly swear the bessd** 
 [the Albanian oath]. All the five hundred sprang 
 from their seats and raised their hands, exclaiming: 
 "We swear — on with the struggle for liberty!" 
 After this one of the delegates shouted amid ap- 
 plause: "We shall make of Kossovo* [Old Serbia] 
 a Serbian cemetery." 
 
 Then a Catliolic priest, in the midst of a storm 
 of applause, thanked their great benefactors the 
 King of Italy and His Apostolic Majesty the F]m- 
 peror of Austria-Hungary and their respective 
 F'oreign Ministers for their august support of the 
 Congress. A delegate from Bucharest assured 
 the assembly that "Rumania is watching with 
 sincere sympathy the resurrection of Albania." 
 A delegate from Boston addressed the gathering 
 as follows: "Italy and Austriji will do everything 
 possible to give us a Greater Albania, but this will 
 not suflice. We also must do our duty. We are 
 the ones who must make war!" And with the cry: 
 
 ♦The famous battle iu which the Serbs were defeated by the Turks in 
 1389. 
 
AUSTRO-GERIVIAN INTRIGUE 141 
 
 '*To arms! to arms!" the orator concluded his 
 speech amid thunderous applause. Another dele- 
 gate quoted statistics showing that there were, all 
 told, 1,800,000 Albanians. Another priest then 
 took the floor to advocate the "creation of a buffer 
 state made up of the Kutzo-Wallachs," a race of 
 shepherds scattered over the IVIacedonian moun- 
 tains. This state should form a "buffer state be- 
 tween Greece, Bulgaria, Serbia, and Albania; being, 
 however, under the protection of Greater Albania." 
 The crowning moment of the congress arrived 
 when Lieutenant Haessler of the Austro-Hungarian 
 army pointed out on a map "how the Albanian 
 frontiers must be drawn," exhorting the congress 
 "loudly to raise its voice for all four vilayet,s 
 [provinces], that is, for the Greater Albania, as 
 already proposed by delegate Cacarigi." In con- 
 cluding, the president said that Albania now 
 needed only three things: "A flag, a gun, and cart- 
 ridges." Thereupon — with shouts of, "Long live 
 His Majesty Emperor Francis Joseph! Long 
 live the Archduke Francis Ferdinand! Long 
 live the Hapsburg monarchy!" — the congress 
 adjourned. 
 
 Through this same Lieutenant Haessler in the 
 spring and summer of 1914 we liberally provided 
 the Albanians with these three things which they 
 lacked according to the president of their congress, 
 as will be disclosed in a subsequent chapter. 
 
 In describing this birth of a nation the daily 
 
142 THE INSIDE STORY OF 
 
 papers of Trieste mentioned that the congress had 
 received from the Austro-Hungarian Government 
 a subvention of 50,000 kronen. This report was 
 never denied by Count Berchtold who might per- 
 haps be described as the efficient, though absent, 
 midwife of the occasion. The president of the 
 congress, however, indignantly denied that any 
 motives save self-sacrificing patriotism had led 
 his lusty mountaineer compatriots to travel from 
 all corners of the globe to the now immortalized 
 hall of Dreher's Brewery. He published a state- 
 ment showing that the entire expenses of the con- 
 gress had amounted to only 1,132 kronen and 78 
 hellers (about $200.00). Even this modest sum, 
 he claimed, was contributed in greater part by 
 two aspirants to the throne of Albania and not by 
 the government of Austria-Hungary. 
 
 Meantime the Czar and his government were 
 struggling to meet the peace overtures of Francis 
 Joseph without endangering the safety of their 
 great country. They were perhaps excusable if 
 they did not regard the events in Turkey or 
 Albania as quite consistent with the pacific pro- 
 testations of our emperor. There was another 
 disturbing factor with which they must reckon. 
 Persistent reports were circulated that two groups 
 of men were struggling for the rudder of the Aus- 
 trian ship of state, one group under the nominal 
 leadership of the aged emperor and the other led 
 by the ambitious and energetic heir to the throne. 
 
AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 143 
 
 There were times when the highest officials did not 
 know whose orders to obey. They were trying 
 to serve two masters. As this situation became 
 known in a general way to the man on the street 
 it naturally did not escape the attention of Russia's 
 diplomats. The extreme old age and weakness, 
 both physical and mental, of the Emperor, on the 
 one hand; the aggressiveness of the heir to the 
 throne, on the other; the daily expected death of 
 the one, to be followed by the ascension to the 
 throne by the other, made our courtiers and poli- 
 ticians sway like willows in a wind. When the old 
 man fell into a state of torpor they swayed to the 
 side of the heir. When he rallied and had a period 
 of senile energy they swayed back to bow again 
 their servile backs before their choleric old master. 
 This dual control resulted in the greatest confusion 
 in the upper councils of the Government. This 
 pulling and hauling for the rudder of the ship of 
 state created apprehension at home and distrust 
 abroad. 
 
 The mission of Prince Hohenlohe to the Czar 
 gave our old friend Kania de Kanya, the chief of 
 the press bureau, a providential opportunity to 
 alarm our people as to Russia's dark designs upon 
 them. Each day the Ballplatz press pictured as 
 more and more hopeless the efforts of Prince 
 Hohenlohe to dissuade Russia from her warlike 
 designs upon us. The war dread of our people 
 was by no means lessened when on the 4th of 
 
144 THE INSIDE STORY OF 
 
 March, 1913, they learned that Chancellor 
 Bethmann-Hollweg of Germany was about to 
 call upon the Reichstag to raise the peace footing 
 of the German army to the enormous figure of 
 more than 870,000 men and to levy a special mili- 
 tary tax of more than a billion marks upon the 
 people of the nation. It was further understood 
 that the Chancellor was taking this action at the 
 behest of his royal master. Coming at a time of 
 special tension over Albania and the Balkan situa- 
 tion in general it could only be assumed that 
 Germany's immense increase in armaments was 
 immediately related to those situations. This 
 assumption was confirmed by the German press. 
 Germania, the medium of the German Centre 
 Party, which had become one of the strong pro-war 
 groups, said in explanation of these increased arm- 
 aments: "The assumption heretofore existing that, 
 in a European war, the Balkan States could be held 
 in check by Turkej^ has become untenable in view 
 of the present state of affairs. To-day Austria 
 finds herself in case of war face to face with two 
 fronts." 
 
 Early in January the Czar had declared that he 
 would not allow himself to be dragged into war. 
 The three hundredth anniversary of the coming 
 of the Romanoffs to the throne of Russia was to 
 be celebrated on March 6, 1913. The Czar was 
 particularly anxious that his efforts in behalf of 
 international peace should be emphasized on this 
 
AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 145 
 
 occasion. He desired that the world-wide public- 
 ity which the occasion would naturally call forth 
 should be used to promote the idea of world peace. 
 He was therefore particularly desirous, at this time 
 of all others, to demonstrate Russia's pacific at- 
 titude toward her neighbours. 
 
 Accordingly on March eleventh Czar Nicholas 
 accepted the unfair proposal of Emperor Francis 
 Joseph and agreed to disperse the men of the class 
 of 1910 while Austria-Hungary was to reduce to 
 peace strength her forces on the Galician frontier. 
 The Petrograd Telegraph Agency in announcing 
 this demobilization added: *'As appears from the 
 discussions carried on with the cabinet of Vienna, 
 the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy harbours no ag- 
 gressive intention toward its southern neighbours." 
 This was a clever bit of Russian diplomacy which 
 put the Ballplatz in a very uncomfortable position. 
 When in the course of the negotiations on demobili- 
 zation the Russians had pointed out the unreason- 
 ableness of our demand that they demobilize while 
 we refused to demobilize against Serbia on our 
 southern frontier, the least our side could say in re- 
 joinder was that this mobilization indicated no 
 aggressive intentions toward our southern neigh- 
 bours. In other words, the obvious lie which 
 our diplomats had told in the decent obscurity 
 of secret diplomacy was now trumpeted abroad 
 to all the world. "The Czar of Russia has ex- 
 tended his hand to Emperor Francis Joseph in 
 
146 AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 
 
 order that the three hundredth anniversary of the 
 reign of the House of Romanoff may be an un- 
 forgettable moment for the whole world — that 
 of the triumph of peace, whose enthusiastic adher- 
 ent the present emperor, Czar Nicholas, ever has 
 been, as was also his august father." Such was the 
 comment on this memorable event in Petrograd 
 and Paris. 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 
 Bethmann-Hollweg Predicts War Between 
 "Germandom and Slavdom," April, 1913 
 
 Austria's ultimatum to montenegro 
 
 WHEN Kaiser Wilhelm learned of the Czar's 
 decision to accept the proposal of Francis 
 Joseph to reduce the strength of the Rus- 
 sian army on the Galician frontier, in an exuberant 
 order of the day to his own army, he exclaimed: 
 " Gott mit uns ! " The day after the announcement 
 that Russia had accepted our proposal Count 
 Berchtold stated in the Austrian Delegations: "We 
 have vital interests in the Balkans for the protec- 
 tion of which we must under all circumstances in- 
 tervene." It will be noted that this is practically 
 the same statement which Berchtold made in the 
 critical days of December, 1912, when our armies 
 were daily expecting the order to march against 
 Serbia. At the same time General Conrad von 
 Hoetzendorf, the Chief of the General Staff, that 
 tireless advocate of "war at any price," came out 
 with this characteristic statement: "Our monarchy 
 is too patient, she is treating Serbia and Monte- 
 negro with too great leniency. She must show her 
 
 147 
 
148 THE INSIDE STORY OF 
 
 fighting will to counteract the evil designs of her 
 neighbours and she must at any cost retain her 
 influence in the Balkans. By war we must, ac- 
 cording to the military idea, augment the prestige 
 of the monarchy and win for it more respect." 
 Now that Russia had committed herself to a peace- 
 ful policy our war advocates threw off all restraint. 
 They demanded with ever-increasing boldness im- 
 mediate war — war for the "redistribution of the 
 earth." This had become their modest slogan. 
 One of the Court councillors elucidated this new 
 slogan in an article which appeared in the January- 
 March, 1913, issue of Oesterr. Rundschau. In this he 
 makes the statement: "We are trying in these 
 historical times to act as history requires. The 
 great wide world is knocking at our door. We 
 must rush out and make world history. As the 
 possible fruit of such action there lies before us the 
 whole Oriental world — Turkey, Persia, and China — 
 which are doomed to destruction, and we might 
 have also Morocco and Tunis, and possibly even 
 Egypt. Parts of Asia and Africa as well as Europe 
 are the great goals which to-day command the 
 attention of Europe." 
 
 The hated London Conference of Ambassadors 
 was a constant stumbling block to our war propagan- 
 dists. No sooner did we think up some demand 
 which seemed sufficiently preposterous to provoke 
 war than the tireless ambassadors would secure its 
 peaceful acceptance by the Balkan States and Russia. 
 
AUSTRO-GERIVIAN INTRIGUE 149 
 
 In the meantime, we had to content ourselves 
 with the piKng up of armaments. This process 
 went forward as briskly as in the most palmy days 
 of the Prochaska affair. We turned our special 
 attention to the building up of a great air fleet 
 and to the development of a great new gun factory 
 in Hungary. The proclamation authorizing this 
 gun factory was signed by Archduke Karl Franz 
 Joseph, the last Hapsburg Emperor, in his then 
 capacity as a major in the Ordnance Department. 
 This was a branch factory of the famous Skoda 
 Works. The great Hungarian Jewish munition 
 manufacturers, Manfred Weiss and Deutch & Son 
 of Budapest, were financially interested in it as in 
 the parent factory. The Krupps of Germany 
 and the Hungarian Government were also finan- 
 cially involved in the enterprise. 
 
 This rampant militarism was, if possible, even 
 more flagrant in Germany. There all the anti- 
 military Sauls seemed to have been converted by 
 the apostles of militarism into militaristic spend- 
 thrift Pauls, to whom henceforth no demands for 
 armaments on land or sea could be too great. 
 Even the Socialists joined in this orgy of militarism. 
 Russia's legitimate aspiration for a free passage 
 through the Dardanelles and Serbia's equally 
 legitimate desire for a commercial corridor to the 
 Adriatic were given as reasons for this reckless 
 prodigality in military expenditure. The Balkan 
 Alliance was referred to as "overbalancing the 
 
150 THE INSIDE STORY OF 
 
 scales in favour of Slavdom." And all Germany 
 constantly reiterated that "Germanic Austria" 
 must serve as the advance guard in stemming the 
 advance of the Slavs. 
 
 When the Ballplatz learned that six thousand 
 Serbs were marching over the mountains to the aid 
 of their Montenegrin brothers who were closing 
 in on Skutari the Old Gray House (the Austro- 
 Hungarian Foreign Office) became almost a mad- 
 house. The "press reptiles" were let loose and be- 
 gan to shriek in the war press: "The future World 
 War has again received a new name, and that name 
 is Skutari." "Europe," wrote the Neue Freie Presse, 
 "which is rolling up billions and bringing up the 
 peace strength of its armies to a height never be- 
 fore dreamed of, resembles one of those electric 
 travelling cranes with a capacity for carrying im- 
 mense loads but which if a pebble is caught in its 
 mechanism is easily put out of order. The pebble 
 is Skutari, and Europe the Titan who could crush 
 the whole Balkans between its thumb and fore- 
 finger without being aware of any exertion, endures 
 the malicious teasing of the march of new Serbian 
 battalions against the encircled fortress without 
 defending itself against the worry. Will Skutari 
 fall and will its fall develop new complications 
 threatening the peace of Europe.^" But as the 
 march of the Serbs was completely in conformity 
 with the rules of warfare, Skutari being a Turkish 
 fortress defended by Turkish troops, and as we 
 
AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 151 
 
 could not go to the rescue of the Turks without ex- 
 posing ourselves to the obloquy of intervening for 
 the decaying Mohammedan power and against the 
 liberation of Christian people, we had to have some 
 more presentable cause for entering the war. Since 
 this time our General Staff for strategical reasons 
 desired to invade Montenegro we needed a casus 
 belli against that valiant little country, the "eagle's 
 nest" of the Jugoslavs. 
 
 Accordingly, Count Berchtold ordered the *'Lit- 
 erary" Bureau to discover at once what Monte- 
 negro had done to violate international law or to 
 flaunt the sensitive honour of the Dual Monarchy. 
 He had only a few days to wait. On the 21st 
 of March Austria-Hungary and Germany were 
 "shaken by the terrible news" that a Franciscan 
 monk, Father Angelus Palitch, had been foully 
 murdered by Montenegrins! The war press 
 shrieked for vengeance for this "incredible crime" 
 — "this crime that was crying to Heaven for 
 vengeance!" "A reliable report," said the Neue 
 Freie Presse in its issue of March 21st, "giving the 
 details of this crime, discloses that it was committed 
 with bestial ferocity and barbarity and in a hor- 
 rifyingly bloody manner. The adventures of the 
 Franciscan Father Palitch are politically of great 
 importance. We must protect the peasants of 
 Djakova who are robbed of their most essential 
 rights. We must insist upon the investigation of 
 the base crime against the Franciscan Father 
 
152 THE INSIDE STORY OF 
 
 Palitch not only because since olden times has the 
 right to protect Albanian Catholics belonged to 
 Austria-Hungary, but even more because the new 
 situation in the Balkans, which our Ministry of 
 Foreign Affairs has pledged itself to take cogni- 
 zance of, logically presupposes that the laws of 
 humanity and civilization must not be trodden 
 under foot so near our frontiers." On the same 
 day the Catholic organ, the Reichspost, said: "The 
 Austro-Hungarian charge d'affaires in Cetinje, 
 Consul General Weinzetl, has made energetic de- 
 mands on the Montenegrin Government for satis- 
 faction for the more-than-obvious violations of 
 international law which have so deeply offended 
 the honour of Austria-Hungary. Should the Mon- 
 tenegrin Government fail to meet the demands, then 
 diplomatic action will take a more cogent form and 
 finally even military coercion will be adopted if 
 necessary to give Austria-Hungary full satisfac- 
 tion. Austria-Hungary demands the following: 
 first, the unhampered exodus of civilians from 
 Skutari; second, an investigation of the death 
 of the Catholic priest, Father Palitch, murdered 
 by Montenegrins near Djakova (when Austria- 
 Hungary laid the demand before Montenegro that 
 the bestial assassination of this priest be investi- 
 gated in the presence of an Austro-Hungarian 
 Consular official, the Montenegrin Government re- 
 fused to comply, declaring that in districts occupied 
 by Montenegrins, Montenegrins only had the right 
 
AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 153 
 
 to conduct investigations. This reply signifies 
 an unfriendly attitude toward Austria-Hungary); 
 third, the coercive measures to force Albanians 
 into Orthodoxy must cease henceforth; fourth, com- 
 plete satisfaction must be given for the lawless acts 
 which were committed by Montenegrin military 
 and civil authorities against the steamer Skodra at 
 San Giovanni di Medua." In conclusion, this 
 article stated: "What will happen next will depend 
 entirely upon the behaviour of the Montenegrin 
 Government. Most likely the crisis will speedily 
 develop, but important as the grievances of our 
 monarchy and Italy are, the underlying cause of 
 the crisis is the desire of Montenegro and Serbia to 
 capture the town of Skutari and thus cut off for 
 Albania the very possibility of existence for the 
 future." 
 
 The lawless acts which were committed by 
 Montenegrin military and civil authorities against 
 the steamer Skodra took place when the Hun- 
 garian steamer Skodra, owned by the steamship 
 company " Ungaro-Croata, " was commandeered 
 by the Montenegrin authorities to help disembark 
 helpless Serbian soldiers from Greek transports 
 which were being shelled by a Turkish warship in 
 the harbour of San Giovanni di Medua. As both 
 skipper and crew of the Skodra were blood kin to 
 these Serbian soldiers and gave their assistance 
 gladly the commandeering was of course only a 
 formality. This act of mercy was, in spite of this, 
 
154 THE INSIDE STORY OF 
 
 branded as lawless by our scrupulously law-abiding 
 diplomats who had seized and held whole prov- 
 inces contrary to law. In order to enforce our 
 demands upon our new enemy — this time an arid 
 patch of mountain country inhabited by 250,000 
 people — we dispatched a whole squadron of our 
 fleet in battle array to the Montenegrin coast. 
 Thus seven battleships, an equal number of 
 cruisers, and a whole flotilla of torpedo boats 
 patrolled the open roadstead outside the shallow 
 harbour of Antivari. Truly Goliath was on the war- 
 path against David! And Goliath had the back- 
 ing of the greatest military power on earth. On 
 March 23d an inspired article in the Nord- 
 deutsche Allgemeine Zeitung said: "Austria-Hun- 
 gary is determined to secure satisfaction from 
 Montenegro for her violations of international law. 
 In so doing she is acting not only for the protection 
 of her own violated rights and interests but also for 
 the protection of international law and for the 
 principles of European civilization." 
 
 The Austro-Hungarian version of the manner in 
 which the Franciscan monk, Father Angelus 
 Palitch, met his death was as follows: On March 
 7th several fanatical orthodox ministers together 
 with some Montenegrin soldiers attempted to com- 
 pel 300 Albanian Roman Catholics to embrace the 
 orthodox faith. The 300 were tied with ropes and 
 given their choice between orthodoxy and death. 
 Among the 300 was Father Palitch who, on his re- 
 
AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 165 
 
 fusal to abjure his faith, was beaten with the butt 
 ends of rifles and finally bayoneted. According to 
 the Montenegrin version of the affair Father Pa- 
 litch was arrested by the Montenegrin police for 
 attempting to stir up revolt against Montenegro 
 among the Albanians and was being taken under 
 escort from Ipek to Djakova, together with other 
 suspected persons, to be tried on this charge. On 
 the journey he broke away from his escort and at- 
 tempted to escape. His guards three times sum- 
 moned him to stop, but he paid no attention, 
 whereupon they fired upon him and killed him. 
 These two contradictory reports about the death 
 of Father Palitch were all that the public had to go 
 by until the Vienna Zeit, on April 13th, came out 
 with the following recital: "Two interesting docu- 
 ments are published here to-day. The one is a 
 manifesto of the Committee for the Promotion of 
 Austro-Hungarian Literary and Humanitarian In- 
 terests in Albania. The other is an official Ser- 
 bian statement on the post-mortem inquiry into 
 the death of the Franciscan friar. Father Palitch, 
 whose alleged martyrdom for refusal to embrace 
 orthodoxy figured prominently in recent Austro- 
 Hungarian semi-official indictments of Montenegro. 
 According to this Serbian statement the post- 
 mortem inquiry was made yesterday at Djakova by 
 two Montenegrin doctors and one Serbian doctor 
 in the presence 'of the consuls.' The inquiry 
 established the fact that Father Palitch was killed 
 
156 THE INSIDE STORY OF 
 
 at a considerable distance by rifle shots. There 
 were no traces of bayonet wounds. Should this 
 statement be substantiated by the consular re- 
 ports, the blood-curdling story of Father Palitch's 
 martyrdom, supplied to the Neue Freie Presse 
 from an unspecified source, and reproduced by the 
 Reichspost, would rank with the stories of the treat- 
 ment of Consul Prochaska; and the Montenegrin 
 declaration that Father Palitch was shot in at- 
 tempting to flee from political arrest would be con- 
 firmed." 
 
 The death of Father Palitch as a possible 
 casus belli was rendered finally untenable by this 
 brief announcement which appeared three days 
 later: "The mixed commission which has been 
 holding an inquiry into the death of the Catholic 
 priest, Palitch, who was arrested on a charge of 
 publicly inciting the Albanians against the Monte- 
 negrin authorities and was killed, yesterday signed 
 its report. It is declared that the commission found 
 no convincing proof that Palitch was beaten and 
 maltreated in prison by the Montenegrin authori- 
 ties, and that no evidence was forthcoming of his 
 premeditated murder by the Montenegrin escort." 
 Disappointing as these findings must have been to 
 the Ballplatz, our war leaders at least had the sat- 
 isfaction of knowing that they had presented our 
 "energetic demands for satisfaction" to Montenegro 
 before the chief charge upon which they rested had 
 been shattered. 
 
AUSTRO-GERMAN mTRIGUE 157 
 
 Even before this disappointing report appeared, 
 however, the plans of the Ballplatz for bringing on 
 war had been foiled again by the good offices of the 
 abhorred Conference of Ambassadors. On March 
 28th they had sent a collective communication re- 
 garding Skutari to the Montenegrin Government to 
 the effect that, since the powers had reached an 
 agreement regarding the northern and northeastern 
 frontiers of Albania, Montenegro was "invited": 
 first, to raise the siege of Skutari; second, to dis- 
 continue hostilities in the territory allotted to 
 Albania according to the aforementioned agree- 
 ment; third, to proceed rapidly to the evacuation 
 of this territory. Naturally enough Montenegro 
 and her ally, Serbia, had no opportunity to decline 
 these unwelcome "invitations." Thus for the 
 third time our diplomacy, and that of Berlin, won 
 its ostensible object and lost its real object — war. 
 A clamour of protest again arose against Berchtold 
 and his associates for deceiving the public. Doctor 
 Kramarz, the Czech authority on foreign affairs, 
 again voiced his periodic protest: "The Prochaska 
 affair is not the only thing that Kania (the head of 
 the "Literary" Bureau) is guilty of. A second 
 such affair is this of the Franciscan monk, Palitch. 
 To him awful things had happened; to this man 
 originally represented by the Neue Freie Presse to be 
 a saint. That he scarcely deserved. We have 
 done that which would be possible in no other 
 country: we have kept the augmented effectives 
 
158 THE INSIDE STORY OF 
 
 under the colours for six raonths and our army partly 
 mobilized. Everywhere the report was spread that 
 Russian troops were mobilized in great numbers 
 on our frontier. Not a word of this was true. I 
 declare on good authority that Russia retained 
 under the colours only her last year's class of re- 
 servists and they were not held on the Austrian 
 frontier, but in the interior of Russia." 
 
 So serious was the tension in Europe created by 
 our never-ending demands and bellicose attitude 
 that the ambassadors at the London Conference 
 were in a state of mind to yield to our every whim 
 rather than have us run amuck and plunge Europe 
 into the horrible disaster of a general war. Con- 
 sequently they complied with their usual alacrity 
 to our next demand which was for a naval demon- 
 stration of the Great Powers against Montenegro 
 to enforce the decisions of the Conference. Hence 
 the Great Powers, including even Russia, who au- 
 thorized France to represent her, in order to humour 
 and temporarily pacify our war-mad diplomats, 
 consented to participate in this international opera 
 comique. The might of Europe fittingly symbol- 
 ized by its ironclads assembled in the Adriatic to 
 threaten Lilliput Montenegro with death and de- 
 struction if she did not obey the orders which had 
 been sent her. But for our statesmen and their 
 Berlin collaborators this apparently humorous per- 
 formance known as the Flotten-Demonstration had 
 a very much more serious purpose than the 
 
AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 159 
 
 coercing of helpless little Montenegro. They 
 hoped by means of this cooperative action to 
 commit, at least diplomatically, Russia, France, 
 Great Britain, and Italy to their policy of hostility 
 toward Montenegro and Serbia; indeed in some de- 
 gree at least to their whole Balkan policy. If this 
 hope were realized they might reasonably expect 
 to secure the consent of the powers to occupy 
 Montenegro and Serbia just as they had in 1878 
 won their consent to occupy temporarily Bosnia 
 and Herzegovina. With this once accomplished 
 they would be free to undertake the conquest and 
 partition of Russia — their real ambition. 
 
 In commenting on this naval demonstration 
 the Neue Freie Presse said: '* England and France 
 are represented among the men-of-war lying at 
 anchor in the roadstead of Antivari [a Montenegrin 
 port]. The commanders of the vessels will do the 
 rest. Their soldiers' hearts will not permit them 
 to allow their fleets to become an object of de- 
 rision. There is no retreat, even for Russia, who 
 empowered France to represent her. The dip- 
 lomats can wind themselves like snakes and swallow 
 their words. The admirals will not do this: they 
 will not bring shame to their flags." The next day 
 the official press became still more threatening 
 and outspoken when the same organ announced: 
 *'The monarchy was not one of the originators of 
 the London Conference of Ambassadors. It will 
 submit to its decisions as long as it sees fit. Sku- 
 
160 THE INSIDE STORY OF 
 
 tari must become Albanian, be it with the consent of 
 Europe or, if it must be, and Russia thus wills it, 
 without the consent of Europe. The monarchy in 
 demanding this will not stand alone." Light was 
 thrown upon this final sentence a few days later 
 when on April 4 th Herr Von Jagow, the German 
 Foreign Secretary, said in the Reichstag: "The 
 German Empire stands faithfully with Austria." 
 And a few days after that its meaning was made 
 still clearer by Chancellor Bethmann-Hollweg 
 when he said in the Reichstag in introducing the 
 army and taxation bills: "'One thing is beyond 
 doubt. If it should ever come to a European con- 
 flagration which would set Slavdom against Ger- 
 mandom, it woidd be for us a disadvantage that 
 the position in the balance of forces, which was 
 hitherto occupied by European Turkey, should 
 now be filled in part by Slav states.'' These words, 
 coming as they did after the Chancellor's announce- 
 ment in December that Germany would "fight" 
 for Austria, were particularly full of sinister sig- 
 nificance. He continued : " We are endeavouring to 
 lessen the tension between Austria-Hungary and 
 Russia concerning the Balkan problems as far as 
 possible, but in spite of this we must not put our 
 head in the sand. That we shall remain faithful to 
 our ally beyond mere diplomatic mediation goes 
 without saying." 
 
 These words created indignation among all Slavs 
 everywhere and they were by no means accepted 
 
AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 161 
 
 without question by the more liberal German lead- 
 ers. The social democrat, Haase, for instance, in 
 referring to the Chancellor's reference to the con- 
 flict between Slavdom and Germandom, said: 
 *'The German people, and I think I know the senti- 
 ments of the great masses, will refuse to go to war 
 for the imperialistic aims of the Austrian prestige 
 policy." The frivolity of such an undertaking 
 would cause indignation such as we have never yet 
 witnessed in Germany. The Russian people have 
 no thought of war." 
 
 The conciliatory attitude of Russia in consent- 
 ing that Skutari be awarded to Albania, in violation 
 of both the interests and the rights of Montenegro 
 and Serbia, caused a brief relaxation of the inter- 
 national tension and gave the peoples of Austria- 
 Hungary a little breathing space in which to 
 look about them. At this time, on April 12, 1913, 
 Sergius Sazonoff, the Russian Minister of Foreign 
 Affairs, made the statement that "difference in 
 race by no means leads inevitably to antagonism 
 between races." This was generally accepted by 
 the peoples of Austria-Hungary as Russia's reply to 
 Bethmann-HoUweg's reference to *'the conflict 
 between Slavdom and Germandom." It was 
 taken as an assurance that the Slavs of Russia at 
 any rate had no desire for war. This reassurance 
 was increased by the announcement that the 
 Czar was to attend in Berlin the wedding ceremony 
 of the Princess Victoria Louise, the Kaiser's 
 
162 THE INSIDE STORY OF 
 
 daughter, in spite of the offensive sabre-rattling of 
 the German Chancellor. These indications of a 
 return to normal conditions were gratefully noted 
 by the nerve-wrecked and tax-burdened peoples of 
 the Dual Monarchy. 
 
 Official Austria, however, was quick to detect 
 and resent these symptoms of a desire for friendly 
 relations with her Teutonic neighbours on the part 
 of Russia. As the surest way of arousing Russian 
 resentment the semi-official press taunted Russia 
 with having "sold out the Serbs ten times over" 
 by consenting that Skutari be taken from Monte- 
 negro and Serbia. When on April 23 d the news 
 arrived from Cetinje that Montenegrin troops had 
 entered Skutari the Ballplatz press fairly seethed 
 with rage. The cry went up: "With or without 
 Europe's consent send our troops (who were ready 
 and waiting on the Montenegrin frontier) to cor- 
 rect with the sword the errors of our diplomacy, 
 and to heal with iron the failures of our diplo- 
 macy." On the 25th, Count Berchtold made rep- 
 resentations to the Conference of Ambassadors in 
 London asking that "coercive measures be adopted 
 against Montenegro because of her opposition to the 
 will of Europe." "These coercive measures," 
 read his message, "should be carried out by all 
 the powers or by the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy 
 alone as the mandatory of Europe." The Neue 
 Freie Presse said in an inspired article commenting 
 on this proposal: "If the Great Powers will act 
 
AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 163 
 
 in accord, peace will be preserved and Montenegro 
 will receive the proper punishment; should this 
 hope be vain our monarchy will declare, just as 
 Count Anton Auersberg says in one of his verses: 
 ^Ich bin so frei, frei zu seirC; there are only two 
 alternatives, with Europe or against Europe, Sku- 
 tari must become Albanian." 
 
 Count Mensdorf, our Ambassador in London, 
 proposed to his colleagues of the Conference that 
 '*they force Montenegro to evacuate Skutari by 
 authorizing Austria-Hungary to occupy forthwith 
 Montenegro's only harbours, Antivari and Dulcigno, 
 not by an inter-allied detachment taken from the 
 international fleet gathered opposite the Monte- 
 negrin coast, but through an expeditionary force 
 strong enough eventually to operate against 
 Skutari.'* As always. Count Berchtold sought to 
 persuade Europe that "Balkan affairs are no con- 
 cern of Russia's, but are solely matters to be settled 
 between Austria-Hungary on one side and Monte- 
 negro or Serbia on the other. . . . Should 
 diplomatic notes be insufficient, iron must decide!" 
 At the same time he addressed a circular note to the 
 Powers the gist of which was: "Austria-Hungary 
 cannot tolerate the situation created by the en- 
 trance of Montenegrin troops into Skutari. The 
 prestige of the Great Powers has been assailed. 
 Austria-Hungary therefore invites the Powers to 
 decide what steps are to be taken to restore that 
 prestige. Should the Powers fail to arrive at a 
 
164 THE INSIDE STORY OF 
 
 speedy decision Austria-Hungary would feel com- 
 pelled to take steps which would assure the will of 
 the Powers being respected and compel Monte- 
 negro to evacuate Skutari." 
 
 A statement published in Vienna on April 27th 
 said: "In the course of Saturday afternoon Baron 
 Conrad von Hoetzendorf [Chief of the General 
 Staff] had a long conversation with Count Berch- 
 told, and toward 7 p.m. went with him to 
 Schoenbrunn, where they conferred with the 
 Emperor until 8:45. This morning's journals are 
 careful to point out that His Majesty consequently 
 retired to rest later than usual. 
 
 "To-day the Austro-Hungarian heir-apparent 
 arrived in Vienna and had a long audience of the 
 Emperor this afternoon. 
 
 "Baron Conrad von Hoetzendorf has for the past 
 week been urging upon Count Berchtold and the 
 Emperor the absolute necessity of some kind of 
 military action to save the prestige of the mon- 
 archy among the Southern Slavs and to raise the 
 morale of the Austro-Hungarian officers, who 
 would be disheartened were their long winter of 
 hardship and effort to end tamely in a demobiliza- 
 tion." 
 
 About a week later semi-official agents of the 
 Foreign Office were spreading the rumour that 
 "Austria-Hungary will to-morrow address an ul- 
 timatum to Montenegro, and that military action 
 against Montenegro will immediately follow unless 
 
AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 165 
 
 the ultimatum is complied with. Should Monte- 
 negro resist and be assisted by Serbia," add these 
 agents, "Austria-Hungary will regard the Monte- 
 negrin or Serbian territory she may occupy as 
 territory definitely conquered." 
 
 The open rejoicings of the Slavs of Austria at 
 the victory of little Montenegro over the hated 
 Turks still further increased the rage and bitterness 
 of our military and diplomatic leaders. The 
 Czecho-Slavs in the north, the Slovenes, Croats, 
 and Serbs in the south, were in a state of joyous 
 exultation. In Prague, Zagreb, and Ljubljana the 
 police were kept busy hauling down the flags which 
 the people raised in honour of the victory of their 
 Montenegrin and Serbian kinsmen. 
 
 At this critical juncture of affairs we opened con- 
 versations with Rome to find out how far we could 
 rely upon Italian cooperation in using force against 
 recalcitrant Montenegro. Count Berchtold, as 
 indeed all Austrian statesmen, was always more 
 than skeptical of Italy's willingness actively to 
 support the policies of her Teutonic allies when it 
 came to a "show down." Just because of this 
 doubt of Italy's devotion to our policies we were 
 particularly anxious actively to engage her in a 
 military venture on our side. We felt that if she 
 could be induced to aid us in forcing the Monte- 
 negrins and Serbs to evacuate Skutari that she 
 would then feel obligated to follow the course once 
 entered upon even though it should lead to war 
 
166 AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 
 
 against Russia and France as we believed and hoped 
 it would. On May 2d Italy announced that she 
 had "accepted the invitation of Austria-Hungary 
 for armed intervention in Albania by landing 
 Italian troops at Valona." 
 
 Thus once again all was going smoothly for our 
 diplomacy and there seemed to be hardly a possi- 
 bility that the long-coveted war could be again 
 avoided. Even the loyal Neue Freie Presse, organ 
 of the Semitic business interests, had said a few 
 days before: "Contrary to our wishes the sword 
 will have to decide. ... In the next few days 
 we will see the monarchy underline her word with 
 the sword for the first time since the occupation of 
 Bosnia and Herzegovina." 
 
 The Austrian Poles again declared their blind 
 loyalty to the monarchy and its Germanic foreign 
 policy. This they did in spite of the fact that only 
 a fortnight before the Prussian Diet had authorized 
 an expenditure of 175 million marks for the ex- 
 propriation of the Poles of Prussia, and in spite 
 of this comment made at the time by the Prussian 
 Minister, Baron Schorlemer: "The Prussian Gov- 
 ernment has the holy duty to aid Germandom 
 {DeutscJitum) in the economic and national strug- 
 gle against the Poles: this particularly in view of 
 the possibility of a world war." 
 
CHAPTER VIII 
 
 TiszA, Austria-Hungary's Man of "Blood and 
 Iron," Comes to Power, June, 1913 
 
 austria-hungary urges italy to join the 
 central empires in european war, august, 1913 
 
 "T WAS the Slavs who once more frustrated the 
 cunningly planned Austro-German assault upon 
 humanity. On the advice of Russia both Monte- 
 negro and Serbia surrendered unconditionally to 
 our demands. On May 6, 1913, King Nicholas 
 of Montenegro informed Sir Edward Grey, as the 
 president of the London Conference of Ambassa- 
 dors, that he placed the fate of Skutari in the hands 
 of the Great Powers. The same day the Serbs 
 evacuated Durazzo and again renounced their 
 "little window on the Adriatic." At the same 
 time the Czar showed his willingness to overlook 
 the many evidences of Teutonic spite and enmity 
 by carrying out his previously announced inten- 
 tion to attend the marriage in Berlin of the Kais- 
 er's daughter, the Princess Victoria Louise. 
 
 Meantime, thanks to the secret machinations 
 of our diplomacy, the strained relations between 
 Serbia and Bulgaria had almost reached the break- 
 
 167 
 
168 THE INSIDE STORY OF 
 
 ing point. Bulgaria had mobilized on Serbia's 
 frontier, ready for instant attack upon her ally. 
 Serbia issued a statement saying that "a strict 
 observance of the Treaty of Alliance is excluded in 
 view of the results of the war; Serbia cannot cede 
 to Bulgaria the territories conquered by the 
 Serbian army." 
 
 The yielding of Russia and her small proteges 
 gave our harried people another short breathing 
 space. It had long been tlie policy of our govern- 
 ment so to alarm the people by the dangers sup- 
 posed to be threatening them from outside our 
 borders that they would be too distracted to give 
 attention to the innumerable internal ills with 
 which they were afflicted. The sword of Dam- 
 ocles was ever suspended over their heads. But 
 this sword was now blunted by excessive use and 
 the people looked about them. What did they see.'' 
 
 In Bohemia relations between Germans and 
 Czechs had become so strained that the whole 
 administrative machinery was paralyzed by the 
 never-ending obstructionist tactics of the German 
 minority faction in the Diet. The home budget could 
 not be voted and no taxes could be collected in the 
 richest crownland of the monarchy. The war of 
 nationalities in Galicia was just as acute. The 
 Governor-General threatened to resign because of 
 his inability to secure any kind of a working agree- 
 ment between the Poles and the Ruthenes. The 
 conditions in the other provinces were almost as 
 
AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 169 
 
 bad. Added to the never-ending Internal political 
 and nationalistic conflicts were the thousands of 
 economic wounds from which the old empire was 
 slowly but surely bleeding to death. By the mid- 
 dle of May, 1913, the internal situation had become 
 so ominous that our statesmen dared not sound the 
 usual alarms about the external dangers which were 
 alleged to be threatening us for fear of precipitat- 
 ing in the Delegations a debate on Internal con- 
 ditions. 
 
 In Hungary the situation was no less desperate. 
 Even the most confirmed optimists began to despair 
 of the future of the monarchy. The officials of the 
 Foreign Office were particularly gloomy. They felt 
 that the disruption of the ancient empire was now 
 inevitable. Those of them who were Hungarians 
 were openly preparing themselves for the complete 
 separation of Hungary from Austria. They even 
 parcelled out among themselves the posts in the 
 new Hungarian Foreign Office, which, as they 
 believed, would soon be established. This prospec- 
 tive golden opportunity for more jobs considerably 
 mitigated their grief over the desperate plight of the 
 empire. The heads of the Government were faced 
 with three alternatives. Either they must grant 
 radical reforms which would transform the old 
 empire from the bottom up and which would 
 abolish the century-old special privileges of the 
 rulers and the ruling classes including the Court, 
 the nobility, the high ecclesiastics, and the gentry. 
 
170 THE INSIDE STORY OF 
 
 as well as^ the bankers, merchants, and manufac- 
 turers who grew rich on government contracts; or, 
 secondly, they must plunge into the universal 
 catastrophe of a great war in the hope of flounder- 
 ing through with their previous privileges intact; 
 or, finally, they might drift on in the cross currents 
 of indescribable confusion until the constantly in- 
 creasing poverty and suffering of the great masses be- 
 came insupportable and produced civil war. Since 
 the foreign war alternative was the only one which 
 offered the ruling classes as such any chance of sur- 
 vival it was naturally the one they chose to act 
 upon. But before taking the great plunge it was 
 essential to put their house in order or at any rate 
 to give it the temporary appearance of orderliness. 
 This was especially necessary in order to inspire the 
 confidence of their great German ally who had 
 learned from Bismarck to be distrustful of the 
 Hungarian portion of the empire. A strong man 
 completely devoted to the Dual Monarchy in its 
 then existing form and enjoying the full confidence 
 of the ruling classes of Germany and particularly of 
 the German Kaiser himself was needed in Hungary 
 to bring order out of the chaos which the weak and 
 incompetent government of Premier Lukacs had 
 created. 
 
 The man selected for this task was Stephan 
 Tisza. *' The apple does not fall far from the tree," 
 as the proverb says. Tisza was a true son of his 
 father — of the man who had ruled the turbulent 
 
AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 171 
 
 Magyars with a rod of iron. In fact, the son as 
 Premier, eight years before, had shown the same 
 iron hand. And last but not least, Tisza was 
 "persona gratissima to Kaiser Wilhelm. In him 
 therefore were concentrated the hopes of the 
 Viennese Court camarilla. He must be their 
 saviour from this dangerous situation. He was the 
 relentless man who, with "blood and iron," would 
 drive the discontented, desperate masses into the 
 reeking slaughter houses of a great war. Tisza 
 did not disappoint their hopes. He became the 
 stormy petrel of the mighty hurricane which pres- 
 ently swept over Europe. He was a man of un- 
 flinching determination, apparently without nerves, 
 and even in the most desperate situations his 
 presence of mind never deserted him. He sub- 
 jected himself to iron discipline and demanded that 
 his subordinates do the same. He was always 
 permeated with the consciousness of being in the 
 service of his king, and subordinated his personal 
 affairs to what he believed to be the interests of that 
 service. He had had an operation on his eyes 
 which prevented his glancing to right or left with- 
 out turning his head. He had always to look 
 straight ahead. This physical limitation seemed 
 to have transmitted itself to his character. He 
 pursued his purposes relentlessly without turning to 
 right or left. Bismarck had remarked that in 
 Hungary there were only two kinds of politicians — 
 lawyers and hussars. Tisza was a hussar. When 
 
172 THE INSIDE STORY OF 
 
 asked, on assuming power, how he would overcome 
 the opposition of the deputies who were not con- 
 vinced by his arguments he repHed: "I shall bring 
 in the soldiers or the police." On June 4, 1913, 
 just after Tisza had taken office this comment on 
 his methods appeared in the press: "A year ago 
 to-day Count Tisza, as President of the Hungarian 
 Parliament, ordered the police to eject the ob- 
 structionist opposition from the Chamber. To-day, 
 the captain of the Hungarian Parliamentary 
 Guards was belabouring an opposition deputy with 
 his sabre in the Chamber." 
 
 This was the way Tisza carried out the Emperor's 
 mandate to bring the Hungarian Parliamentary 
 opposition into line with the policies of the Govern- 
 ment. On June 11th the new Premier thus ad- 
 dressed the Labour Party: "Does not the external 
 situation demand that we abandon all pusil- 
 lanimity; does not the external situation require of 
 each member of the nation that he do everything 
 in his power in order that the whole attention of the 
 whole nation be concentrated upon its great vital 
 interests, which perhaps now will decide the fate of 
 the nation for centuries to come.^" In a speech 
 the next day he said: "The harmonious coopera- 
 tion of all the factors in the monarchy is a necessity 
 both for upholding the monarchy as a great power 
 and because the very existence of the Hungarian 
 nation is dependent on the maintenance of the 
 monarchy as a great power." In conclusion he 
 
AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 173 
 
 said: "I am convinced that the Hungarian nation 
 and the monarchy will find their places and will 
 emerge from this development with a new lustre; 
 but we must throw all our mental and material 
 powers, all our political ripeness and all our moral 
 preparedness into the service of this great aim; 
 great interests are endangered; we have been 
 thrown into the scales of world history and upon 
 our own weight depends whether we shall make 
 those scales rise or fall." Thus through the mouth 
 of "the bloody Tisza" did Austria-Hungary chal- 
 lenge Russia in particular and the Entente in gen- 
 eral to mortal combat! 
 
 The Premier's words were supported by that 
 veteran war organ Oesterr. Rundschau in an article 
 entitled: "Austria-Hungary and Russia's Historic 
 Mission" signed by "Austriacus." The modest 
 anonymous author said: "The Japanese-Russian 
 War proved that Russia, before whose might all 
 Europe trembled, was not invincible and after the 
 defeat of Russia in the Far East, not only the people 
 of this empire, but the whole of Europe, began to 
 breathe more freely. Nevertheless, world peace 
 is still in great danger, as can be clearly seen by the 
 attitude of Russia in the Balkan crisis. Russia 
 must therefore be weakened as Bismarck at first 
 outlined, because only a weakened Russia will keep 
 the peace." A second article in the same journal, 
 written this time by a "High Oflficer," states: 
 "Love of peace means fear of war, fear before that 
 
174 THE INSIDE STORY OF 
 
 elementary force which undermines the old and 
 decayed, and causes new buds to spring forth. We 
 fear in case of misfortune that the standing of the 
 monarchy as a great power may be jeopardized. 
 Austria-Hungary, Rumania, and Bulgaria would 
 make a splendid Balkan Triple Alliance, established 
 on a solid foundation and in which each member 
 would find a free field for its own activities in spite 
 of its collaboration with the others. . . . Serbia 
 would thus have her hands bound. Austria- 
 Hungary could then bring into action nearly her 
 whole military forces against her strongest enemy 
 [i. e., Russia]." 
 
 As has been mentioned before, the creation of 
 Albania by the fiat of the Great Powers deprived 
 Serbia of her longed-for outlet on the Adriatic. As 
 a consequence of this action of the Powers, Serbia 
 declined to turn over to Bulgaria the portions of 
 Macedonia which had been assigned to her by the 
 Treaty of Alliance. 
 
 Here was an opportunity for our diplomats to 
 sow discord between the Balkan allies and disrupt 
 the Balkan League which seriously menaced our 
 aspirations in the Balkans. In these efforts we 
 were successful despite the attempt of Russia to 
 prevent a fratricidal war between the two Balkan 
 states. 
 
 Fresh from a conference Ynth Count Berchtold, 
 Tisza thus stated our policy in the war which, 
 through the intrigues of our diplomacy, was now im- 
 
AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 175 
 
 pending between Bulgaria and Serbia : " Our starting 
 point is naturally that here also the Balkan States 
 are independent, and that they are, consequently, 
 free to choose their own method of settling their dif- 
 ferences. They may — ^and we should deplore it 
 deeply if they did, but they are entitled to do so — 
 choose the method of war, or they may choose 
 mediation or a tribunal of arbitration. . . . 
 Any other procedure* would possess the character 
 of an intervention and would be totally incom- 
 patible with the cardinal point of our policy, which 
 is the independence of the Balkan States." 
 
 King Ferdinand's reply to the Czar's appeal sug- 
 gests that he and Count Tisza were at this time 
 *'two minds with but a single thought." He re- 
 pi'sd: "The Balkan States are strong enough to 
 decide themselves concerning their weal and woe 
 and will be faithful to every Great Power that will 
 respect their independence." 
 
 Soon after this on July 2, 1913, King Ferdi- 
 nand's armies, relying upon our military interven- 
 tion to assure their success, were hurled upon their 
 Svr:)ian allies. They were speedily and painfully 
 disillusioned. Before our diplomacy had time to 
 prepare the way for military intervention the 
 Serbian armies, by a series of lightning-like blows, 
 had crushed their attackers and were marching 
 
 *It should here be recalled that the Treaty of Alliance between Bulgaria 
 and Serbia provided that any irreconcilable differences between them should 
 be decided by the Czar of Russia. 
 
176 THE INSIDE STORY OF 
 
 victoriously toward Sofia. Before our diploniats 
 had recovered from their painful stupefaction at 
 this sudden and unexpected turn of events the 
 Bulgars had on July 10th placed their fate in 
 the hands of Russia. Our lamentations were loud 
 and long. "The east flank of the Triple Alliance 
 is crushed," so they ran; *'the whole Triple 
 Alliance has suffered a loss of power which cannot 
 be made good by placing our armies on an even 
 higher peace footing." Just as when Skutari was 
 taken, the oflScial lamentations were drowned by 
 cries of joy wherever Slavs were living. Little 
 Serbia stood triumphant on the battle-field oncei 
 more. In the wreck of their schemes our diplo- 
 macy had, however, one great consolation which' 
 was thus expressed: "Beside the corpse of Bulgaria 
 lies also the corpse of the Balkan Alliance, that 
 innermost, true alliance, the union of states and 
 peoples who are striving toward a single object; 
 that alliance will never rise from the dead." 
 
 No amount of explanation, however, could alter 
 the fact that the outcome of the Balkan Wars had 
 been a severe blow to the prestige of the Teutonic 
 Powers and was likely to postpone, if it did not 
 completely wreck, their scheme for the creation 
 of a Mittel-Europa. Turkey, the protege of 
 Germany, had been practically excluded from 
 Europe. From the wreck of the Ottoman Empire 
 arose greatly enlarged and strengthened, Serbia, 
 Bulgaria, and Greece. Not only had the territories 
 
AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 177 
 
 of these states been enlarged but their national 
 consciousness had been stimulated. 
 
 Moreover, in both of the Balkan Wars our diplo- 
 mats had "backed the wrong horse." Our dis- 
 appointed war leaders determined, therefore, to 
 strike Serbia before she was able to recover from 
 the wounds of the Balkan struggle. Much de- 
 pended upon Italy's attitude, because at this time 
 we were not disposed to risk starting the war with- 
 out Italy's adherence. Accordingly, we asked 
 Italy whether she would support us in an attack on 
 Serbia — whether she would accept our view that 
 the attack was defensive and that therefore she 
 was obligated to aid us under the terms of the 
 Triple Alliance. In a speech in the Chamber of 
 Deputies on December 5, 1914, Giovanni Gio- 
 litti, the Italian Premier, said of this effort: "Dur- 
 ing the Balkan War, on August 9, 1913, I received 
 the following telegram from the late Marquis di 
 San Giuliano, Minister of Foreign Affairs: 'Austria 
 has communicated to us and Germany that it has 
 been their intention to act against Serbia, defining 
 such action as defensive and hoping for an appli- 
 cation of a casus foederis by the Triple Alliance, 
 which I consider inapplicable.' I answered Mar- 
 quis di San Giuliano thus: 'If Austria attacks 
 Serbia a casus Joederis evidently does not exist. It 
 is an action she undertakes on her own account. 
 It is necessary to declare this to Austria in the most 
 formal manner, hoping that Germany will act to 
 
178 THE INSIDE STORY OF 
 
 dissuade Austria from a very dangerous ad- 
 venture. 
 
 Meantime, Count Berchtold had repeated con- 
 ferences with the Emperor at Bad Ischl, the im- 
 perial summer residence. One such conference was 
 held on July 5th at the outbreak of the Second 
 Balkan War, when Bulgaria attacked Serbia. Our 
 immediate forcible intervention for Bulgaria was 
 considered but vetoed because of Italy's doubtful 
 attitude. At later conferences held on the 16th 
 and 17th of July, when Bulgaria already lay shat- 
 tered on the battle-fields, we considered whether 
 we should intervene to prevent Serbia reaping the 
 advantage of her victory. We decided, however, 
 that there was still hope that the peace terms about 
 to be made at Bucharest might be twisted to our 
 advantage and hence we once more stayed our 
 "clenched fist raised about to strike." 
 
 In spite of the protestations of King Ferdinand 
 the Peace Conference at Bucharest took the normal 
 course of conferences between victors and van- 
 quished. By August 5th the growing resentment 
 and alarm of the Ballplatz was thus expressed by 
 one of its mouthpieces: "The Bucharest peace 
 pourparlers are liable to cause anxiety in Austria- 
 Hungary. The situation created by the exagger- 
 ated demands of Serbia and Greece as well as other 
 causes are unhappily bringing nearer and nearer 
 the necessity for the revision by Austria-Hungary 
 of the whole peace work." It will be observed that 
 
AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 179 
 
 our tender solicitude for complete independence of 
 action among the Balkan States began to wane 
 now that such independent action was not to our 
 liking. From then on the necessity for the re- 
 vision of the Treaty of Bucharest became our 
 insistent cry. The Peace Conference at Bucharest 
 adjourned on August 8th. It will be noted that it 
 was at this very time that we asked Italy whether 
 she would support us in a "defensive attack" upon 
 Serbia. Two days later Count Berchtold made 
 this official comment on the Treaty of Bucharest: 
 "International revision or political revision, that 
 is the question which must be decided at the 
 present time," and at the same time he went again 
 to Bad Ischl to discuss the situation with the 
 Emperor. The old monarch was much impressed 
 by Italy's decisive answer to our overtures and felt 
 that our diplomacy had blundered again in leading 
 us unto a position where we could not obtain the 
 support of our southern ally. 
 
 Undoubtedly Kaiser Wilhelm shared our em- 
 peror's disappointment over the Treaty of Bucha- 
 rest, but he shrewdly concealed it. In fact, he at 
 once telegraphed King Carol of Rumania that he 
 accepted the Peace of Bucharest as final. He be- 
 gan also to show special favour to Rumania. 
 
 The Ballplatz, on the contrary, came out with 
 the statement: "The result of the Bucharest 
 Peace Conference cannot be considered as final, 
 but at best as furnishing valuable material for a 
 
180 THE INSIDE STORY OF 
 
 conference of the Powers which will be called upon 
 to revise the findings of the Balkan States." The 
 best explanation of this apparent conflict between 
 the views of Vienna and Berlin is given by Baron 
 Von Chlumetzky, the spokesman of Archduke 
 Francis Ferdinand, in his publication Oesterr. 
 Rundschau* from which we have so often quoted. 
 In it he says: "Austria-Hungary was obliged to 
 put its weight in the scales in favour of Bulgaria, 
 if it did not want to betray the great interests 
 that were at stake. The statesmen of the Triple 
 Alliance must not be afraid to show occasionally 
 divergent principles, if this serves the cause of 
 the Triple Alliance itself by preventing the for- 
 mation of a Balkan confederation under the 
 auspices of the Triple Entente. If Count Berch- 
 told and Herr Von Jagow, following the principle 
 of the division of labour — by separate marches 
 and united attack — come even one step nearer 
 their objective, they may easily ignore the frog 
 croaks over the apparent estrangement between 
 Vienna and Berlin." 
 
 On August 26th, while we were clamouring for the 
 revision of the Treaty of Bucharest and blackening 
 the names of Serbia and Russia, the long-suffering 
 Czar again extended an olive branch to our em- 
 peror. The Russian Ambassador presented to 
 Emperor Francis Joseph an invitation from Czar 
 Nicholas to bless the Russian chapel in Leipzig 
 
 ♦Vol. 36, July-September, 1913. 
 
AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 181 
 
 which had been erected to commemorate the 
 victory over Napoleon in 1813 and which was to be 
 consecrated simultaneously with the great German 
 monument erected for the same purpose. This 
 friendly act on the part of the Czar and his govern- 
 ment stirred even the deadened conscience of old 
 Francis Joseph and he once more awoke to the 
 character of the conspiracies which were being 
 hatched by Francis Ferdinand and his confederates, 
 Berchtold, Von Hoetzendorf, and the irrepressible 
 Tisza, who was striving to become known to fame 
 as the Bismarck of Austria-Hungary. While the 
 old emperor remained in this mood the heads 
 of those who had brought such indescribable mis- 
 fortunes upon the people of the monarchy were 
 in danger of falling. By the middle of September, 
 1913, the imperial disapproval had led both Count 
 Berchtold and Baron Conrad von Hoetzendorf to 
 feel a longing for retirement and the quiet life. 
 Count Berchtold was preparing to retire to the 
 management of his vast estates in Hungary or 
 Moravia. Any change in the *'01d Gray House" 
 would have been welcomed by the people generally 
 as a change for the better. 
 
 Baron Conrad von Hoetzendorf, Chief of the 
 General Staff, whose official demise would have 
 been even more welcome to the people, felt that he 
 had been flung aside by the inexorable course of 
 events on the world stage. For the moment he 
 was tired and disgusted. One consideration only 
 
182 AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 
 
 kept him and his tool, Count Berchtold, from 
 quitting in disgust — the consoHng thought that 
 the ag«d emperor could not hang on much longer 
 and that then Francis Ferdinand would become 
 the "All Highest" and they would be free to work 
 *' their own sweet will." Although their master 
 never became emperor, in less than a year he had 
 in quite a different way rewarded them for their 
 patience by bringing them their heart's desire — ^war 
 against Serbia and Russia. 
 
CHAPTER IX 
 
 Emperor Francis Joseph Pronounces World 
 War Inevitable, May, 1914 
 
 tisza counts on half the german army for war 
 against russia, march, 1914 
 
 IN APPROACHING the last series of Austro- 
 Hungarian machinations in the years 1913-1914 
 I wish to quote the prophetic views of three 
 statesmen. First, Count Andrassy, fresh from the 
 Congress of Berhn at which Austria received the 
 mandate temporarily to occupy Bosnia and Herze- 
 govina, said to Emperor Francis Joseph: "Maj- 
 esty, I am bringing you the keys which will unlock 
 for us the gate to the Orient." Second, Peter 
 Shuvaloff, the Russian statesman, wrote four years 
 later: "I am convinced that the giving away of 
 Bosnia and Herzegovina to Austria will one day 
 imperil the European peace. From there will come 
 the spark which will ignite the powder, and in the 
 glow of this all-devouring fire the Slav problem 
 will then have to be solved." Finally, Ivan Hribar, 
 a Jugoslav statesman said ten years before the 
 world war: "Bosnia will be the grave of Austria- 
 Hungary." 
 
 183 
 
184 THE INSIDE STORY OF 
 
 Indeed, "whom the Gods would destroy they 
 first make mad." It was as if an inexorable fate 
 was driving the old empire to self-destruction. We 
 were at peace with all our neighbours. We were 
 fairly prosperous, although labouring under old 
 internal evils, until Count Aehrenthal conceived 
 the idea of curing the latter by war; war with 
 Serbia, war with Russia, and, if necessary, war 
 even with Italy. With a fanatical tenacity we 
 evoked the war-spectre until it became a ghastly 
 reality. 
 
 The years 1914-15 were regarded in Austria- 
 Hungary as the time limit for starting a successful 
 war against Serbia and Russia. There were several 
 reasons for this. 
 
 First, Bulgaria was humiliated and the Balkan 
 League was shattered. It was important for us 
 not to allow the situation in the Balkans to crys- 
 talize so as to prevent a revision of the Treaty of 
 Bucharest. 
 
 Second, the destruction of the Balkan League 
 brought in its wake the virtual *' secession" of Italy 
 from the Triple Alliance. Hence the necessity 
 for Austria-Hungary and Germany to revise their 
 diplomatic and military plans for the conquest and 
 partition of the East. 
 
 Third, Russia was growing stronger every year 
 and would be in 1917, according to calculations of 
 our war leaders, able at least to defend herself 
 against the united aggression of the Central Powers. 
 
AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 185 
 
 Up to 1915, at the latest, she was powerless, as we 
 thought, against our invasion. 
 
 Fourth, the internal political chaos and economic 
 depression of Austria-Hungary if allowed to mature 
 would have dissolved or weakened the empire so 
 irremedially that an active external policy, to say 
 nothing of a great war, would have been unthink- 
 able. 
 
 Fifth, in 1917 the Ausgleick between Austria 
 and Hungary, regulating the economic relations 
 between the countries had to be renewed or the 
 disruption of the old empire would have become an 
 accomplished fact. 
 
 Sixth, in 1917 the commercial treaty of Germany 
 with Russia, which she had concluded in the Russo- 
 Japanese War, and which practically made Russia 
 a German province, expired. 
 
 All of these circumstances are significant in 
 explaining the feverish anxiety of the war parties 
 in the Teutonic Empires to precipitate the Euro- 
 pean crisis before the balance in international 
 affairs became unfavourable to them. 
 
 Our disappointment at the refusal of Italy to 
 join us in the attack on Serbia lasted only so long 
 as it took us to rearrange our plans according to 
 the changed circumstances. Italy or no Italy, war 
 had to be brought about. We were prepared to 
 the last button; Russia was not. Our general 
 staff grumbled; it had already perfected its plans, 
 and was unwilling to wait. Count Berchtold had 
 
186 THE INSIDE STORY OF 
 
 failed to provide a plausible cause or pretext for war. 
 A new orientation of our whole policy became im- 
 perative, in view of the changed conditions in the 
 Balkans and within the Triple Alliance. The two 
 ringleaders of the war groups, Kaiser Wilhelm and 
 Francis Ferdinand, decided to meet to consider the 
 main points of the future policy. The meeting was 
 set for October, 1913. 
 
 In the meantime, we hastened, on the one hand, to 
 consolidate our position in the Balkans; and, on the 
 other, to obliterate traces of our criminal designs. 
 First, we gave Bulgaria a loan of thirty million 
 francs. We were without money ourselves; the 
 year previous we had gone to America to get money 
 for our mobilization in the Prochaska crisis, but 
 Count Berchtold himself now ordered the directors 
 of all our banks to scrape together the money. 
 
 The conference of the Kaiser and the Archduke 
 took place at the castle of Konopisht on October 
 27, 1913, after which they proceeded to Vienna to 
 lay their plans before the old emperor. Quite 
 ingeniously our Foreign Office commented on the 
 meeting at Schoenbrunn in the following manner: 
 "Emperor William comes to Vienna just at the 
 right time, because the adherents of the Alliance 
 need more than ever before to see the two monarchs 
 — as the personification of the treaty — side by 
 side." Before the meeting of the kaisers was 
 adjourned, it was decided to hold one more meeting 
 before the European conflagration broke out. 
 
AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 187 
 
 This meeting was fixed for the spring of the follow- 
 ing year, 1914. 
 
 The fruits of the meeting at Konopisht were soon 
 visible. Before the meeting of the two kaisers. 
 King Ferdinand of Bulgaria had arrived at his 
 castle in Murany in Hungary, and soon afterward 
 transferred his residence to Ebenthal, near Vienna. 
 When Kaiser Wilhelm left, the King met Count 
 Berchtold, by whom he was very heartily re- 
 ceived. At this first meeting after the Bulgarian 
 catastrophe. King Ferdinand received from Count 
 Berchtold once more the promise that Austrian 
 diplomacy would not rest until it had brought 
 about a revision of the Treaty of Bucharest. It 
 was thought by some persons that the King was 
 still wavering between the Triple Alliance and the 
 Triple Entente, but such was not the case. Bul- 
 garia had already received from Austria, as we have 
 seen above, the first instalment of a loan and had 
 placed an order with the Austrian Waffen-Fabriks- 
 Aktien-Gesellschaft for the completion of her 
 armaments. King Ferdinand was at that time in 
 the camp of the war-plotters of the Central Em- 
 pires. 
 
 Although the King was advised to hasten back 
 to Sophia, where great bitterness prevailed against 
 him, he lingered in Vienna long enough to be 
 received in audience by the Emperor twice. 
 These audiences were more than an indication 
 how painfully and pressingly the Central Empires 
 
188 THE INSIDE STORY OF 
 
 needed Bulgarian friendship, because it was just at 
 that time that the pubhc in Austria-Hungary was 
 aroused by the pubHcation in Paris of the text of 
 the Serbo-Bulgarian Treaty of 1912, That treaty 
 provided for an offensive and defensive aUiance 
 and was a surprise to the people of Austria- 
 Hungary, because it contained the clause that 
 Bulgaria was to come to the help of Serbia with 
 :200,000 troops if the latter should be attacked by 
 Austria-Hungary. The complete adherence of 
 King Ferdinand of Bulgaria to the policy outlined 
 in the first meeting at Konopisht was the last link 
 in the formation of the great conspiracy of the 
 Germanic princes against the peace of Europe. 
 This conspiracy comprised, besides the two rulers 
 of the Central Empires and the kings of the 
 German Empire, King Ferdinand of Bulgaria, 
 King Carol of Rumania, King Constantine of 
 Greece, and Count Tisza, the uncrowned king of 
 Hungary. That Rumania's immediate entry into 
 war on the side of the Central Empires was not 
 effected in the first days after the outbreak of the 
 war was not due to any reluctance on the part of 
 King Carol, but to the almost unanimous opposition 
 to such action among his responsible statesmen. 
 
 In order to encircle Russia completely with hos- 
 tile powers the unconditional adherence of Turkey 
 to the Austro-German war programme was neces- 
 sary. For this purpose a new coup d'etat was 
 carried out which practically placed Turkey com- 
 
AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 189 
 
 pletely in the power of the Central Empires. On 
 the very day on which in Bulgaria the pro-German 
 Radoslavoff was once more entrusted with the 
 formation of a ministry, Enver Bey, the tool of 
 Germany, was appointed Minister of War, and 
 made a pasha. These changes took place on the 
 4th of January, 1914. Thus Turkey came into 
 the circle of the conspirators, and Enver Pasha 
 played the role of a German prince in Turkey thus 
 completing the war alliance of Germanic princes 
 formed to destroy Serbia and overwhelm Russia. 
 With Enver Pasha there also came into power 
 Talaat Bey. 
 
 The necessary arrangements having been com- 
 pleted, it was decided to postpone everything to the 
 spring of the following year in order to avoid a late 
 winter campaign. Before starting a new campaign 
 of incitement for war and of fabricating a casus 
 belli, our diplomats felt it absolutely necessary to 
 put themselves before Europe and the whole world 
 in a proper light. Europe had become tired of the 
 constant machinations of our diplomats and states- 
 men against the peace of the world. The affair 
 of August 9, 1913, when Count Berchtold asked 
 San Giuliano to start the World War by attacking 
 Serbia, was then known to the diplomats of Vienna 
 only. Berlin and Rome were anxious to impress 
 upon the world how peace-loving they were. 
 Emperor Francis Joseph himself in his speech from 
 the throne on November 19th said that the Austro- 
 
190 THE INSIDE STORY OF 
 
 Hungarian Government "throughout that troubled 
 period aimed at the protection of the poHtical and 
 economic interests of the Dual Monarchy and the 
 consolidation so far as possible of the situation in 
 the Near East. Thanks to the proved readiness 
 of the army and navy it has been found possible 
 to attain these ends by peaceful means." 
 
 Count Berchtold spoke openly of the "existence, 
 during the last crisis, of sentiments hostile to the 
 monarchy not only among certain Balkan states, 
 but also among the Great Powers." Count An- 
 drassy and Count Karolyi, on the other hand, con- 
 sidered that "grave mistakes have been made by 
 Count Berchtold in maintaining the principle of the 
 status quOy in demanding a revision of the Treaty of 
 Bucharest, and in the attitude adopted shortly 
 before the outbreak of the second Balkan War, 
 which could not fail to produce an impression that 
 Austria-Hungary wished to provoke hostilities. 
 Austria-Hungary did not allow the Balkan situation 
 to become crystallized. Austria-Hungary has often 
 put diflSculties in Serbia's way, and she seems in- 
 clined to continue to accentuate this policy." 
 
 That the World War did not break out, in 
 August, 1913, instead of August, 1914, was due, in 
 the first place, to Russia's conciliatory attitude; 
 secondly, to the wise policy of Great Britain as 
 conducted by Sir Edward Grey; and, finally, to the 
 Italian statesmen who — although going very far 
 in their complaisance with the policy pursued by 
 
AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 191 
 
 the Ballplatz — ^nevertheless became alarmed at 
 the eleventh hour at the prospect of a world con- 
 flagration, and declined to follow Austria's lead. 
 
 A new issue with Serbia arose from the attempt 
 of the Serbian Government to purchase the shares 
 of the Orient railroad line. The possession of 
 the majority of the Orient railway shares by a 
 syndicate of Austro-Hungarian and German banks 
 gave the monarchy a strong voice in the settle- 
 ment of the question — ^made it, in fact, an Austro- 
 Hungarian, if not an Austro-German, question. 
 This purchase in the spring of 1913 of a requisite 
 number of shares to bring the majority into 
 Austrian and Hungarian hands was effected at the 
 instance of the Vienna Foreign Oflice. The pur- 
 pose of the transaction was — ^first, to keep the 
 "road to Salonica" open; and secondly, to enable 
 Austria-Hungary to control, through the medium 
 of the company, the development of the railway 
 systems in the western Balkans. The value which 
 was set upon the possession of this control as the 
 means of attaining the former object was em- 
 phasized by Count Berchtold in the Austrian 
 delegations. 
 
 A still more vivid light was thrown upon the 
 intentions of our diplomacy by the special solicitude 
 which Count Tisza displayed in the Rumanian 
 national question, and by the attitude of both the 
 Austrian and Hungarian governments toward the 
 Ruthenian population of northern Hungary and 
 
192 THE INSIDE STORY OF 
 
 eastern Galicia. As regards the first, it must be 
 remembered that there are living in the eastern 
 part of Hungary, in Transylvania, some three 
 million Rumanians, racial kinsmen of the people 
 of the Kingdom of Rumania. It was considered 
 as imperative by our diplomats, and foremost 
 by Count Czernin, our Minister at Bucharest, to 
 satisfy to some degree the national aspirations of 
 the Transylvanian Rumanians in view of the ex- 
 pected world war, as the discontent in that 
 part of the country was intense. The most 
 implacable enemy that the Slavs and Rumanians 
 of Hungary ever knew, namely Count Tisza him- 
 self, was negotiating with the Hungarian Ru- 
 manians to bring them into the government fold 
 in return for various concessions. Count Czernin 
 said in a conversation with a press representative 
 that an understanding with the Hungarian Ru- 
 manians would effect an improvement in the rela- 
 tions between the monarchy and Rumania. Tisza, 
 however, denied absolutely that there was any con- 
 nection between the negotiations with the Ruman- 
 ians and the relations between the monarchy and the 
 Rumanian Kingdom. Finally Tisza's negotiations 
 with the Rumanian leaders definitely failed. In a 
 long memorandum communicated to the Hungarian 
 Premier the Rumanians stated that his proposals 
 were not such as to remove, even for a short time, 
 the differences which existed between the policy of 
 the Hungarian Government and themselves. 
 
AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 193 
 
 As regards the second question, namely the 
 treatment of the Ruthenes in northern Hungary 
 and Galicia, neither the Hungarian nor the Aus- 
 trian government acted in a way to reconcile them 
 with their lot. In this connection, two monster 
 trials were instituted: one at Marmaros-Sziget in 
 Hungary, and the other in Lwow, Galicia. To 
 understand these new machinations of the Ball- 
 platz it must be pointed out that among the races 
 which composed the population of the Hungarian 
 crown there were about a half million Ruthenes. 
 They were settled along the northeastern fringe 
 of the country on the southern slopes of the Car- 
 pathians. On the other side of the mountains 
 three million of their brethren lived under Aus- 
 trian rule in Galicia, and some twenty-five million 
 were subjects of Russia. The Ruthenes in Aus- 
 tria-Hungary are for the most part peasant folk, be- 
 longing to the Greek Catholic or Uniate Church, 
 which preserves the Orthodox rite but acknowl- 
 edges the Pope. During recent years there has 
 been, however, a tendency in some districts to 
 leave this church for the Greek Orthodox religion 
 to which the mass of Ruthenes in Russia belong. 
 In this movement the Hungarian Government pro- 
 fessed to see a definite agitation with a political 
 purpose — namely, the ultimate absorption into the 
 Russian Empire of the Ruthenian districts of Hun- 
 gary. 
 
 The Marmaros-Sziget treason trial, which lasted 
 
194 THE INSIDE STORY OF 
 
 for months, was conceived on a large scale (just as 
 was the Zagreb trial in 1908-09). When the pro- 
 ceedings began, the accused numbered 189 persons, 
 but there remained on the day of the opening of the 
 trial only 84, the rest having been discharged. 
 Chief among them was one Alexi Kabalyuk, other- 
 wise known as Father Alexi, who together with 
 24 of his companions was charged with having 
 cooperated with three brothers by the name of 
 Gerovsky of Czernovitz, in Bukovina, to convert 
 the Ruthenian Uniate population of Hungary to the 
 Russian Church, and to unite the parishes under 
 the Metropolitan of Kieff ; this they strove to do by 
 the distribution of pamphlets in which the Russian 
 Church and the Russian national idea were glorified, 
 and the Hungarian nation and the Greek Uniate 
 Church decried. Prayers were said for the Czar, 
 the Russian Emperor's family and army. Further- 
 more, it was charged that they carried on agita- 
 tion against the Hungarian state, having as its 
 purpose the absorption into the Russian Empire of 
 the Ruthenian districts of Hungary. 
 
 The truth was that under Polish influences new 
 customs and ceremonies, abhorred by the people, 
 were introduced into the Uniate Church by their 
 Metropolitan, Count Andrew Shepticky. As a 
 result, thousands were leaving it, and were going 
 back to the Orthodox Church. Uniate priests 
 who remained faithful to the ancient Slavonic 
 Liturgy, so loved by the people, were harshly 
 
AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 195 
 
 persecuted, while Orthodox priests, although native 
 Galicians, were imprisoned. The action of the 
 Uniate ecclesiastical authorities, and not any propa- 
 ganda from the neighbouring Russian Empire, was 
 the cause of the Orthodox movement. 
 
 On March 3, 1914, the state trial at Marmaros- 
 Sziget closed. Thirty-two of the accused were 
 found guilty of incitement against religion and the 
 State, and 23 not guilty, the heaviest sentence, four 
 and one half years, was passed on Kabalyuk; on the 
 others from six months to two and one half years. 
 
 This trial had scarcely ended before a similar one 
 began at Lvow. In this case the charge of treason 
 and Russophile agitation in favour of the Orthodox 
 Church was levelled against Austrian subjects, the 
 chief of whom were two priests, a writer, and a 
 university student. The preliminary examination 
 lasted nearly two years, the accusation covered 
 190 closely printed pages, and over 100 witnesses 
 were called. This trial of four Ruthenes on a 
 charge of treason began at Lvow on March 9, 
 1914. It differed in one respect only from the 
 trial held at Marmaros-Sziget, the accused were 
 not ignorant, but educated persons. They had 
 been in prison nearly two years before the trial 
 began. They were charged with fomenting agi- 
 tation from 1909 to 1912 in favour of the incorpora- 
 tion of Galicia into Russia, and of having spoken 
 contemptuously in public of the Catholic religion. 
 The proceedings were watched by two officers of 
 
196 THE INSIDE STORY OF 
 
 the Austrian general staff, because three of the ac- 
 cused were charged with espionage in the interest 
 of Russia. 
 
 During both trials a constant agitation was kept 
 up in the Austrian and Hungarian press against Rus- 
 sia. The papers constantly referred to the "sinister" 
 influence of Russia. In Austria-Hungary they 
 spoke of the "rolling rouble" that finds its way into 
 the pockets of Austro-Hungarian citizens for the 
 purpose of agitation, etc. While this new move-, 
 ment against Russia was raging in Austria-Hungary,' 
 it was thought necessary, by the German Foreign 
 Office, to open an anti-Russian agitation simulta- 
 neously in Germany, and what was said there in the 
 very days when the political trials in Austria- 
 Hungary were coming to a close was little short of 
 an unofficial declaration of war against Russia. 
 The campaign was opened by the Kolnische Zeitung 
 on the eve of the day on which the verdict in the 
 Marmaros-Sziget trial was expected. On March 
 2d the same paper published an article by its 
 Petrograd correspondent in which he dealt with the 
 relations of Russia to Germany by declaring that 
 "Holy Russia is not in a position to give backing 
 by the force of arms to her political threats." 
 
 But the campaign did not stop there. It in- 
 volved the whole press of Germany. The Berliner 
 Tageblatt outdid the Kolnische Zeitung in an arti- 
 cle about the relations of Austria-Hungary and 
 Germany to Russia, which it published on March 
 
AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 197 
 
 9, 1914. "A preventive war," it said, "is in gen- 
 eral to be condemned, but there are cases where 
 a state is driven more and more into straits by an 
 overwhelming adversary, and to save itseK cannot 
 allow the enemy the choice of the most propitious 
 moment. 
 
 "It is impossible to let Russia go a step farther, 
 and even then if it comes to war with her. . . . 
 Germany and especially Austria-Hungary are 
 sujflering heavily under the strain of their present 
 armaments. They are better than ever prepared 
 for war. With time, however, the chances are 
 growing better for Russia. . . . The burden 
 of the war in the eastern theatre of war will fall 
 principally upon Austria-Hungary. From all we 
 hear the Austro-Hungarian army is now well 
 organized and equipped with all possible weapons. 
 Russia is by no means invincible, and it is wrong to 
 think that a victory over Russia would bring no 
 fruit. On the contrary, Russia is the colossus with 
 feet of clay. Her existence depends for the greater 
 part on the need of peace or rather the good will of 
 the inhabitants of central Europe." 
 
 Chauvinists and militaristic writers enjoyed 
 the utmost freedom. General Bernhardi explained 
 in the Post that "Germany must be prepared for 
 war in the near future," and attempted to show 
 that "the recent French and Russian army meas- 
 ures have created a new situation not foreseen in 
 1913." The Pan-German press advocated German 
 
198 THE INSIDE STORY OF 
 
 claims of all sorts, especially in Asia Minor, " \n aicli 
 is still to be had but only if Germany does not 
 shrink from the extreme test, that is reallj^ to risk 
 war against Russia and France as well as Enghnd." 
 There were then in the field the gun-makers, the 
 ammunition manufacturers, the army and nav^y, 
 the clericals, the Pan-Germans, and the Semitic 
 business interests. There was little more to be 
 desired, unless it were the adhesion of the Socialists 
 who hated Russia and all her works. A& the 
 Socialists had already placed themselves on record 
 in the crisis of 1912 as favouring war against Russia 
 and Serbia, their support was certain, and their 
 attitude well known to the Government. 
 
 Alarmed by so much noise about an immediate 
 outbreak of war, the Hungarian paper, Az Est, 
 sent one of its best correspondents to Petrograd 
 to interview Sazonoff, the Russian Foreign Min- 
 ister. Sazonoff's measured words are in striking 
 contrast to the provocations against Russia con- 
 tained in the Austro-German oflScial press. He 
 stated that he was "imable to understand the sud- 
 den outburst of excitement in Austria-Hungary 
 and Germany." "Last year," he said, "tension 
 between the monarchy and Russia certainly did 
 exist, but that is a matter of the past." In regard 
 to a certain tension or jealousy existing between 
 Germandom and Slavdom, Sazonoff said that 
 "the policy of great empires in this twentieth 
 century is not conducted according to sentiments. 
 
AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 199 
 
 The E^aerests are the decisive factors in this realistic 
 world. A war as you picture it yourself would in 
 our day be a world war. The interests of the 
 world,, though, demand at all costs peace. The 
 Treaty of Commerce between Russia and Germany 
 must be renewed in 1917. But I see also in this 
 field not a point which could lead to dispute. We 
 are principally an agricultural state and Germany 
 is our greatest market. It will not be difficult to 
 come CO terms under such circumstances. In criti- 
 cizing Russian armaments, the Austro-Hungarian 
 press is apt to forget the very great increases 
 which the monarchy has effected in the strength of 
 her army by the reform of 1912 and by the bill 
 presented last year and already passed by the 
 Austro-Hungarian parliaments. Also do not for- 
 get that our annual birth rate is three and a half 
 millions. Consequently, we can allow ourselves 
 an increase in the peace footing of our army. This 
 is avtT^ury which ceases to be a luxury as soon as 
 foreign armaments force us to similar measures." 
 No plainer and no more reasonable words could 
 have been spoken by a statesman of a threatened 
 country than these of Sazonoff. To bring them 
 into relief it is necessary to contrast them with the 
 speech of the Austrian Defence Minister which he 
 delivered the day after the Sazonoff interview. 
 In introducing on March 13, 1914, the Recruit 
 Contingent Bill, General Baron Georgi said: "It 
 was generally hoped that it was permissible to 
 
200 THE INSIDE STORY OF 
 
 look forward to a long period of peace. The mon- 
 archy had during the Balkan crisis shown her love 
 of peace and her disinclination to attack another 
 state. Conditions in the Near East, however, were 
 not yet sufficiently ordered to exclude the possi- 
 bility that the monarchy might find herself 
 suddenly, and even against her will, involved in 
 war. Austria-Hungary's love of peace must not be 
 regarded as weakness and no doubt must be allowed 
 to exist that she was absolutely ready and decided 
 to reply, if necessary, to any attack with a counter- 
 attack." This statement is of significance, as it 
 was made a few days before a further visit of Kaiser 
 Wilhelm to Austria. 
 
 While Kaiser Wilhelm deliberated with Kaiser 
 Francis Joseph and Count Berchtold as to when and 
 how best to precipitate the war, the German 
 Kaiser again reminded the Viennese of his famous 
 *' shining-armour" speech, by presenting to the 
 City of Vienna a large plaque commemorating his 
 reception seven years before at the Vienna City 
 Hall. 
 
 Commenting upon Kaiser Wilhelm's visit. Count 
 Tisza in his Weekly Igazmondo on March 23, 
 1914, said: "To-day sixty-five million Germans 
 are opposed to only thirty-eight million French, 
 and according to human foresight, Germany will 
 more and more overtake her old foe in the future 
 as regards population and military strength. What 
 follows from this.'^ To-day three fifths of the 
 
AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 201 
 
 population of Germany suffices to counterbalance 
 France. Approximately two fifths of the German 
 military strength is available to be thrown in the 
 scales in case of a great world war in the east of 
 Europe ... in this war we can count on 
 nearly half of the German army. " 
 
 Count Tisza was severely attacked for this article 
 by Count Karolyi in the Hungarian Delegations on 
 May 12, 1914. He pointed out the profound 
 impression which Tisza's statements had made in 
 the Dual Monarchy; and, in fact, in all Europe. 
 "I do not want," he said, "to make the Premier 
 responsible for the attacks on Russia. It is never- 
 theless without doubt that the Premier has great 
 influence on a certain part of the press. I am 
 speaking now of his own article in which, so to say, 
 he mobilized the German troops on the Russian and 
 French frontiers. It is certainly an offence to a 
 state if the premier of another state calculates in 
 an article how many soldiers would suffice to over- 
 throw the state in question, in this case Russia, and 
 how to hold France in check. Nobody can call 
 this tenderness. If the premier of a country writes 
 such an article, it carries greater weight than if 
 somebody else does it." 
 
 By the preparations which were going on at the 
 same time in the Austro-Hungarian embassies 
 abroad, I know that the meeting of the two kaisers 
 was of the utmost significance; that the date for 
 the beginning of the war was set for the summer of 
 
202 THE INSIDE STORY OF 
 
 1914; that the old emperor had been completely 
 won over at that meeting to the views of the 
 German Kaiser. Encouraged by his success 
 Kaiser Wilhelm then proceeded to Trieste where 
 on March 27th he had a meeting with his other 
 archplotter, Archduke Francis Ferdinand, at the 
 castle of Miramar. Confirmation of my views in 
 regard to the conclusions that were reached at the 
 meeting of the two kaisers (it must be noted 
 that the greater part of my manuscript was written 
 during the European war) was given by Mr. Mor- 
 genthau, ex- Ambassador of the United States to 
 Turkey, in his book, '* Ambassador Morgen- 
 thau's Story" where he said: "The Austro-Hun- 
 garian Ambassador to Turkey, Marquis Pal- 
 lavicini, also practically admitted that the Central 
 Powers had precipitated the war. On August 
 18, 1914, Francis Joseph's name day, I made the 
 usual ambassadorial visit of congratulation. Quite 
 naturally the conversation turned upon the em- 
 peror, who had that day passed his 84th year. 
 Pallavicini spoke about him with the utmost pride 
 and veneration. He told me how keen-minded 
 and clear-headed the aged emperor was, how he 
 had the most complete understanding of interna- 
 tional affairs, and gave everything his personal 
 supervision. To illustrate the Austrian Kaiser's 
 grasp of public events, Pallavicini instanced the 
 present war. The previous ISIay, Pallavicini had 
 had an audience with Francis Joseph in Vienna. 
 
AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 203 
 
 At that time, Pallavicini told me, the Emperor 
 had said that the European war was unavoidable. 
 The Central Powers would not accept the Treaty 
 of Bucharest as a settlement of the Balkan question, 
 and only a general war, the Emperor told Pallavi- 
 cini, could ever settle that problem." Knowing, 
 as I do. Marquis Pallavicini — I served under him 
 while he was Minister in Bucharest — I can fully 
 understand that he was capable of making such 
 an important revelation to one of his foreign col- 
 leagues, as he himself is neither keen-minded nor 
 clear-headed, and is of a talkative disposition. 
 
 But what Marquis Pallavicini forgot to mention 
 was the fact that he himself had made at that time 
 a stay of three days at Bucharest during which he 
 sounded various political personages on the ques- 
 tion of whether Rumania would follow Austria- 
 Hungary and Germany in the event of the former 
 declaring war, the Marquis affirming that Austria- 
 Hungary would be obliged to proceed to this ex- 
 tremity and that the replies given were in the nega- 
 tive. 
 
CHAPTER X 
 
 Austria Selects Albania as ^the Cradle for 
 THE World War 
 
 THE RECRUITING OF VOLUNTEERS FOR WAR IN 
 ALBANIA, JUNE, 1914 
 
 WITH or without the assassination of the 
 Archduke Francis Ferdinand and with or 
 without the so-called previous mobiliza- 
 tion of the Russian army on August the first, 1914, 
 war was decided by Austria-Hungary and Germany 
 in March, 1914, for that very year or at the latest 
 the following year; and nothing could have stopped 
 the two war parties from carrying this decision into 
 effect. 
 
 This explains why we were again on the lookout 
 for a pretext for war. As the machinations against 
 Russia in the two Ruthenian trials had fallen flat, the 
 Serbian wound was again opened over the matter of 
 the control of the Orient Railway in Serbia. This 
 controversy was in an acute stage at the time Baron 
 Conrad von Hoetzendorf, Chief of the General Staff, 
 was conferring with Count Von Moltke, Chief of the 
 Prussian General Staff, on matters of the utmost 
 importance, in the watering place of Karlsbad. 
 
 204 
 
AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 205 
 
 But soon an even better opportunity for our 
 diplomats to make trouble in the Balkans arose 
 once more in Albania, and the situation there 
 shaped itself so favourably for fomenting trouble 
 that both the Ballplatz and our General Staff were 
 absolutely certain that in Albania the spark 
 would be dropped which would explode the powder 
 magazine of Europe. 
 
 As a matter of fact, the first shot in the World 
 War was not fired by the boy assassin of Sara- 
 jevo, but by an Austrian officer at Durazzo, the 
 capital of the new Kingdom of Albania. 
 
 Before describing that scene it must be recalled 
 that the Kingdom of Albania was created by the 
 Conference of Ambassadors in London at the end 
 of the First Balkan War. It lacked a prince, but 
 one was soon found in a close relative of the Queen 
 of Rumania; hence the particular interest which 
 Kaiser Wilhelm and King Carol of Rumania, both 
 Hohenzollerns, displayed in the Prince of Wied. 
 In the past German princesses have overflowed 
 the dynastic marriage market of Europe; a Rus- 
 sian grand duke once called these German prin- 
 cesses less gallantly than cynically '' marchandise 
 d' exportation."' This bon mot could fairly be ap- 
 plied also to German princes that have become a 
 special article of export to the Balkans, as Carol of 
 Rumania, Ferdinand of Bulgaria, and the Prince 
 of Wied. It was at the close of February, 1913, 
 that Prince William of Wied received at the an- 
 
206 THE INSIDE STORY OF 
 
 cestral castle of his family at Neu Wied the 
 Albanian deputation headed by Essad Pasha 
 which offered him the Albanian throne. Before 
 this new, artificially created "Emperor" ventured 
 into his realm, he visited the courts of Europe 
 and secured for himself from the various Euro- 
 pean governments a big yearly subsidy in gold. 
 Hardly was he seated, however, on his throne 
 in the old court-house in Durazzo, which had 
 been hastily converted into some semblance of a 
 palace, than this newly made throne began to 
 shake violently. Never did a prince face such a 
 difficult situation. He had to deal with a race 
 of which the northern half does not understand 
 the southern half, and which is divided by three 
 religions: Catholic in the north, the followers of 
 the Orthodox Church in the south, and the devo- 
 tees of Islam scattered all over the state. Ex- 
 Sultan Abdul Hamid had disbursed a great 
 deal of money among the Albanian mussulmans 
 of the mountains; while Austria and Italy had 
 vied with each other in the zeal which they dis- 
 played in financing the Albanian chieftains and 
 members of the clergy. The Mpret, the title of the 
 new emperor, soon discovered that he was sitting 
 on a powder magazine. Central Albania had al- 
 ways been convulsed by bitter feuds. Homes 
 there are like great fortresses with loopholes as 
 windows. Indeed it was a primitive society where 
 no dishonour was attached to brigandage and free- 
 
AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 307 
 
 booting; where fighting was honourable and agricul- 
 ture despised. In the north and in the south every- 
 thing was in flux. The spirit that our diplomats 
 had aroused to foment a great upheaval in the 
 Balkans could not be appeased. The rebels who 
 had been incited by the Ballplatz against Serbia 
 and driven back by the latter into their own 
 country, revolted now against their new ruler 
 and marched on his capital. In this predicament, 
 when the revolt was at its height, and the over- 
 throw of the new emperor was impending, a con- 
 ference was convoked by Count Berchtold at 
 Budapest to decide on the measures to be taken in 
 Albania and also on a general policy for the Balkans. 
 In this conference the Italian Ambassador partici- 
 pated, as did also Herr Von Tschirschky, German 
 Ambassador and confidant of the German war 
 party in Austria. First these men resolved on an 
 Albanian coup d'etat and Essad Pasha, the all- 
 powerful minister and the real ruler of Albania, 
 and his wife were arrested and placed as prisoners 
 on an Austro-Hungarian cruiser. This happened 
 on May 20, 1914, but it was too late to save 
 the throne of the Mpret. Three days later, when 
 the insurgents marched on the capital, the Prince, 
 his family, and staff, hurriedly took refuge on board 
 an Italian war-ship. With this adventure, the 
 reign of William I of Albania practically came to a 
 close. There was much mutual recrimination in 
 the Italian and Austrian press as to who counselled 
 
208 THE mSIDE STORY OF 
 
 the Prince to flee. Count Forgach, then Under- 
 Secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said 
 that the Prince acted on the advice of the Itahan 
 Minister. However, the Prince returned to his 
 palace when the insurgents were held up at the 
 gates of his capital by his "army" headed by a 
 party of enterprising Austro-Hungarian officers, 
 who turned upon the insurgents the guns they had 
 brought with them from the famous Skoda works. 
 Count Forgach explained this occurrence by stating 
 that "these officers were present in the town to test 
 cannon which had come from Austria." "It was 
 natural," he said, "that they could not stand by, 
 inactive. But their participation in the affair was 
 due to chance and not to a pre-arranged plan." 
 The reader can estimate how much credence can 
 be placed in the words of Count Forgach, made 
 notorious through the forgeries and theft of docu- 
 ments in the annexation crisis, if he realizes that 
 the Austro-Hungarian officer who fired the first 
 shot from a Skoda gun in the Balkans was none 
 other than the notorious Lieutenant Haessler, 
 known for his leading role at the Albanian Congress 
 at Trieste. This was, in fact, the first shot fired 
 in the World War. From that moment on sporadic 
 fighting continued in Albania, until Austria offi- 
 cially declared war on Serbia. 
 
 Following this exploit the Austrian merchant- 
 ship Herzegovina was chartered by the Albanian 
 Government from a private company; Austrian 
 
AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 209 
 
 guns were put aboard her, with Austro-Hungarian 
 gunners, and she was sent cruising along the coast 
 of Albania. She attacked the Albanian insurgents 
 who had occupied the heights along the seacoast. 
 Meanwhile, we had dispatched a squadron, in- 
 cluding two dreadnaughts, to Albanian waters to 
 relieve the Herzegovina, while the Kaiser ordered 
 the German cruiser Goeben, of World- War notoriety, 
 which was at Dedeagatch, to proceed immediately 
 to Durazzo. The flames of the World War were 
 breaking out in the Balkans, and the greatest activ- 
 ity was apparent in the Ballplatz and in the Minis- 
 try of War at Vienna. 
 
 What the German Kaiser could not furnish con- 
 veniently without disclosing to Europe his in- 
 tentions, namely, the soldiers asked for by his col- 
 league in Albania, the Aiistrians were asked to 
 provide. It was expected that such action on the 
 part of the Austrians would be interpreted by 
 Europe simply as an act of good will with no serious 
 significance. Count Berchtold promised, upon 
 the advice of Herr Von Loewenthal, the Austro- 
 Hungarian Minister to the Court of Albania, to 
 raise a volunteer corps in Austria to fight in Al- 
 bania, in the hope that through the fighting in 
 Albania the whole of the Balkans would soon 
 flare up. Our Minister of War had already, in 
 February, 1914, with great foresight, established 
 a three-months' course of instruction in the Alban- 
 ian language for officers in the Austro-Hungarian 
 
210 THE INSIDE STORY OF 
 
 army. Moreover, we had a nucleus of a fighting 
 force already in Albania, batteries of quick-firing 
 guns — a brand-new product from the famous 
 Skoda works at Pilsen — with all the men necessary 
 to man them, officers from our regular army, and 
 many non-commissioned officers in the guise of 
 mechanics, engineers, etc. 
 
 While the great mountain manoeuvres of the 
 Austro-Hungarian army in Bosnia were taking 
 place our General Staff was organizing a volunteer 
 corps at Vienna for warfare in Albania. We would 
 have sent regular army units to Albania had we 
 not feared to disclose our real intentions too soon. 
 Volunteers, therefore, were considered as the safer 
 way out of the predicament. This was just at the 
 time when the Constantinople Committee of Union 
 and Progress was about to expel all Greeks from 
 Asia Minor and from Turkish Thrace as a prelude 
 to war with Greece and the reconquest of Salonica 
 and reoccupation of Macedonia. The only hitch 
 in the plans of the war-maniacs of Austria was 
 caused by the outburst in the Italian press which 
 clearly showed that it was distrustful of interven- 
 tion in Albania by Austria alone, and demanded 
 that if there was to be intervention, it must be by 
 Europe as a whole. 
 
 In spite of the prospects of a brighter future 
 which were opened to Turkey by the Austro- 
 Hungarian diplomacy, the partition of Turkey 
 between Austria-Hungary and Germany was a 
 
AUSTROGERMAN INTRIGUE 211 
 
 foregone conclusion. Austria-Hungary was to re- 
 ceive, besides the spoils in the Balkans, that part 
 of Asia Minor of which Alexandretta is the virtual 
 centre. What agreements were reached with Italy 
 in regard to the modus operandi in the Balkans 
 for the near future I am unable to say. It is to 
 be hoped that the future will disclose what agree- 
 ments if any were made in this regard at the con- 
 ference of Kaiser Wilhelm, the King of Italy, and 
 his Foreign Minister on board the Hohenzollern, 
 at the end of March, 1914. It is certain that any 
 extension of our sovereignty over the Balkans had 
 to carry as compensation an extension of Italian 
 sovereignty in Albania. It was Doctor Fried jung, 
 with whom the reader is already familiar from the 
 Friedjung trial of 1909, who published in his new 
 monthly magazine, Der Greif, an article entitled: 
 "The Content of the Triple Alliance in Regard 
 to the Approaching Partition of Turkey in Asia." 
 *'The so-called periodical renewal of the Triple 
 Alliance," said he, "refers only to the German and 
 Austrian agreements with Italy, whereas the 
 Austro-German agreement is renewed automati- 
 cally until and unless one or other of the powers 
 gives notice of renunciation." His second point 
 was that since 1887 Austria-Hungary had been 
 pledged to allow Italy an equivalent expansion 
 in the Balkans for any Austro-Hungarian expan- 
 sion there. This provision has been kept secret 
 out of regard for good relations with Turkey." 
 
212 THE INSIDE STORY OF 
 
 These revelations Doctor Fried jung made on the 
 strength of conversations he had had with Count 
 Aehrenthal and Kiederlen-Waechter. The ques- 
 tion arises, therefore, was our diplomacy willing 
 to let Italy participate in the partition of the Bal- 
 kans after the refusal of that country to join us 
 in a world war in August, 1913? The possession 
 by Italy of Valona would have meant the bottling 
 up of the Adriatic. So keen was the desire of 
 Count Berchtold to bring about the revision of the 
 Treaty of Bucharest that he was willing to make 
 even that sacrifice. As late as May 11, 1914, 
 hardly six weeks before the death of Francis 
 Ferdinand, Berchtold was severely criticized in the 
 Hungarian Delegations for this concession to Italy, 
 but he was upheld in his policy by the great 
 landed proprietors of Austria, who stated through 
 their mouthpiece, Count Clam-Martinic, on May 
 20th, that they were "willing to uphold Count 
 Berchtold to the limit, even if complications should 
 arise which would lead directly to the World War." 
 Emboldened by such language we wanted to hold 
 the Prince of Wied on his throne at all costs, in 
 order to prevent an international commission from 
 getting hold of affairs in Albania. As we could 
 not launch officially a call for volunteers the Gen- 
 eral Staff entrusted the recruiting of the volunteers 
 to two lieutenants of the reserve, one of them a 
 sculptor by the name of Gurschner, and the other 
 an architect by the name of Leopold Wirth, the 
 
AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 213 
 
 latter of whom had taken part In the fighting at 
 Durazzo. The appeal for volunteers was supplied 
 to the press through a news agency which main- 
 tained close relations with official circles. In two 
 days several thousand men had volunteered, most 
 of them reserve officers, doctors, and students who 
 had already seen military service. It was stated 
 at the time that the expenses of the expedition 
 would be met out of "private funds." I cannot 
 say whether the expenses of recruiting and equip- 
 ment were paid by the War Ministry or out of the 
 secret fund of two million kronen which Count 
 Berchtold had received for his secret dispositions on 
 November 28, 1913. Certain it is that not a single 
 volunteer would have paid a cent out of his own 
 pocket for that adventure. 
 
 The first units left at once for Durazzo. The 
 account of this hazardous trick of our diplomacy 
 was most touchingly portrayed in the Ballplatz 
 organs. The recruiting officer Wirth said on the 
 26th of June — that is two days before the death 
 of Francis Ferdinand — "In Durazzo my Austrian 
 patriotism has come to a new life. There I have 
 found again my Fatherland. . . . With the 
 help of a thousand volunteers and more, the honour 
 of Europe and the throne of the Prince can be 
 saved." A Viennese professor of international law 
 said that "the recruiting and sending of the expedi- 
 tion to Albania was from the point of international 
 law without objection." 
 
214 THE INSIDE STORY OF 
 
 On the 27th of June this Austrian Don Quixote 
 adventure had risen to such proportions that the 
 recruiting officers were swamped with dispatches 
 from Austria-Hungary, and especially from Ger- 
 many. A manufacturer from Hanover offered 
 to join the volunteer corps with a whole troop 
 of his men. High aristocrats and officers from 
 Berlin and Jena, as well as officers and non-com- 
 missioned officers from all over Germany, offered 
 their services. The comment of the Neue Freie 
 Presse, representing the Semitic business interests 
 which were especially hot for war against Serbia 
 and Russia, was as follows: "These volunteers do 
 not want to fight for a country which is so alien 
 to their hearts and a nation for which they can 
 have no sentiments, but they go to fight for the 
 monarchy. They want to fight not for the Prince 
 of Wied, in Durazzo, Albania, but for the Emperor 
 of Austria in Vienna." 
 
 Then the paper went on to say: "Two thousand 
 men want to go to Albania but millions are sharing 
 the idea which is compelling the volunteers to go 
 to Durazzo to participate in the fighting on the 
 side of the Prince. The popularity which the 
 proposed march of volunteers to Albania has 
 reached is proof of how strong the desire is to 
 show before the world that Austria has much 
 more vitality than our adversaries are willing to 
 admit." 
 
 While this comedy was being enacted in Vienna 
 
AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 215 
 
 by Counts Berchtold, and Von Hoetzendorf, 
 Archduke Francis Ferdinand was reviewing for 
 the last time his army of manoeuvre of 100,000 
 men in Bosnia, and was just preparing for the tri- 
 umphal entry into the Bosnian capital, Sarajevo. 
 
CHAPTER XI 
 
 Count Tisza Constructs a "Casus Belli" Out 
 OF THE Archduke's Murder 
 
 THE FINAL CONFERENCE BETWEEN THE ARCH~ 
 PLOTTERS OF THE WORLD WAR — KAISER WILHELM, 
 ARCHDUKE FRANCIS FERDINAND, AND GRAND AD- 
 MIRAL VON TIRPITZ 
 
 BEFORE reviewing the incidents surround- 
 ing the Archduke's murder and how this 
 act of a half -grown revolutionist was con- 
 verted by the experienced hands of the Austro- 
 Hungarian war-plotters into a casus belli, I must 
 tell of the last meeting which the Archduke had 
 with Kaiser Wilhelm at Castle Konopisht in 
 Bohemia. The reader will remember that Kaiser 
 and Archduke agreed at their first meeting at 
 Castle Konopisht in October, 1913, to meet 
 in the spring of 1914; and that instead, the meet- 
 ing had taken place at the end of March, 1914, 
 at Castle Miramar, the once favourite residence 
 of the unfortunate Maximilian, Emperor of Mexico. 
 The nearer we drew to the outbreak of the World 
 War the more frequent became the meetings of 
 these two leaders of the Teutonic war parties. 
 
 216 
 
AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 217 
 
 These interviews were always held under some 
 flimsy disguise: of a hunting party for boars, deer, 
 chamois, pigeons, pheasants, and so on. This 
 time it was held under the lovely cloak of a *' review 
 of roses" which were in the most wonderful bloom 
 and fragrance in the Rosen Monat, i.e., June — 
 the month of roses. Kaiser Wilhelm, it was said, 
 had seen the castle of Konopisht in the fall, and 
 wanted to see it in the full glory of its roses. Thus 
 surrounded by beautiful roses these two relentless 
 spirits reached decisions which soon were to make 
 humanity bleed from a million wounds, and dye 
 with crimson the fields of Europe. 
 
 On June 12, 1914, the two "garden-friends," as 
 they were termed by the press of the Ballplatz, 
 met once more in the old historic castle situated 
 in the heart of Bohemia, in the midst of a people 
 who watched with misgivings the happenings 
 in the castle. Among the men who came with 
 Kaiser Wilhelm for this last meeting the most 
 noted was Grand Admiral Von Tirpitz. This 
 personage who came into such sinister prominence 
 in the World War, as the originator of the U-Boat 
 warfare, excited even in those days the most fear- 
 ful forebodings, and the imagination of many a man 
 in Austria saw behind the lovely flower beds and 
 the festive reception halls the ominous spectre 
 of war. Amid the fragrance of the flowers lurked 
 the stench of war. As if by prearrangement the 
 attention of the press was centred upon the person 
 
218 THE INSIDE STORY OF 
 
 of Grand Admiral Von Tirpitz. The organs of 
 Count Berchtold designated him as one of those 
 "iron skulls which could even break through 
 walls," and as "the indestructible, far-seeing, and 
 keen personality that will surely find in its time a 
 place in the German Valhalla." Oddly enough 
 the public was also reminded that *'the presence 
 of Grand Admiral Von Tirpitz at Konopisht recalls 
 again the question which was never fully answered, 
 to wit: What were the contents of the Treaty of 
 Alliance between Austria and Germany?" The 
 text of the treaty was made public property by the 
 late Prince Bismarck, but the duties and rights in 
 the treaty were never disclosed and the late Prince 
 himself cynically remarked that this secret would 
 never be revealed even after the treaty was no 
 longer in force. 
 
 The deliberations of Kaiser and Archduke were 
 held in such profound secrecy that only the repre^ 
 sentative of the Neues Wiener Tagehlatt was allowed 
 to write, basing his statement on a "well-informed 
 source," that "in spite of the intimate character of 
 the meeting the conviction could not be dismissed 
 that higlily important political questions and es- 
 pecially the Austro-Hungarian naval policy would be 
 discussed." There is little doubt, however, that the 
 conspirators considered the whole Balkan situation. 
 
 On the last day of the Kaiser's stay with the 
 Archduke, Count Berchtold came to Konopisht 
 to take part in the deliberations. The Archduke 
 
AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 219 
 
 Francis Ferdinand hurried from the conference 
 to Trieste to embark on the Austrian dreadnaught 
 Viribus Unitis, which was to bring him to the 
 shores of Dalmatia. The great Bosnian ma- 
 noeuvres of the 15th and 16th Army Corps began 
 according to schedule on the 25th of July and 
 ended on the 27th. They were conducted under 
 the leadership of Field Marshal Potiorek as army 
 inspector of Sarajevo, the very man who was, ac- 
 cording to the dispositions of the General Staff, 
 to lead the Austrian army of invasion into Serbia. 
 The coming of Francis Ferdinand to Bosnia was 
 greeted, as a matter of necessity, by all papers, 
 even by the radical Serbian opposition paper 
 Srpska Rijec, politely and cordially. Only the 
 Serbian radical paper, Narod, ignored the visit, 
 and brought out instead an article commemorating 
 the famous historical Serbian battle of Kossovo 
 Field. Otherwise the visit of Francis Ferdinand 
 to Bosnia was not marred by any discordant note 
 on the side of the sorely tried Jugoslav people. 
 
 How the Archduke and his consort met their 
 death when on the 28th of June of 1914 they made 
 their triumphal entry into the capital of the an- 
 nexed provinces is well known. This incident 
 was at once seized upon by the Ballplatz and our 
 General Staff as the God-sent instrument by which 
 they were finally to be able to realize what for 
 six years, in spite of constant intrigues, they had 
 failed to accomplish. 
 
220 THE INSroE STORY OF 
 
 The value of the Archduke's assassination for 
 the war party was twofold. First, it obliged both 
 adherents and antagonists of the dynasty to ap- 
 prove of every action taken to vindicate its honour; 
 second, in an international sense, it gave to the 
 harsh action of the Ballplatz a moral support which 
 no other casus hdli could have received. It was 
 realized that the Archduke's murder would arouse 
 great sympathy in all the monarchical countries 
 of Europe. 
 
 These calculations later proved correct. The 
 whole blame for the outbreak of the war was, there- 
 fore, at first attributed to the Archduke's assassina- 
 tion. This was the moment for Austria to act. 
 It was only necessary to point to Belgrade, and to 
 make a causal nexus between the Archduke's mur- 
 der and the Serbian Government. The murder 
 of a king is not an infrequent occurrence in mon- 
 archical countries. Three murders had occurred 
 around Emperor Francis Joseph himself. His 
 brother Maximilian was executed in his over- 
 seas empire; his son. Crown Prince Rudolph, was 
 killed in a love affair; his wife. Empress Elizabeth, 
 was stabbed by an Italian. 
 
 What really happened after the death of the 
 Archduke was this: The diplomats packed away 
 their notes, the General Staff unpacked its war 
 plans. The directions worked out for the begin- 
 ning of the war, which were lying in the vaults of 
 the various ministries, were at once applied, and 
 
AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 221 
 
 everything developed from that moment according 
 to schedule. 
 
 Deprived of their patron saint, the war press 
 organs of the extreme right began a deluge of in- 
 vectives, insinuations, and accusations against 
 Serbia and Russia. The Reichspost, mouthpiece 
 of the Christian Socialists and of Francis Fer- 
 dinand, demanded on the first of July that "the 
 last unavoidable step be undertaken against 
 this nation of assassins of royalty," at the same 
 time announcing that "some sort of ultimatum 
 from the Austrian Government will be sent to 
 Serbia." The clerical journals of Germany de- 
 clared with one voice that "Belgrade bears the 
 responsibility for the plot"; conservative journals 
 stated that "Germans must now make a definite 
 stand against the Slavs." The Germania and 
 KolniscJie Zeitung insisted upon the connivance 
 of Serbia with the crime. All the papers knew in 
 advance that diplomatic steps would be taken 
 after consultation with the Chief of the General 
 Staff, and the Minister of War. 
 
 In Belgrade the first sentiment aroused by the 
 murder at Sarajevo was one of simple human 
 horror and pity. The Belgrade press condemned 
 the bloody deed and expressed the deepest indigna- 
 tion at this act of anarchistic folly. 
 
 Taking advantage of the feeling aroused by the 
 murder of the Archduke the authorities in Austria- 
 Hungary began a ruthless persecution of our own 
 
222 THE INSIDE STORY OF 
 
 Serbian subjects numbering several millions. This 
 persecution subsequently grew in violence and 
 with the official declaration of war was extended 
 to the whole Slav south. Its dimensions and its 
 horrors were even greater than were the crimes com- 
 mitted by the Germans in their invasion of Belgium. 
 On July 6th Archduke Frederick, who after the 
 death of Francis Ferdinand became the leader of 
 the Austrian war party and subsequently Com- 
 mander in Chief of the Austrian army, had an 
 audience with the Emperor, and on the following 
 day a council of ministers was held in Vienna at 
 which were present, in addition to the three joint 
 Ministers for Foreign Affairs, War, and Finance, 
 the Austrian and Hungarian Premier, Count 
 Stuergkh and Count Tisza. Before the council 
 was held, the Chief of the General Staff of the Army, 
 Baron Conrad von Hoetzendorf, and the Naval 
 Commander in Chief, Von Haus, conferred with the 
 ministers. The same night Count Berchtold left 
 for Ischl, the summer residence of the Emperor, to 
 receive his sanction for the decisions of the confer- 
 ence. According to an official communication 
 the object of the council was to "discuss measures 
 of internal administration for Bosnia and Herze- 
 govina, in connection with which the Chief of the 
 General Staff of the Army and the Naval Com- 
 mander in Chief were consulted on certain *tech- 
 nical points'." This was the official cloak under 
 which the most momentous decisions in the his- 
 
AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 223 
 
 tory of Europe were hidden. The conference was 
 solely of a political character as neither the two 
 Ministers of Finance nor the two Ministers of Com- 
 merce were present. 
 
 "All decisive factors are in accord," wrote Baron 
 Chlumetzky, the confidant of the dead Archduke 
 and the mouthpiece of the Foreign Ofiice, "that 
 the Greater Serbia question must be decided once 
 for all, if it is possible, by peaceful means; if not, 
 by blood and iron." 
 
 The two military chiefs were consulted on noth- 
 ing more or less than the exact dates, when both 
 army and navy would be ready to strike. Also 
 the date for the ultimatum to be sent to Serbia 
 was set for the 23d of the same month, and the 
 28th of July was agreed upon as the day to start 
 hostilities against Serbia: that is, exactly three 
 weeks were asked for by the army and navy chiefs 
 for their final preparations for war. Lastly, it was 
 decided that the declaration of war against Russia 
 would follow the declaration of war against Serbia 
 within ten days. I will explain this delay later in 
 speaking of the protestations that were made by 
 both the Austrian and German governments 
 against the Russian mobilization. The utmost 
 secrecy was maintained concerning this conference. 
 Only the Pester Lloyd, the organ of the Hun- 
 garian Government, was permitted to give an ex- 
 planation why "no allusion was made to the pro- 
 jected diplomatic demarche at Belgrade, for the 
 
224 THE INSIDE STORY OP 
 
 purpose of drawing the attention of the Serbian 
 Government to the trails, which according to the 
 Sarajevo investigations, lead directly to Belgrade," 
 by saying that the *' matter is not yet sufficiently 
 ripe to be submitted to the glare of publicity." 
 "The Serbian Government," the paper said, "will 
 be shown to be a nest of pestilential rats which 
 came from their territory over our border to spread 
 death and destruction. If the Serbian Govern- 
 ment shows readiness to exterminate this nest of 
 rats it will have furnished proof of its upright 
 sentiments, and again make good its title to neigh- 
 bourly correctness, which, of late, has been disput- 
 able." 
 
 At the Vienna Conference Count Tisza took upon 
 himself the task of making capital out of the assas- 
 sination of the Archduke. He acquitted himself 
 in a masterly fashion. While ceaselessly attacking 
 Serbia through the press, and casting aspersions 
 on Russia, he remained silent when asked to de- 
 clare himself officially in regard to Serbia's guilt. 
 On the day after the Vienna Conference Count 
 Andrassy put several questions to Prime Minister 
 Tisza. He asked: "How could the Government, in 
 face of the well-known critical situation in Bosnia, 
 plan the visit of the heir to the throne, on the 
 Serbian national holiday, when such a visit would 
 be interpreted by the Serbs as a provocation? 
 Having risked the dangers inherent in such a visit, 
 why did not the Government take proper measures 
 
AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 225 
 
 to safeguard the Archduke? What excuse had the 
 Government for allowing the heir to the throne 
 to continue on his way after the first attempt on 
 his life?" Count Tisza's reply was marked by 
 studied reserve. *'The Archduke," he said, "stood 
 under nobody's guardianship or control. He had 
 regarded his Bosnian journey purely as a military 
 inspection, and the Austrian and Hungarian govern- 
 ments received no preliminary notice of it, nor did 
 the joint Minister of Finance receive any informa- 
 tion as to the details of the programme." To the 
 question as to possible diplomatic steps in Serbia 
 Tisza replied that he could give only a quite general 
 answer. 
 
 This was the role Tisza had to play. Had there 
 been the slightest proof of the complicity of the 
 Serbian Government or of Serbian subjects in the 
 crime Tisza was not the man to hold back such 
 proofs. It was through official silence that Tisza 
 constructed a casus belli, departing entirely from 
 the method followed hitherto by the Ballplatz — • 
 the making of countless accusations which finally 
 could not be sustained. 
 
 On July 14th Tisza came to Vienna to confer, 
 first with Count Berchtold, then with Count 
 Forgach. It was at this visit between Tisza and 
 Forgach that the ultimatum to Serbia received 
 its final form. I know this from my conversations 
 with Count Forgach. 
 
 A second attempt was made on July 15th 
 
226 THE INSIDE STORY OF 
 
 to force Tisza to declare himself. In the Lower 
 House of the Hungarian Parliament, replying to an 
 interpellation by M. Szmrecsanyi, Count Tisza 
 said regarding Serbia's connection with the Sarajevo 
 murders, that "Austria-Hungary's relations with 
 Serbia must be made clear. War is a sad argu- 
 ment. The question has been raised whether the 
 present uncertainty must not inevitably be de- 
 cided by war, and I must say that a state which 
 does not consider war as the ultima ratio can not 
 call itself a state." 
 
 When Count Berchtold reported to the Emperor 
 at Ischl the results of the fateful Council of Min- 
 isters, no oflBcial communique was made public as 
 to the cause of the audience. The Neues Wiener 
 Tagehlatt, which had relations with the Foreign 
 Office, stated, however, that "no diplomatic step 
 which may be made at Belgrade will imply any 
 interference with the sovereign rights of the Serbian 
 state, nor will anything be exacted which could be 
 interpreted as an affront or as a humiliation." 
 This statement was made to appease somewhat 
 the feverish excitement in the monarchy. Fur- 
 thermore, to deceive Europe, the same skilful 
 manoeuvre was tried in Austria as was resorted 
 to in Germany. All the war chiefs were sent on 
 leave of absence including Baron Conrad von 
 Hoetzendorf , the Chief of the General Staff of tlie 
 Army; Herr Krobatin,the joint Minister of War, 
 and both the Austrian and Hungarian Ministers 
 
AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 227 
 
 of National Defence. But those who were closely 
 watching the situation in Austria-Hungary were 
 not deceived by these manoeuvres. The real gravity 
 of the situation could not be concealed. 
 
 On the 21st of July, that is two days before we 
 presented the ultimatum to Serbia, the mobiliza- 
 tion of officers of the reserve was started. On 
 the same day Baron Giesl reported to Count Berch- 
 told, from Belgrade, that "a reckoning with Serbia, 
 a war for the position of the monarchy as a great 
 power, even for its existence as such, can not be 
 permanently avoided. If we delay in clearing 
 up our relations with Serbia, we should share the 
 responsibilities for the difficulties and the unfavour- 
 able situation in any future war which must sooner 
 or later be carried through." The baron at the 
 same time warned the Minister of Foreign Affairs 
 against half-measures, long discussions, or com- 
 promises. 
 
 A third and last attempt was made in Budapest 
 on July 22d, the day before the ultimatum to 
 Serbia was delivered, to make Count Tisza lift 
 the veil surrounding the conference of July 7th. 
 Contrary to expectations Tisza did not answer 
 these new interpellations of Count Andrassy on the 
 Austro-Serbian situation. "I am unable," Tisza 
 said, "for the time being to reply to you — I do 
 not consider it in the interests of the country that 
 the matter should be ventilated at this moment 
 nor am I in a position to impart information." 
 
228 THE INSIDE STORY OF 
 
 The following day, July 23d, the fatal ultimatum 
 was sent to Belgrade. The contents of this docu- 
 ment are too well known to call for comment here. 
 On the day following the presentation of this 
 ultimatum, Tisza, for the first time, broke his 
 silence. Before the Hungarian Parliament he 
 said: "In the conviction that our cause is just 
 and that the vital interests of the monarchy and 
 of the Hungarian Crown demand it, we will bear 
 all the consequences of this step." Then Count 
 Andrassy rose and made the following declaration : 
 *'In spite of the great differences which separate 
 us from the Government, we will do our patriotic 
 duty in every respect." Tisza on his side thanked 
 Count Andrassy "for his great services" by saying: 
 "I never expected anything else from him." With 
 this statement the comedy was closed. On hear- 
 ing Tisza and Andrassy exchange these words all 
 the deputies arose and with wild applause and cries 
 of "Hail, Hail," the sinister performance came to 
 an end. 
 
 Keeping in mind the above facts, the reader will 
 be able to understand the cynical farce which the 
 Ballplatz diplomats played between that day and 
 the declaration of war against Serbia on July 28th 
 and against Russia on August 6th. The days 
 between July 23d and August 5th have been 
 declared the thirteen critical days of the World 
 War, meaning that the outbreak of the war 
 was an imminent danger but still avoidable by 
 
AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 229 
 
 the application of the proper diplomatic means. 
 In reality, those critical days never existed as far as 
 Austria-Hungary and Germany were concerned. 
 This is clearly shown by my own conversation with 
 Count Forgach of July 27th. 
 
CHAPTER XII 
 
 The Military Chiefs Assume Complete Con- 
 trol OF Austro-German Foreign Affairs 
 
 COUNT FORGACH's CONFESSION EXPLODES THEORY 
 OF SO-CALLED "CRITICAL DAYS" OF WORLD WAR 
 
 IT WAS on the eve of the outbreak of the war 
 that I arrived in Vienna, having left San Fran- 
 cisco, my last post, in the beginning of April, 
 1914. From the facts which I disclose in Chapter 
 XIV in regard to the mobilization of an army of 
 half a million Austrians in the United States of 
 America I knew that war was coming, and was 
 firmly determined to resign my position in case 
 of Austria's declaration of war against Serbia and 
 Russia. 
 
 In August, 1913, I was asked in San Francisco 
 what I thought of the general political situation 
 in Europe after the close of the second Balkan war. 
 **Now will come," I said, "the great World War." 
 "Why do you judge that the great World War is in 
 sight?" I was asked. I replied: "I am certain 
 of the coming of the World War from the oflScial 
 knowledge I have of the preparations for it. It 
 will take only a cablegram with one word to put 
 
 230 
 
AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 231 
 
 everything in motion as far as the minute prepara- 
 tions in America are concerned. An army of half 
 a miUion men will be on the eastern coast inside of 
 fourteen days to be transported to Europe, provided 
 that England remains neutral, and it is expected in 
 Austria-Hungary and Germany that she will do so." 
 
 On leaving America, in April, 1914, to spend a 
 six-months' vacation in the country of my birth, I 
 went by way of Japan and Russia to gauge the 
 feeling there in regard to the general political situa- 
 tion of Europe. In Tokio I received very im- 
 portant hints from Major Putz, of the Austro- 
 Hungarian General Staff — our military attache in 
 Japan. He told me that both Austria-Hungary and 
 Germany were making frantic endeavours to get 
 Japan on their side, but that unfortunately the 
 friendship of Japan for Russia was at the time a 
 great obstacle to their designs. 
 
 On arriving at Mukden, Manchuria, I visited 
 the German Consul of that locality, Hugo Witte 
 by name. In conversation with him I said: *'You 
 told me that the political situation in the Far East 
 is the best barometer for judging the situation in 
 Europe. Will the great European war, according 
 to your opinion, really come in the near future.'*" 
 His reply was as follows: "As sure as death. You 
 Austrians will soon get a new emperor who will 
 be ready to do everything and who will strike at the 
 next opportunity at Serbia and Russia. In short, 
 a man who will not let himself be put off by any 
 
232 THE INSIDE STORY OF 
 
 considerations from precipitating the war which 
 is essential to Austria-Hungary's ultimate peace 
 and security." "Why should Germany," I said, 
 "proceed aggressively against Russia?" "For 
 the simple reason," Mr. Witte replied, *' that Russia 
 has immense, undeveloped, and uncultivated terri- 
 tories in her empire. These territories must be 
 opened up to human activity. Russia threatens 
 the whole world. We must finally procure for our- 
 selves peace, and that for all time. The con- 
 tinuous unrest and war danger, in peace time, must 
 finally come to an end. Pan-Slavism must be 
 destroyed for ever. Russia must be partitioned 
 among Austria-Hungary, Germany, Sweden, 
 Rumania, Turkey, and Japan. The situation has 
 become intolerable for us. The last hour has 
 struck. We must give Russia such a blow that we 
 may take away from her not only the Baltic prov- 
 inces but also Petrograd, and make Finland inde- 
 pendent or give it to Sweden. Austria-Hungary 
 must get Little Russia with Kieff; Rumania must 
 get Bessarabia; Turkey must get the Caucasus, 
 and Great Britain must grasp the opportunity of 
 finally assuring herself the possession of Thibet. 
 As allies we shall have Austria-Hungary, Sweden, 
 Rumania, Bulgaria, and Greece (to which latter 
 country we will give a part of Macedonia). 
 Persia, Afghanistan, and Japan must invade 
 Siberia. We reckon with absolute certainty on 
 a revolution in Poland, Little Russia, Finland, 
 
AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 233 
 
 the Caucasus, and other parts of Russia. We want 
 to keep open the great commercial and miHtary 
 Transsiberian road for ourselves in order to be able 
 to protect Tsingtau in case it should come to 
 a partition of China. We count with absolute 
 certainty on victory because Great Britain will 
 certainly remain neutral. Against France we will 
 sacrifice more than a million men and will strike at 
 a certain weak line in her defences. This weak 
 line is Belgium. In this way we shall break into 
 France. The Russians, on the contrary, we will 
 allow to come as close as possible and will give them 
 free access near the fortress of Thorn. We will 
 then surround and completely annihilate them. 
 We will destroy Russia and will ask at the Peace 
 Conference such economic advantages as will make 
 our situation secure for all time. Then we shall 
 finally have peace in the East and we will be free 
 from this eternal menace of war on the side of 
 Russia. Thus Pan-Slavism will be crushed for 
 ever." 
 
 This conversation I had with Consul Witte in 
 the early part of May, 1914, and I took great care to 
 record it exactly word for word. To a Spanish 
 colleague with whom I travelled through the Far 
 East I said at that time, in acquainting him with 
 the conversation I had had, that according to all 
 appearances war would break out sooner than was 
 expected. As far as the German Consul's ref- 
 erence to Tsingtau was concerned, I must mention 
 
234 THE INSIDE STORY OF 
 
 that as early as the winter of 1913-14 the great 
 project of a German railroad stretching from Con- 
 stantinople to Kiao Chau was advocated by Ger- 
 mans, first by a certain Herr Landrichter Romburg, 
 and then by Herr Henning who was of the opinion 
 that the most propitious moment had arrived for 
 a firm economic policy in China which would make 
 of Tsingtau the great world harbour of the future 
 in the Far East. 
 
 In Vladivostok I called upon Dr. G. Stobbe, the 
 German Consul of that locality, with whom I left 
 the city, he going to his home and I proceeding by 
 train to Chabarovsk. The conversation I had on 
 the train with him confirmed in all essentials what 
 I had heard in Tokio and Mukden. Among other 
 things he said: "You see over there the point where 
 the three empires, China, Korea, and Russia, meet. 
 It is from that corner that the blow will be struck 
 and the advancing Japanese will cut off the fortress 
 of Vladivostok. These fools, the Russians, are 
 spending hundreds of millions of roubles to hold 
 Vladivostok, and do not know that it will soon be 
 taken away from them and that they will thus lose 
 the last port they have in the East. The alliance 
 of Japan and Germany is a certainty. In the war 
 between Germany and Russia we will let Japan take 
 Siberia up to Lake Baikal." 
 
 Full of heavy forebodings I travelled on, never- 
 theless hoping against hope that the disaster 
 of war would be averted. When in Askabad 
 
AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 235 
 
 under the scorching sun of Russian Central Asia 
 I heard for the first time that Archduke Francis 
 Ferdinand had been assassinated. I hurried home, 
 visiting on my journey my colleagues in Tiflis 
 in Trans-Caucasia, also in Moscow and Petro- 
 grad, everywhere seeing ominous signs of the 
 coming war. When on July 26th I arrived at 
 Warsaw I was more than startled by what I saw 
 there in the office of our Consul General. This was 
 one of the greatest consulates that Austria-Hungary 
 had before the war. The whole Consulate was like 
 a beehive, although the day was Sunday. It did 
 not take me long to find out that the general 
 mobilization of the Austro-Hungarian armies was 
 in full swing. On visiting the Consul General, 
 Baron Werburg, who was at the same time First 
 Secretary of our Embassy in Petrograd, I had a 
 most interesting conversation with him in regard 
 to the coming war. He told me in so many words : 
 " War is inevitable. The mobilization is well under 
 way." "You don't mean to start war against 
 Russia," I said to him. "Of course we will," he 
 said. "Russia is not prepared this time and is 
 completely at our mercy." "You are greatly mis- 
 taken," I told him; "I have travelled more than 
 four months all over Russia and I am absolutely 
 convinced that in starting war with Russia we will 
 bring the greatest disaster upon our country and 
 upon Europe in general, because Russia will defend 
 herself to the last man. She has plenty of fighting 
 
236 THE INSIDE STORY OF 
 
 material, is comparatively well equipped, and has 
 excellent roads although they are not numerous." 
 *'You don't understand me," Baron Werburg 
 said, " it is not by military force alone that we will 
 overwhelm Russia, but by other more potent 
 factors, and that is internal revolution." "In my 
 opinion," I said, "this is the most elusive hope 
 that we can have in an engagement with Russia. 
 The Russian Poles will not revolt if it comes to 
 war." *'I am absolutely certain," Baron Werburg 
 replied, "of revolution in Poland as well as in the 
 Ukraine and other parts of Russia." 
 
 This gave me food for thought, and leaving him 
 to his revolutionary activities I tried to ascertain 
 among the officials how things really stood in re- 
 gard to the revolution which was in preparation. 
 I was told by one of the secretaries whose name I 
 cannot divulge that for years revolutionary propa- 
 ganda had been carried on by the Consul General 
 in Warsaw. The same was done by our repre- 
 sentatives in Kieff, Odessa, and other places, as I 
 ascertained later in Vienna. Before leaving War- 
 saw I was asked by Baron Werburg to act as a 
 courier for him, in order to avoid sending a special 
 messenger to Vienna. I consented to do so, and 
 highly important documents relating to the war 
 were subsequently entrusted to my keeping. Had 
 I wanted to betray Austria I could easily have done 
 it then and very important material would have 
 fallen into the hands of the Russian Government. 
 
AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 237 
 
 From Warsaw I went to Granica and crossed in- 
 to Austrian territory. I found the morning papers 
 there with big headHnes: "Revolution all over Rus- 
 sia!" — "The Czar of Russia murdered! " I found 
 later that this report was intentionally circulated 
 by the already familiar Literary or Press Bureau of 
 our Foreign Ministry. This news had gone the 
 rounds of the whole German press. *'The wish was 
 father to the thought." 
 
 On arriving in Vienna I at once proceeded to the 
 Ministry of Foreign Affairs to deliver my secret 
 dispatches to the Political Department. Then I 
 went to see Count Forgach, the Under Secretary 
 for Foreign Affairs with whom the reader is fa- 
 miliar. Count Berchtold, the minister, was absent 
 that day from the city, having gone to consult the 
 Emperor in Ischl. It was Forgach, who in the 
 absence of the minister, acted as his representative. 
 When I was announced to Count Forgach, I was 
 asked to wait because he was in conference with 
 the French Ambassador, M. Dumaine. The con- 
 versation of the French Ambassador with Count 
 Forgach lasted some time and it was not until 
 half-past six in the evening that I was received. 
 The count greeted me very cordially. During the 
 troubled period in Belgrade at the time of the 
 annexation crisis he had, in spite of our violent 
 differences of opinion, shown marked consideration 
 toward me. He was personally one of the most 
 likable diplomats that I have ever known. Having 
 
238 THE INSIDE STORY OF 
 
 inherited from his Jewish mother the best quaHties 
 of the Jewish race, he was keen and ambitious and 
 one of the most capable of men. There is no doubt 
 that he would have become Minister of Foreign 
 Affairs of the empire had not his ambition carried 
 him too far and had he not associated himself with 
 Count Tisza. Soon after the latter became Premier 
 of Hungary in June, 1913, he brought Count Forgach 
 from his diplomatic exile at Dresden to the Min- 
 istry of Foreign Affairs at Vienna in place of Count 
 Szapary, who was sent as Ambassador to Petrograd. 
 These diplomatic changes took place in the month 
 of September, 1913. 
 
 After having exchanged the usual phrases of 
 greeting I at once turned the conversation to the 
 topic of war. *'Do you know, Count," I said, 
 "that our note to Serbia has made an immense im- 
 pression in Russia? The people are greatly stirred 
 by the sharpness of its tone and it is regarded as 
 one of the most provocative acts which our diplo- 
 macy has done in the long, troubled period since 
 the annexation times. I am afraid," I added, "that 
 it will lead to grave consequences." "Wliy, there 
 is nothing in it," answered Count Forgach, "that 
 could be interpreted as an aggression against 
 Serbia or Russia. We merely ask what is right." 
 "It is not only in Russia," I said, "that the note 
 has made a profound impression. I had occasion 
 to hear, and to convince myself from the news- 
 papers, that the note has been received throughout 
 
AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 239 
 
 Europe, especially in France, Great Britain, and 
 Italy, with general disapproval. I heard in the 
 Ministry that it was Count Tisza who had com- 
 posed the note. Knowing you as I do, I never 
 doubted from the very beginning that the note had 
 not been composed by you. Count." "Well," 
 said the count, "but I was one of the signers of the 
 note [Ich hahe die Note mitunterschrieben]y there- 
 fore I fully approve of its contents." 
 
 I was then closely questioned by Count Forgach 
 on the conditions I had found in Russia during my 
 travels there. I told him all I knew about the 
 splendid human material the Russian army and 
 navy had; about the excellent equipment that I 
 had seen in several parts of Russia, and many other 
 things that would weigh heavily in the scales if it 
 came to a war with that country. I also said that 
 all our calculations might prove wrong in the end 
 when it came to the supreme test on the battle-field, 
 and that the reports of our representatives in 
 Russia about the unpreparedness of Russia for 
 war were all too optimistically believed. I pointed 
 especially to the Russian railroads which were in 
 good condition although perhaps not sufficient to 
 carry out quickly the great requirements under 
 stress of a rapid mobilization. I said all this to im- 
 press Count Forgach and to try at the last moment 
 to convert him to a more conciliatory attitude 
 toward the great issues that were arising. 
 
 Although I knew the determination of the Count 
 
240 THE INSIDE STOR\ OF 
 
 in the matter of war and peace and that his opinion 
 had long been made up, I nevertheless tried to do all 
 that was possible to impress upon him the great re- 
 sponsibility he and his colleagues would assume in 
 precipitating a great European war. "Russia," 
 I said, "will never permit Serbia to be crushed." 
 "What has Russia to do," Count Forgach retorted, 
 "with our dealings with Serbia?" "I will not 
 argue that point," I said. "It is not a matter of 
 opinion solely, but I am certain that Russia is 
 determined to go to the limit, where her life in- 
 terests are at stake as they are in the Balkans. 
 Russia must of necessity guard her political and 
 economic interests there. If she loses free access 
 to the Mediterranean her entire commercial life 
 and industry will come to a standstill. In Samara 
 on the Volga," I said, "I spoke to a prominent 
 industrialist and great land-owner from Orenburg. 
 He told me that the war with Japan did not in- 
 terest Russia as such, but that it would be very 
 different if Austria-Hungary and Germany should 
 attack her. 'That,' he said, Vill be a life-and- 
 death struggle for Russia, and we are willing to 
 sacrifice our lives and our fortunes on the altar of 
 our mother country.' From a different angle I 
 heard the same story from a teacher in one of the 
 Cossack stanitzas on the Amur River in the Russian 
 Far East. Speaking with him on the political 
 situation of Europe he said: 'We Russians will 
 never allow the Balkan Slavs to be crushed. We 
 
AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 241 
 
 feel one with them and with the Slavs of Austria- 
 Hungary.' Such is the spirit all over Russia." 
 Realizing the gravity of the hour I implored 
 Count Forgach: "Do everything in your power 
 to avoid war with Russia. It will be the most 
 terrible war the world has ever seen. Do every- 
 thing in your power. Count, to continue with 
 Russia the peaceful diplomatic conversations. To 
 that end, engage the good services of France. 
 ,M. Dumaine has just had a long conversation 
 with you. Through him you can exercise a decid- 
 ing influence upon Russia." 
 
 As a last resort I said: "The Slavs of Austria- 
 Hungary will regard the war with Russia and 
 Serbia as a fratricidal war, whatever our statesmen 
 may say to the contrary. The revolution in 
 Russia, on which we are basing such great hopes, 
 is a chimera. In Granica I drew the attention 
 of a Pole from Russian Poland, who travelled 
 with me, to the headlines in the newspapers 
 which clearly portrayed our wish to see a revolu- 
 tion started in Poland. He was greatly amused 
 at our ingenuousness. *The interests of theRussian 
 Poles,' he said, *are with Russia, politically and 
 economically, and not with Prussia." 
 
 I was surprised at my own boldness in pre- 
 senting all the various arguments against war, 
 some of which were of a very dangerous nature to 
 mention before a high Austrian official. But I was 
 so appalled by the frightful menace of the im- 
 
242 THE INSIDE STORY OF 
 
 pending calamity that I paid no attention to my 
 personal security. Besides, Count Forgach knew 
 me very well. I had had a similar conversation 
 with him in the crisis of 1908-09. I concluded 
 with the plea: *'I beg you once again, Count, to 
 do everything in your power to avoid the World 
 War." To which appeal he replied: "Diplomacy 
 can do nothing more, everything is already in the 
 hands of the military." With these words he 
 shook my hand and I left him hurriedly to go in 
 search of my numerous Slav friends in Vienna. 
 
 For a long time I wandered, lost in thought, 
 through the crooked old streets of that fascinating, 
 gay, careless capital, that soon — ^I realized it only 
 too keenly — must pass through the terrible ordeal 
 of fire. One thing was clear to me and that was 
 that war was inevitable. "Diplomacy can do 
 nothing more; everything is in the hands of the 
 military." I knew Count Forgach too well not 
 to realize what a terrible meaning these words of 
 his had. I remembered distinctly how he, as 
 Austro-Hungarian Minister in Belgrade in the 
 days of the annexation crisis, waited patiently 
 long days and nights to deliver the ominous ulti- 
 matum to the Serbian Government; how, finally, 
 he lost in the diplomatic game he was playing; 
 how he was transferred, or rather banished, 
 to the unimportant court of a German vassal 
 potentate; how finally the war party had rescued 
 him from there and brought him to the Ballplatz 
 
AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE S43 
 
 where the great war plans were made. His day 
 of revenge had come. 
 
 Reahzing that nothing would deter these terrible 
 men from carrying out their plans, I resolved to 
 stay in the capital to see how the great events 
 shaped themselves. My first interest centred 
 around the problem as to how the Ballplatz would 
 extricate itself from the extremely delicate position 
 in which it was put by Sir Edward Grey who at the 
 beginning of the conflict proposed that "the am- 
 bassadors of Germany, Italy, and France should 
 meet under my presidency in London," thus virtu- 
 ally reviving the London Conference of Ambas- 
 sadors which at the time of the Balkan Wars had 
 proved such a reliable instrument to hold in check 
 the war mania of Austria. 
 
 Our war party dreaded nothing so much as a 
 conference of ambassadors or indeed any in- 
 fluential international conference. It would again 
 spoil their game. I learned that Germany had, 
 the day before, that is on the 27th, declined to 
 participate in the London conference *' because 
 she would not place Austria before a European 
 tribunal." Count Berchtold came out on the 
 28th of July, as I learned later, with the state- 
 ment that Austria-Hungary could neither re- 
 cede from her demands nor enter into any dis- 
 cussions about the terms of the Austro-Hungarian 
 note. This was exactly in line with the views 
 stated by Count Forgach the previous day. The 
 
244 AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 
 
 events that quickly followed each other that fate- 
 ful day did not surprise me. First, the declaration 
 of war against Serbia; second, the answer of Count 
 Berchtold to Grey's conference proposal, namely, 
 that that proposal was nullified by the state of 
 war which already existed. 
 
 On the day of Austria's declaration of war against 
 Serbia mob demonstrations took place in Vienna 
 before the Hofburg, the Ballplatz, and the Ministry 
 of War, the demonstrators crying at the top of 
 their voices: "Down with Russia!" "Down with 
 Serbia ! " " Long live the War ! " 
 
 The Socialist paper, Vorwaerts, of Berlin, on 
 July 28th, in an article entitled "War or Peace," 
 said': "Czarism is not this moment the worst 
 war danger, but the ill-informed Austria which 
 lives under the insane illusion that it needs only 
 to give the signal, and the whole of Europe will 
 sound the bugle to bring the flower of its youth as a 
 holocaust for the assassination of its heir to the 
 throne." 
 
 The die was cast. The fatal step, which was 
 to plunge the world into the most terrible catas- 
 trophe of history, had been taken. Thus after six 
 years of intrigue did the Austrian and German 
 diplomats and military leaders realize their aims. 
 
CHAPTER XIII 
 
 Russian Mobilization as the Cause of the 
 
 War 
 
 a glimpse behind the scenes in berlin dur- 
 ing the first three months of the war 
 
 THE Austro-Hungarian war party had 
 finally reaped its triumph. Our armies 
 were storming the gates of Serbia and our 
 militarists hoped to lay Serbia, on the 18th of 
 August, the name-day of the Emperor, as a gift 
 before the throne of old Francis Joseph; and then 
 proceed with all their forces to the conquest of 
 Great Russia. "We will throw Russia behind the 
 Volga; nay, we will chase the Russians behind the 
 Ural Mountains; back into the steppes of Asia." 
 So I was told by an imperial Court ofiicial when 
 talking with him while watching the mobilization 
 in the spacious court of the Emperor's stables. 
 "Will Russia attack us," I asked, "or will we at- 
 tack Russia?" "We will find a pretext for war 
 with Russia," said the ofiicial, "sooner than any- 
 body thinks. Besides, we expect that Russia will 
 attack us on account of our invasion of Serbia; 
 and Russia's move will automatically bring Ger- 
 
 U5 
 
246 THE mSlDE STORY OF 
 
 many into the war." "Does this last follow," I 
 asked further, "from our treaty of alliance with 
 Germany? We have not been attacked by Serbia 
 and I thought that the Treaty of Alliance was purely 
 a defensive one." "You remember the great 
 debate last year between the Socialist and Cen- 
 trist parties in the German Reichstag," the Court 
 official said, "when Prince Loewenstein accused 
 Herr Ledebour and his political friends of trying 
 to prevent Germany from making war by foment- 
 ting internal revolution?" 
 
 "'The obligation to help Austria,' Prince Loew- 
 enstein then said, 'arises if Austria is attacked 
 by any third power; Austria on her side would 
 certainly help Germany if — assuming the fantastic 
 case — we should attack Denmark, and should be 
 for this attacked by France and Russia.' Applying 
 the above formula to our attack on Serbia, it 
 follows that Germany will join us, that is to say, 
 our attack on Serbia will automatically provide 
 Germany the casus fcederis.'' 
 
 But even at this I was extremely curious to see 
 how Germany would find a plausible pretext for 
 war against Russia, if Austria was attacked by 
 Russia alone. I very soon learned how the German 
 war party created such a pretext in the Russian 
 mobilization. Problems of time and distance 
 seriously influenced Russia's mobilization. Her 
 far-flung garrisons in the Caucasus, Central Asia, 
 and Siberia weakened the strength of her army. 
 
AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 247 
 
 In the Bosnian crisis of 1908-09 Russia received a 
 very unpleasant reminder of the danger of unpre- 
 paredness for war. At that time 800,000 German 
 troops could have been thrown upon the Vistula 
 at the very outbreak of the war, while 400,000 Aus- 
 tro-Hungarian troops could have been thrown 
 against Warsaw and Brest-Li tovsk from the south, 
 thus cutting off the Russian armies in Poland. The 
 operation would have been successful, because 
 Russia would have been unable to oppose this 
 force with more than a couple of army corps within 
 a week's time. The rest of her army, of which 
 800,000 men might have been aligned against 
 Germany and 400,000 against Austria, could not 
 have been ready under three weeks, and could not 
 have taken the field under a month. This in 
 spite of the fact that Russia had on a peace footing 
 at that time an army of approximately 1,200,000 
 men. 
 
 In the crisis of 1912 and 1913 Russia's position 
 was better, because, seeing Austria-Hungary mo- 
 bilized, on the Serbian as well as on the Russian 
 frontiers, Russia retained a year's class under the 
 colours instead of sending them home as reservists. 
 Hence our wailings at that time regarding the 
 Russian mobilization, and finally the sending of 
 Prince Hohenlohe with an autograph letter of the 
 Emperor to Czar Nicholas to beg him to send the 
 surplus troops home. Profiting by this experience, 
 our General Staff wanted this time to baffle Russia; 
 
248 THE INSIDE STORY OF 
 
 to hold up her mobihzation; to gain time to mobilize 
 our whole army under the guise of a "partial" mo- 
 bilization, and be ready for the invasion of Russia 
 before the latter had time to mobilize. According 
 to the Austro-German plans for the war against 
 Russia and France Germany was to throw herself 
 first on France, while the whole brunt of the fight- 
 ing on the eastern front would be born by Austria- 
 Hungary. "Mobilization means war" was there- 
 fore the cry of German diplomacy, when Russia 
 followed our example and ordered the mobilization 
 of her southern military districts on the 29th of 
 July, that is the very day following our mobilization 
 of ten army corps. Austria-Hungary ordered a 
 general mobilization at one o'clock on the morning 
 of July 31st. In order not to be placed at a strate- 
 gical disadvantage Russia once more followed 
 suit and ordered the general mobilization of her 
 armies about 1 1 o'clock in the forenoon of the same 
 day, expressly declaring, however, that she did 
 it as a measure of security, "being always ready 
 to submit to the Hague Tribunal, or the mediation 
 of the Powers as proposed by Sir Edward Grey." 
 Russia, moreover, emphatically denied that "mo- 
 bilization means war"; in fact, in her past troubles 
 with Austria both Austria-Hungary and Russia 
 had mobilized and their troops had stood for long 
 months guarding the frontiers without war as a 
 consequence. The German Government, however, 
 seized upon the Russian mobilization as the most 
 
AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 249 
 
 plausible available justification for the predeter- 
 mined war. Russia's mobilization, if not delayed 
 sufficiently, meant the overthrow of all the German 
 plans of campaign and the possible loss of the war. 
 The course of the World War proved these fears to 
 have been well founded. It was Russia's unexpect- 
 edly rapid mobilization and her thrust into East 
 Prussia that made the German armies pause be- 
 fore the Marne, and withdraw at least two army 
 corps to throw them against the invading Russians. 
 This gave, for the moment, to the French, British, 
 and Belgian armies a numerical superiority, and 
 saved Paris. 
 
 This was the Kaiser's reason for crying at the 
 top of his voice to Russia: "Mobilization means 
 war!" He thus repeated Napoleon's strategy. 
 Count Segur, in his history of Napoleon's campaign 
 of 1812 against Russia, says that Napoleon made 
 complaints on the 25th of April, 1812, among others, 
 against Russia's armaments, as a menace to the 
 safety of his empire. Czar Alexander I, through 
 his Ambassador, Prince Kourokin, vainly protested 
 to Napoleon his pacific intentions. Napoleon 
 interrupted the Czar's envoy: "No, your master 
 desires war; I know through my generals that the 
 Russian army is hurrying toward the Niemen." 
 But there were two more reasons for wishing to 
 represent the Russian mobilization as meaning 
 war. First, in Austria-Hungary mobilization was 
 slower and the distance to be traversed longer, 
 
250 THE INSIDE STORY OF 
 
 by at least ten days, than in Germany. To re- 
 strain Russia from attacking Austria, the weaker 
 ally, the German diplomats tried to deceive 
 Russia, and keep her undecided in the first critical 
 weeks while Austria was operating against Serbia. 
 This explains also why Austria actually declared 
 war against Russia almost ten days later than she 
 did against Serbia; the dates being respectively 
 July 28 and August 6, 1914. I have stated in a 
 previous chapter that when I arrived at Warsaw 
 on the 26th of July I found the mobilization of our 
 nationals in full swing at the Consulate General, 
 for the whole district of that consulate. That 
 was two days before the official order for the partial 
 mobilization in Vienna was issued. In Austria- 
 Hungary itself the mobilization of the officers 
 of the reserve began two days before the presenta- 
 tion of the ultimatum. As far as Germany is con- 
 cerned, I learned from a Prussian army contractor 
 in Berlin that on July 25, 1914, artillery was sent 
 from Breslau, German Silesia, to East Prussia. 
 
 The second reason for the Kaiser declaring 
 "Mobilization means war," was, militarily, even 
 more significant. In our plans for the conquest 
 of Russia we imitated Napoleon's plan for the 
 invasion of Russia. Napoleon did not consider 
 a mere frontal attack as prudent, or, as being most 
 effective, for bringing Russia to her knees. The 
 outflanking movements in the rear of the Niemen 
 and Vistula armies were considered by both con- 
 
AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 251 
 
 querors as of vital importance for a quick and de- 
 cisive result. But we did not content ourselves 
 with one outflanking movement, as did Napoleon. 
 The Austro-German General StafiFs conceived the 
 plan of one frontal invasion and one principal, 
 with two, or rather three, minor flanking invasions 
 in the rear of the Russian armies. This was 
 arranged to create in several parts of the Russian 
 Empire such conditions that the mobilization in 
 most of her military districts would be disorganized 
 or that the mobilized troops would be needed else- 
 where, that is away from the German main line 
 of attack. This should have served, in the first 
 place, for the invasion of Russia by Sweden and 
 Rumania. If the above plans had matured, as 
 arranged by the German Kaiser, not only the mili- 
 tary districts of Warsaw and Vilna, but also those 
 of Petrograd, Kieff, and Odessa, would have been 
 .badly disorganized and Russia would have been 
 /prevented from concentrating an army sufficiently 
 large to take the offensive in the great Vistula 
 triangle. To paralyze Russia's mobilization in 
 other districts — or to attract mobilized troops to 
 other and far-off battle-fields — invasions of the 
 Caucasus by Turkey and of Central Asia by Persia 
 and Afghanistan were planned. This formidable 
 menace of flanking invasions on her most exposed 
 frontiers would have disturbed the mobilization 
 also in the military districts of Stavropol and Tiflis, 
 both in the Caucasus, as also in the military dis- 
 
252 THE INSIDE STORY OF 
 
 tricts of Central Asia and western Siberia. Thus 
 the districts of Moscow and Khazan only would 
 have remained undisturbed. That the Kaiser's 
 great scheme of simultaneous enveloping, flanking, 
 and rear attacks on Russia came to naught is due 
 solely to the decision of Russia to mobilize at the 
 first signal of the Austrian mobilization. 
 
 I stayed for a few days in the excitement of 
 Vienna, after our declaration of war against Serbia 
 and the declaration of war by Germany against 
 Russia, when suddenly I remembered that I had 
 come fifteen thousand miles to visit my people 
 at home. I therefore left Vienna to go to my home 
 in southern Styria. Arriving there I found the 
 simple mountaineers so bewildered and frightened 
 by the orders for mobilization that they scarcely 
 noticed my home-coming. My stay was brief 
 as a telegram arrived from Vienna signed by Count 
 Berchtold himself ordering me to proceed at once 
 to Berlin for temporary duty there and on my way 
 there to call at the Ministry. Upon my arrival 
 at Vienna I was informed that I must not express 
 my views. I also learned that I was watched by 
 spies. I had evidently spoken too freely. In 
 Vienna reports were circulated that Russian airmen 
 had bombed the railroad from Cracow to Vienna; 
 furthermore, that a hundred million francs in gold 
 were en route from France to Russia through 
 Germany and Austria in a hundred automobiles, 
 and that everybody must be on the lookout for 
 
AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 253 
 
 these automobiles. The first report of "the bomb- 
 ing" of the raihoad was, of course, an invention 
 of the famihar type, fabricated by the "Literary" 
 Bureau of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. It 
 was in Hne with the similar news circulated in 
 Germany that French airmen had opened hostilities 
 against Germany before the declaration of war by 
 bombing Nlirnberg and two other German cities 
 and that they were violating the neutrality of 
 Belgium by flying over that country. Our Foreign 
 Office also circulated reports that Russia had 
 opened hostilities against Austria-Hungary without 
 a declaration of war just as it was reported that 
 France had done against Germany. In regard 
 to the shipment of a hundred million francs in 
 gold to Russia it was a crude hoax on the part of 
 our military authorities but it served a very prac- 
 tical purpose, as people everywhere watched the 
 roads and searched automobiles for spies, etc. 
 
 From the telegram received from Count Berch- 
 told, I knew that I must be in bad odour in Vienna. 
 Arriving there I called first on Baron Sonnleithner 
 my departmental chief. 
 
 "Wliy did you not call on me before .f^" the 
 Baron asked me, angrily. "You were on leave 
 of absence," I replied. "Where have you been all 
 this time.f^" the Baron then demanded. "In 
 Russia," I replied. Then, as if bitten by a snake, 
 the Baron sprang toward me and shouted: "You 
 are a Russophile." "Yes, I am a friend of Russia. 
 
254 THE INSIDE STORY OF 
 
 They are my racial brothers. If that is a crime, 
 I ask to be placed at once before a court martial. 
 Such courts martial are already working at full 
 speed in the south. I have heard that fully 1,500 
 persons have been put into the old dungeons of the 
 mediaeval castle dominating the City of Ljubljana." 
 "That is not true," said the Baron. *'0f course it 
 is true," I said. "I had this news directly from 
 a German judge who was sent to that city to 
 investigate the cases. I ask, therefore, once more, 
 to be sent south and placed before a court martial 
 if I have committed a crime by travelling through 
 Russia." "The Ministry of Foreign Affairs can- 
 not ask to have you court martialed," answered 
 the Baron, "you are too highly placed in the ser- 
 vice and too well known abroad. Your execution 
 would make too much of a stir abroad." 
 
 I then asked him to be allowed to return to 
 America, to my post in San Francisco, instead of 
 going to Berlin. Then I went to my hotel, destroyed 
 a part of my notes containing the impressions 
 of my journey in Siberia, wrote out my resigna- 
 tion, and brought it to the Ministry. There a 
 friend of mine intervened and begged me to with- 
 draw my resignation and to go to Berlin. I sus- 
 pected that my bold conversation with Count 
 Forgach had caused me all this trouble. I realized 
 that to get out of this Austrian prison I had to act 
 prudently. I therefore consented to remain in 
 the service and go to Germany. On leaving the 
 
AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE ^55 
 
 Foreign Office, I met Herr Von Nuber, Austro- 
 Hungarian Consul General at New York, who was 
 then on leave of absence. We went together into 
 a cafe on the Kaerntner Strasse and our conversa- 
 tion soon turned to the war. "I was all morning 
 in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs," Herr Von Nuber 
 told me, "and got some very interesting news." 
 In order to learn this news, I suppressed my feelings 
 and appeared entirely in sympathy with the war 
 against Serbia and Russia. I then said: "What 
 Is really our purpose in invading Serbia .f^ " "We 
 must dispose, once for all, of Serbia as a state and 
 of the Serbian race," Herr Von Nuber said. "I 
 was told in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs that 
 our aim in making war on Serbia is to crush the 
 Serbian army and completely to annihilate it; this 
 accomplished, we shall let loose Magyar bands in 
 Serbia to whom we shall give the task of mur- 
 dering the women and children of Serbia in order 
 to make an end forever of the menace of a Greater 
 Serbia." 
 
 This important news was enough for me. It 
 only confirmed what I had previously heard from 
 other Austrian and Hungarian sources about our 
 proposed civilizing mission in the Balkans. From 
 what happened later it is known only too well 
 that the plan of Austria-Hungary was carried out 
 to the letter. The case of martyred Serbia is an 
 analogue to that of Armenia. When I was in Tiflis, 
 some three weeks before the war, I heard similar 
 
256 THE INSIDE STORY OF 
 
 views expressed in regard to Armenia by a German 
 Secretary of Legation who was then on his way 
 to Teheran, Persia. In order to understand why 
 Austria-Hungary had singled out Serbia and the 
 Serbian people for destruction and why Germany 
 had done the same in regard to Armenia, the 
 strategical situation of both Serbia and Armenia 
 must be considered. The strategical importance 
 of Serbia is great because it lies across the great 
 natural high road which connects the East and the 
 West, Asia and Europe. The whole Balkan penin- 
 sula is covered with a tangled mass of steep and 
 inhospitable mountains which are very difficult 
 to cross. The great commercial highway, Berlin- 
 Bagdad, follows the broad valley of the Morava 
 south from Belgrade toward Nish, where it branches 
 off straight south to Salonica, while the other 
 branch proceeds over easy mountains into the valley 
 of the Maritza through Bulgarian territory toward 
 Adrianople and thence to Constantinople. To 
 push through to Salonica and Constantinople was 
 our principal goal in the Balkans. Hence, we de- 
 cided on the destruction of Serbia, as it lay in 
 the path of our ambitions. In considering the 
 geographical position it is to be noted that Armenia 
 is like a wedge thrust into the heart of Asiatic 
 Turkey, separating the tangled mountain ranges 
 of Asia Minor from Asia proper. This gives Ar- 
 menia its strategical importance. Just as Serbia 
 bars the way from Europe into Asia, so does Ar- 
 
AUSTROGERMAN INTRIGUE 257 
 
 menia stand across the way from Asia into Europe. 
 Serbia and Armenia guard the approaches to Con- 
 stantinople from the east and west respectively. 
 Such being the strategical significance of Serbia 
 and Armenia it can easily be imagined what an 
 important role was reserved by history for their 
 peoples. The geographical position of these two 
 countries has quite naturally directed their history 
 along parallel lines. Most of the European con- 
 querors of Asia, as most of the Asiatic conquerors 
 of Europe, have used the natural highways leading 
 through these countries. 
 
 August 18th, the name-day of the Emperor, and 
 the day set for the annihilation of Serbia, had 
 passed, and almost no war bulletins were given 
 out in regard to the conduct of the campaign in the 
 south. It happened that the day after I was in- 
 vited to lunch by my friend the young and ener- 
 getic Secretary of the Chamber of Commerce of 
 Vienna, to whose lot it fell in the course of the war 
 to place our industries on a war footing. While we 
 were at table in one of the fashionable restaurants 
 on the famous Kaerntner Ring he told me of two 
 curious conversations he had had that very day: 
 the one a telephone conversation with the Austrian 
 Premier, Count Stuergkh, in regard to the food 
 situation, during which he told the Count that 
 the latter would certainly meet the fate of Count 
 Latour (who was hanged to a lamp-post by the 
 revolutionists in 1848). The other conversation 
 
358 THE INSIDE STORY OF 
 
 was with the Lord Mayor of Vienna, during which 
 the latter told him that our troops had taken up 
 (on the Serbian front) "positions in the rear." I 
 had a hard time to suppress my feelings at the joy- 
 ous news that my Serbian brethren instead of being 
 annihilated by the Austrians had actually beaten 
 them. When after lunch we left the restaurant, I 
 was surprised at the peculiar darkness of the streets 
 although the sky was cloudless; but noticing crowds 
 of people looking through smoked glasses at the 
 sun, I remembered that there was a total eclipse 
 of the sun. This seemed to me an omen of the 
 eclipse of the old Danubian Empire, which had de- 
 liberately plunged the world into a vast catastrophe. 
 The same evening I left Vienna for Berlin firmly 
 resolved that I should never set foot again in that 
 city until the Hapsburgs had fallen and my Slav 
 brethren who make up more than half of the pop- 
 ulation of Austria-Hungary were liberated for ever 
 from the yoke of their German-Magyar oppressors. 
 In Berlin my position soon became intolerable. 
 I sometimes failed to conceal my pro-Entente feel- 
 ings, as for instance once in conversation with a 
 volunteer worker at our office, the son of a mil- 
 lionaire banker from Vienna, who wanted to de- 
 nounce me at once to our Ambassador, but was pre- 
 vented from doing so by one of my friends to whom 
 he had confided his intentions. One day Prince 
 Hohenlohe, our new Ambassador to Berlin, said 
 to me: "Please be careful what you say- These 
 
AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 259 
 
 Prussians are terribly scared that something may 
 happen in Austria among our Slav subjects." 
 During my stay in Berlin I came upon the trail 
 of the Austro-German propaganda that had been 
 set on foot in Italy, Rumania, and Turkey, to keep 
 those countries out of the war, or to bring them 
 into the war on our side. A high Hungarian 
 official serving as a commercial attache in our 
 embassy told me on his arrival from Vienna in the 
 early days of October that our government had 
 spent some eighty million francs in Rumania 
 alone, and that an equal sum had been disbursed 
 in Bulgaria, to say nothing of what had been 
 distributed in Italy. As for Turkey, a volunteer 
 worker whose son was in the employ of the 
 Deutsche Bank in Berlin confided to me one day 
 that he had just received a telegram from his son. 
 "You know," he said, "he was sent to Constanti- 
 nople with four million francs in gold for Enver 
 Pasha." 
 
 On many important phases of my stay in Berlin 
 I must remain silent in order not to imperil certain 
 people who were friendly to me. I watched the 
 interminable movement of German troops, in the 
 early part of the war, first to the region of the 
 Mazurlan Lakes, then from the French front to the 
 Galician battle-fields, going to the rescue of the de- 
 feated Austrian armies. The chief news about the 
 happenings at the front and about troop move- 
 ments I received from our old surgeon, a Prussian 
 
260 THE INSIDE STORY OF 
 
 staff-surgeon, who for some fifteen years had been 
 connected with our office and who had numerous 
 friends among the high officers at the front. In 
 spite of the horrors of the war and the impossible 
 Prussian atmosphere in which I had to Kve, there 
 were many humorous scenes enacted at the office, 
 especially in the countless war marriages which, 
 among other duties, I had to perform for our sub- 
 jects who were called to the colours. Amid the 
 scenes of this tragi-comedy I met a beautiful young 
 
 lady with a French name, Baroness D , who 
 
 wanted to leave Germany but who was unable to do 
 so not having a passport. She was suspected 
 of being a spy. I risked my head in giving her a 
 document that brought her safely across the 
 frontier. 
 
 In the middle of October, 1914, Baron Haymerle 
 [Franz Freiherr von Haymerle], First Secretary 
 of the Austro-Hungarian Embassy in Berlin, son 
 of the well-known Austrian statesman, Baron 
 Haymerle, told me during a conversation lasting 
 two hours — on the good and bad fortunes of the 
 war — that Austria-Hungary, greatly perturbed 
 by the victorious march of the Russian armies 
 in Galicia, had asked a revision of her agree- 
 ments with Germany, and had accordingly entered 
 into a new agreement as regards the war aims of 
 both countries whereby Germany bound herself 
 not only to help Austria-Hungary to drive the 
 Russians out of Galicia, but also not to lay down 
 
AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 261 
 
 arms until Kieff, the capital of the Ukraine, was 
 conquered for Austria. Through these new stip- 
 ulations Germany reaffirmed Austria's claims to 
 the whole of the Ukraine, that is, the whole south- 
 ern part of Russia, and declared also her determina- 
 tion to complete the conquest and partition of 
 Russia. 
 
 These pourparlers marked the first revision of the 
 war aims as they were laid down in the agreement 
 concluded between Austria-Hungary and Germany 
 prior to the war. To deprive the Slavs of the life- 
 giving sea by pressing the Russians from the 
 shores of the Baltic and Black seas was the under- 
 lying idea of this first Teutonic partition of Russia. 
 By the terms of this first agreement the whole 
 northwestern part of Russia, that is, the Baltic 
 provinces, including Petrograd, Russian Poland, 
 and Lithuania, was to fall to the lot of Germany; 
 while Austria, besides retaining her grip on Gali- 
 cia, was to receive as her share of the war spoils the 
 whole of the Ukraine, including also the old Kha- 
 nat of Crimea, with the prospect of reviving all 
 the aspirations of the Ukrainians to the region 
 north of the Caucasus, and to the territory between 
 the Caspian Sea and the Ural Mountains, far into 
 the region of the Orenburg Cossacks. Possessing 
 this and other highly important news, I realized 
 the time had come for me to leave Germany before 
 it was too late. I had discovered that a man by 
 the name of Rosenthal, with whom I became ac- 
 
262 THE INSIDE STORY OF 
 
 quainted through a German volunteer worker in 
 our office, was watching my movements more at- 
 tentively than seemed to me necessary. That my 
 suspicions were well founded I learned nearly a year 
 later, when I heard that Rosenthal, who claimed to 
 be an American citizen, had been executed as a 
 spy in the Tower of London, having been sent to 
 England by the German Government to procure 
 the British Admiralty plans. Rosenthal had told 
 me that he was an American citizen, and a native 
 of the East Side in New York. He always wore a 
 little American flag in his button-hole, and spoke 
 English perfectly. 
 
 It was a Sunday morning, late in October, 1914, 
 when I secretly left Berlin. Twenty-four hours 
 later I was on Swiss soil — a free man. I pro- 
 ceeded to Rome, where I lived in complete retire- 
 ment for some time. On December 20, 1914, 
 I sent in my resignation from my post as consul at 
 San Francisco. I gave as the reason for my resig- 
 nation that my Slav sympathies did not permit me 
 longer to serve the Austro-Hungarian Government. 
 Before my resignation was accepted by His Majesty 
 I was approached at my hotel by Count CoUoredo- 
 Mansfeld, who told me he came in the name of the 
 Austro-Hungarian Ambassador to dissuade me 
 from my intentions of leaving the foreign service 
 of Austria-Hungary. When I remained deaf to all 
 his entreaties and arguments, the Count finally 
 came out with the full truth: *'If you dare to say 
 
AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 3&S 
 
 or to do anything detrimental to the interests of 
 Austria-Hungary after your resignation, you will 
 pay dearly ; besides, it will involve your relatives at 
 home." 
 
 Seeing my determination not to be led into any 
 shameful compromise, the Count at once assumed 
 a more prudent and dignified attitude and said: 
 "I admire you." A few days later I received a 
 communication from Count Berchtold telling me 
 that "His Imperial and Royal Apostolic Majesty 
 has with serene decision of January 27, 1915, most 
 graciously condescended to approve of your re- 
 quest to be relieved from the Civil Service." 
 
 I never felt better in my life than on that day, 
 when I was relieved from the oppression of Aus- 
 trian official life. Having become a free man, I 
 at once placed all my experience gained in the 
 foreign service of Austria-Hungary, and the special 
 knowledge which I had acquired during the war, 
 at the service of the Allied cause. One thing I 
 especially tried to impress upon the ambassadors 
 of Russia and France was that the greatest danger 
 for the Triple Entente lay in Sofia; for fully two 
 months I endeavoured to make them understand 
 the precarious position in which Russia and Serbia 
 would be placed if the Entente should disregard 
 the necessity of placating Bulgaria as quickly as 
 possible. Later events proved that this warning 
 was onlj'^ too well founded. Seeing that all my 
 suggestions remained unheeded, I made a final 
 
264 THE INSIDE STORY OF 
 
 attempt to warn the Allied Governments in a 
 memorandum dated January 1, 1915, which I 
 presented to the French and Russian ambassa- 
 dors. In it I said in substance: "All roads lead 
 to Rome. But the road to a sure and speedy 
 victory for the Allies leads through Sofia. Re- 
 construct the Balkan League; or at least do every- 
 thing in your power to prevent Bulgaria from 
 attacking Serbia." For fully two months I laboured 
 with the French and Russians in Rome to convince 
 them that this war involved Russia's very ex- 
 istence, that Austria-Hungary was not fighting a 
 defensive war but a war of conquest. My plead- 
 ing was in vain. Seeing that the leading statesmen 
 did not realize the danger which threatened them, 
 I started, broken-hearted, for America. Here I 
 emphasized even more the danger that was threat- 
 ening the Allied cause. 
 
 In the summer of 1915 I foretold the absolute 
 annihilation of Serbia; but to my great sorrow my 
 pet idea of the necessity of reconstructing the Bal- 
 kan League to protect Serbia was never seriously 
 considered by the Allied Powers. I started with 
 new plans, when I saw that all my entreaties were 
 in vain. I regarded all through 1915 and 1916 the 
 recognition of the independence of Poland as an 
 essential protective measure for Russia and the 
 Allies, pointing out to the Allied diplomats that 
 the granting of independence to Poland would rec- 
 oncile immediately the Austrian Poles, the fiercest 
 
AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 265 
 
 opponents of Russia, to the Allied cause. The 
 Poles in conjunction with the Jugoslavs and the 
 Czecho-Slovaks would have brought about the de- 
 struction of the Dual Monarchy at an early date. 
 Seeing that this also was in vain, I tried to impress 
 upon the Allies the urgent necessity of giving at 
 once binding promises for the liberation of all Slavs, 
 which measure would have led all the Slav peoples 
 of Austria-Hungary at once to give full support to 
 the Allies. Nothing, however, was done until it 
 was too late; that is, until Serbia and Russia were 
 "bled white." 
 
CHAPTER XIV 
 
 Mobilizing Half a Million Men in America 
 
 how the austro-hungarian consulates sec- 
 retly raised an army behind america's back 
 
 4 MERICANS are familiar with the intrigues 
 LjL of German and Austrian agents in the 
 J. Ml United States after the outbreak of the 
 World War. The activities of Count Von Bernstorff , 
 the German Ambassador; Dr. Dumba, the Austro- 
 Hungarian Ambassador; Captains Boy -Ed and 
 Von Papen, revealed the widespread organization 
 of Teutonic propaganda in America. What is 
 not so well known is the extent of the prepara- 
 tions made by the German and Austrian authori- 
 ties in the years before the outbreak of the war 
 to mobilize German and Austro-Hungarian sub- 
 jects in the United States. 
 
 During the First Balkan War in 1912 certain 
 mysterious telegrams began to arrive at the offices of 
 the German and Austro-Hungarian representatives 
 in the United States. In these telegrams detailed in- 
 structions were given concerning the steps to be taken 
 for the mobilization of the great army of German 
 and Austrian reservists living in the United States. 
 
 266 
 
AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 207 
 
 Austria alone had, according to the latest 
 United States census, nearly two million subjects in 
 the United States of America, not to mention the 
 tens of thousands that had gone to Canada in 
 recent years. In the year 1907 some three hundred 
 and forty thousand subjects of Francis Joseph came 
 to the shores of America. For the quick and ef- 
 fective mobilization of these men, great care and 
 minute planning was necessary. Arrangements 
 had to be made for the concentration of the men 
 scattered throughout the country at certain desig- 
 nated centres; for bringing them by the quickest and 
 cheapest routes to the Atlantic seaports; and, 
 finally, for their transportation to their home ports. 
 
 During the First Balkan War] the first orders 
 were given to all the Austro-Hungarian foreign 
 representatives to arrange with care lists of all 
 the reservists known to reside in the different 
 districts of the consulates. These orders were re- 
 peated and elaborated during the Second Balkan 
 War, which had taken such an unforeseen and un- 
 favourable turn in spite of the high expectations 
 of Austrian diplomacy. 
 
 It must be noted here that it is the duty of every 
 man who has served in the Austrian army to report 
 to the Consul twenty -four hours after each change 
 of domicile, his new address. It is therefore an easy 
 matter to keep track of all military men even in a 
 country where people are not forced to inform the 
 police where they live. 
 
268 THE INSIDE STORY OF 
 
 Orders were given by the Ministry of War care- 
 fully to classify the men, in alphabetical order, 
 into groups according to the year in which they 
 were recruited. Furthermore, to separate the 
 Linien troops from the Landwekr and these 
 two classes from the Landsturm. After all this 
 work had been completed and the lists thereof sent 
 in — and this was done regularly — the foreign 
 representatives of Austria-Hungary had to figure 
 out carefully the expense of bringing each man and 
 each small group of men from their widely sepa- 
 rated places of work — some being in the backwoods 
 of Oregon, others in the mines of Arizona or 
 Nevada, others in Alaska, still others in Louisiana 
 or Florida, and so on — to the nearest concentration 
 points, where they were to be placed under the 
 command of the highest ranking officer. 
 
 In these figures had to be included the double 
 pay {Kriegsloehnung) which the soldier was to 
 receive from the time of mobilization for the entire 
 trip from the place of work of each reservist to the 
 first rallying centre; from there to New York as the 
 chief rallying centre for most of the mobilized men; 
 from New York to Trieste or Fiume, the two chief 
 ports of Austria and Hungary respectively, and 
 from these two points to the outfitting places of each 
 man, designated in the military passports. It was 
 even contemplated — ^this for the cases where suit- 
 able persons were not available to take command 
 of the various detachments gathered on the first 
 
AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 269 
 
 mobilization order in the most important rallying 
 centres of America — ^that special men should be 
 sent out from the different consulates to such places 
 to bring the men safely to New York. If necessary, 
 officers of the various consulates were to be dis- 
 patched for this purpose. The figures thus cal- 
 culated for each district separately had to be sent to 
 the Austro-Hungarian Embassy in Washington and 
 from there to the Foreign Office in Vienna, to be in 
 turn again transmitted to the Minister of War or 
 the Minister for National Defence. Naturally all 
 this was done with the greatest secrecy; all orders 
 of this kind were given as "strictly reserved" 
 {Streng Reservat). 
 
 In addition to these preliminary matters, ar- 
 rangements were made for the printing and distri- 
 bution of "mobilization proclamations" which were 
 to be sent to each reservist. The mobilization or- 
 ders were printed by the Ministry of War in Vienna 
 in its own secret printing shop and sent through 
 the channels of the Foreign Office in Vienna and the 
 Embassy in Washington by special courier to avoid 
 their being opened and recognized by the United 
 States Customs officials. Once in Washington the 
 mobilization proclamations were distributed to the 
 various offices by express. These proclamations 
 were accompanied by strict orders to keep them 
 secret and were placed by the consular officials in 
 safe-deposit vaults. These documents were printed 
 not only in German and Magyar, but also in the 
 
270 THE INSIDE STORY OF 
 
 nine other languages that are spoken in Austria- 
 Hungary and were delivered to us in 1912. 
 
 Each consulate was, moreover, given minute 
 instructions concerning the distribution of these 
 proclamations and other details connected with the 
 anticipated mobilization. Hundreds of thousands of 
 envelopes had to be addressed in a few days; hun- 
 dreds of thousands of mobilization orders had to be 
 providedwith names and addresses, the various data 
 of mobilization, and other necessary information such 
 as the routes to be taken to the points of assembly. 
 Furthermore, tickets had to be obtained from the 
 various railroad offices to be sent to the men with 
 the mobilization orders as it was not considered 
 safe to send money to the reservists; and money 
 or express orders had to be arranged for each man, 
 providing him with the necessary means of suste- 
 nance for the trip. 
 
 The plan for the division of w^ork required for 
 carrying out the mobilization orders in the short- 
 est time possible was worked out by the Consulate 
 General of Chicago and the Consulate of Cleveland 
 and was then, by order of the Embassy in Washing- 
 ton, adopted by all the consulates in the United 
 States. The plan provided, in the greatest detail, for 
 making the work of mobilization strictly mechani- 
 cal and efficient; even the most petty regulations 
 were made concerning the distribution of work 
 among the clerks; what was to be undertaken 
 first; how long they were to work on one line of 
 
AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 271 
 
 orders and how long on another; which of the 
 Consulate clerks should write the envelopes; who 
 should fill out the mobilization orders; how the 
 various officials were to relieve one another in the 
 mobilization work to avoid exhaustion through too 
 much over- work. 
 
 Besides these military measures, precautions 
 were taken by the Austro-Hungarian foreign repre- 
 sentatives in America to prevent the outbreak of 
 revolution in Austria-Hungary, when war should 
 be declared. While the Austro-Hungarian Govern- 
 ment rejoiced over the steady current of gold that 
 was flowing from foreign countries, especially from 
 America, to Austria-Hungary, in the form of the 
 savings of the emigrants, it was in deadly fear of 
 the golden current of free thought and ideas of 
 political liberty which also poured from the great 
 American Republic into old aristocratic Austria- 
 Hungary. The oppressed races, especially the 
 Slavs, which came to the shores of a free country 
 like America, wanted to help their brethren at 
 home to free themselves from political bondage. 
 To keep the truth from the people at home, where 
 the press was under the control of the Government 
 censors, both Austria and Hungary deemed it nec- 
 essary to establish a cordon guarding the Austro- 
 Hungarian Empire from the contagion of the free 
 thought of America. 
 
 An order was issued by Count Berchtold, two 
 years before the outbreak of the World War, to 
 
272 THE INSIDE STORY OF 
 
 all Austro-Hungarian representatives In America to 
 prepare "black lists" of all the Slav newspapers 
 issued in foreign countries, with a proper classijBca- 
 tion of "Anti- Austrian," "Anti-Hungarian," or 
 "Anti-Monarchical." In these black lists the con- 
 suls were required to make careful mention, not only 
 of the political opinions which each paper professed, 
 but also those of its editor. This paternal care went 
 so far that the Viennese and Budapest governments 
 wanted to be minutely informed as to where the 
 editor was born, where his relatives were living, 
 with whom he had connections at home, and when 
 he expected to make a trip to Austria-Hungary to 
 visit his relatives. These black lists were from 
 time to time revised so as to be always up to date. 
 Special reports about the movements of editors 
 had also to be made to the Foreign Office at Vienna. 
 
 As a second and more drastic measure a black 
 list of all the Southern Slav patriots and sympa- 
 thizers in the United States had to be prepared, in 
 which special care was to be taken to indicate the 
 political opinions of the black-listed men, with the 
 names of all their relatives in Austria-Hungary and 
 where they lived. Also for these black-listed per- 
 sons the consuls had to give exact data for every 
 voyage such persons proposed to make to Europe. 
 Thirdly, the Foreign Office ordered its representa- 
 tives to attach to the lists photographs of the men 
 listed. 
 
 Nearly all the newspapers, with the exception 
 
AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 273 
 
 of those subsidized by the Austro-Himgarian 
 Government, were entered on the black Hsts, thus 
 losing the right of entry into the Austro-Hungarian 
 Empire. Furthermore, the most prominent men 
 among the Jugoslavs, despite the fact that they 
 had long ceased to be citizens of Austria-Hungary, 
 had their names and photographs placed in the 
 Criminal Album of the Austro-Hungarian Govern- 
 ment. 
 
 I steadily refused to put a single man in my 
 consular district, which comprised all the territory 
 west of the Rocky Mountains as well as Alaska, 
 on the black lists. So far as I know all the other 
 consuls complied with the order. As soon as war 
 against Serbia was declared, these lists were 
 taken from the secret vaults and all the persons 
 listed who were in Austria or Hungary were put 
 into prison. As a result, numerous citizens of 
 the United States, former subjects of Francis 
 Joseph, who at the outbreak of the war were 
 visiting the country of their birth, were arrested 
 by the Austro-Hungarian authorities, and were 
 released only after the most strenuous protests of 
 the American Embassy in Vienna. 
 
 No person who knew, as I did, of these detailed 
 preparations for war which were made during the 
 year 1912, could fail to be convinced of the deliber- 
 ate purpose of the Austrian and German authorities 
 to precipitate a great world cataclysm. 
 
CHAPTER XV 
 
 The United States of Slavia 
 a prerequisite for a united states of europe 
 
 "I now most earnestly hope to see a genuine republican 
 Russia, a democratic Russia, the United States of Russia, 
 a democratic Federal Republic of Russia come out of the 
 present chaos. The motto must be Justice for all and an 
 abhorrence of class tyranny of every kind." — Theodore 
 Roosevelt's last message to Russia, December 12, 1918. 
 
 IN THE Treaty of Brest-Litovsk the Central 
 Empires realized their fondest dream : the con- 
 quest and partition of Russia. The subjuga- 
 tion of the whole Slav race had become a fact. 
 Great was the outcry throughout the world, and 
 especially among Russia's Allies, against this ruth- 
 less crime. 
 
 But having ultimately overthrown on the battle- 
 field the military might of the Central Empires — 
 and to this overthrow Russia and the Slavs con- 
 tributed half of the blood — ^liave not the Allies 
 revoked the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk? True, but 
 with what results? Has not one of the Allies — 
 Japan — occupied half of Siberia, and geologically 
 the richest part of it? And have not Russia's for- 
 
 274 
 
AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 275 
 
 mer Allies been guilty of shutting her off from all 
 approaches to the sea, "to let her dream out her 
 existence as an inland empire," as was Germany's 
 desire? In other words, whether consciously or 
 unconsciously, willingly or unwillingly, the Allies 
 in effect have sanctioned and perpetuated the 
 Germanic blockade of Russia which during the 
 war had been so much more effective than the 
 AlUed blockade of Germany. 
 
 But by shutting off Russia from all approaches 
 to the sea, and by erecting on the ruins of old 
 Russia a series of small states with arbitrary 
 frontiers, can peace be established in the East 
 permanently or even for a number of years? If 
 Russia is Balkanized, will the Russian and Balkan 
 Slavs be able to play their historic r61e in the future: 
 namely, that of shielding the Western nations and 
 Western civilization from the inroads of Asiatic 
 conquerors? Will they not rather be helpless! 
 
 Where, then, lies the solution of the greatest 
 problem the white race, and with it the whole of 
 mankind, was ever confronted with; namely, to 
 prevent the Balkanization of Europe, and a fu- 
 ture world conflagration. 
 
 The solution lies in a United States of Europe. 
 Its main basis must be found in the recognition 
 of the principle of the equality of the three main 
 races which people Europe: Latins, Germans, and 
 Slavs. The beginning of this United States of 
 Europe should be a United States of Slavia, to 
 
276 THE INSIDE STORY OP 
 
 extinguish in the East the very sparks of a future 
 world war, and to erect instead a bulwark of Chris- 
 tianity and Western civilization. This federation 
 should serve as the connecting link between the 
 Orient and Occident; the safe blending ground of 
 European and Asiatic peoples and civilizations. 
 Once the United States of Slavia, comprising all 
 Slav peoples, and embracing in its membership, 
 with equal rights, numerous Semitic and Mongol 
 peoples who are inextricably linked with them, is 
 firmly established, Europe will at last be in a po- 
 sition to frame the Constitution of the United 
 States of Europe. 
 
 If the Western nations: Germany, France, Italy, 
 and above all Great Britain, sincerely desire the 
 peace of Europe and the world, they will whole- 
 heartedly support the project for a United States of 
 Slavia as a basis for a United States of Europe. 
 
 To advance the idea of a United States of Slavia 
 in Europe is no longer premature. The supreme 
 moment of history to which all Slav nations have 
 for centuries been looking forward as the hour of 
 their liberation has, through the victory of the 
 Allied nations, at last arrived. To-day the Slav 
 IS free, whatever his particular name or nation may 
 be; he brings forth new ideas, new philosophy, new 
 views of the world; and the world is taking gradu- 
 ally increasing interest in everything opening new 
 horizons to Slav national life. 
 
 In the foreground of all the modern tendencies 
 
AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 277 
 
 of the various Slav peoples stands one which 
 is almost as old as the Slav race itself, namely, 
 the tendency to unite not only culturally, but also 
 politically into one big federated state. That 
 which for centuries has seemed a Utopia is to-day 
 rapidly approaching the realm of practical politics. 
 
 It is a matter of common knowledge that, up to 
 the time of the World War, to the American public 
 in general "Slavs" were a type of working people 
 coming from somewhere in Hungary or southern 
 Europe. Later, the American press identified 
 Slavs with Russians and used the terms inter- 
 changeably, usually speaking of them as "the hosts 
 of the Czar." But as the war advanced the Amer- 
 ican public gradually came to realize that Poles, 
 Czecho-Slovaks, etc., form part of the great Slav 
 race. As a matter of fact, the Slav race is itself 
 a branch of the Indo- Aryan race, and consists of 
 three main groups : the Western, the Eastern, and the 
 Southern Slavs. The Western Slavs include Poles, 
 Czecho-Slovaks, and the Slavs in Germany (i.e., the 
 Serbs of Upper and Lower Lusatia and the Cassoubs 
 and Slovince or Wends in West Prussia and Pomer- 
 ania). The Eastern Slavs are the Russians whose 
 southern branch goes by the name of the Ukrainians 
 in the Ukraine, of Ruthenes in Galicia, Bukovina, 
 and Hungary. Finally the Southern or Jugoslavs 
 (Jug meaning south in the Slav language) include 
 the Bulgars, Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes. 
 
 Each of these various Slav nations has its partic- 
 
278 THE INSIDE STORY OF 
 
 ular language, which, however, is of one common 
 Slav origin, so that wherever the Slavs meet they 
 can understand one another. There are differences 
 in idioms and vernaculars which make, for instance, 
 Bulgarian differ from Slovene, etc. But it may 
 safely be asserted in at least a general way that 
 within a few decades the only recognized Slav 
 languages, of the educated classes, will be Russian, 
 Polish, Jugoslav, and Czecho-Slovak. A con- 
 gress of Slav scientists, merchants, industrialists, 
 statesmen, and publicists should be held m the near 
 future to plan ways and means for the introduction 
 of a common language for all the Slav peoples. 
 Each Slav nationality should be represented by the 
 same number of delegates at such a congress, and 
 the common language should be adopted solely 
 with a view to the interests of the whole Slav 
 race. 
 
 The Slavs greatly surpass other European races 
 in numbers. According to the figures of Professor 
 Niederle, which are somewhat unfavourable to the 
 Slavs, there were 136,500,000 Slavs in 1900, while 
 in 1916 their number was estimated by Professor 
 Masaryk at 156,700,000. In 1900, the Russians 
 were put at 94,000,000, and the other Slavs at 
 42,000,000. The Russians, therefore, were more 
 than twice as numerous as all the other Slav 
 peoples together. Interspersed among the Slavs 
 are smaller or greater groups of many other peoples 
 of Semitic or Mongolian origin, forming with the 
 
AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 279 
 
 Slavs one national unit and bound to disappear in 
 time into the great Slav sea which stretches from 
 middle Europe far into Asia, and to the distant 
 shores of the Pacific Ocean. Inevitably then the 
 Slav race will tend to surpass the western Euro- 
 peans in numbers and importance. 
 
 In one of its main aspects the World War was 
 fought for the political and economic liberation 
 of the Slavs, and it was left to America to speak 
 the final word and do the final deeds in the great 
 world cataclysm. The war itself, from a political 
 standpoint, was first a consequence of the long 
 delay of the Great Powers of Europe, in liberating 
 the Balkan Slavs from the Turkish yoke; and, 
 secondly, a consequence of the unwillingness of the 
 Entente Powers to permit the Balkan Slavs to 
 fall again under the domination of the Central 
 Empires. Furthermore, the Czecho-Slovaks of 
 Austria-Hungary, in the very heart of Europe, 
 had to be liberated from the German-Magyar yoke. 
 And finally, the crime of the iniquitous partition of 
 Poland — by which a nation that once was the pride 
 of Europe, the cradle of human rights, was held in 
 bondage — cried out for undoing. 
 
 Owing to the errors of European statesmen — com- 
 mitted especially by Germany and Great Britain 
 at the Congress of Vienna, in 1815, and at the Con- 
 gress of Berlin, in 1878, which with all their fatal 
 consequences led to this war — all the Slav nations, 
 not even the Russians excepted, were gradually 
 
280 THE INSIDE STORY OF 
 
 being again enslaved by the Pan-German-Magyar- 
 Turkish bloc. 
 
 It was particularly President Wilson who seemed 
 to realize that only the liberation of the Slavs 
 from German-Magyar-Turkish slavery, in what- 
 ever form it existed, could bring a lasting peace 
 to the world. Finally, all the belligerent nations 
 of the Allies came to realize that only through the 
 liberation of the Slavs could world peace be had. 
 They saw that, otherwise, Europe would be a slum- 
 bering volcano ready to burst forth again at any 
 moment and bury under the melting lava of its 
 passions all the nations of Europe, thus disrupting 
 the world even more tragically than did even the 
 World War. 
 
 Consequently, toward the close of the war, the 
 Allies centred their efforts to a great extent on 
 the annihilation of the German-Magyar-Turkish 
 supremacy over the Slavs with the result that new 
 Slav states, to wit: Czecho-Slovak, Jugoslav, 
 Bulgarian, Polish, and Russian, arose to new 
 national life from the ruins of the short-lived 
 Mittel-Europa. As yet, these states are not 
 stable; their frontiers have not been drawn, and 
 some time must probably elapse before this can 
 be successfully accomplished. Even more human 
 blood may have to be shed before this can be 
 achieved at all. With all this, other great prob- 
 lems have appeared on the troubled world horizon, 
 like that of Russian bolshevism, the Jugoslav- 
 
AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 281 
 
 Italian dispute, etc. While keeping all this in view, 
 farsighted Americans should familiarize themselves 
 with one great aim which the Slavs regard as the 
 logical conclusion of all their historical and political 
 traditions; namely, the establishment of a great 
 Slav federation resembling that of the United 
 States, which would insure their rights of nation- 
 ality, language, economic independence, and, above 
 all, their lasting freedom. 
 
 There being in Europe only 70,000,000 Germans, 
 45,000,000 Enghsh, less than 40,000,000 French, 
 25,000,000 Spaniards, and 33,000,000 Italians, as 
 against some 220,000,000 Slavs and other peoples 
 inseparably associated with them, it is not in the 
 least astonishing that a certain belief in the so- 
 called Pan-Slav peril has arisen among the western 
 European peoples. Still, these apprehensions lack 
 justification for the simple reason that the phi- 
 losophy and religion of the Slavs are widely differ- 
 ent from those of Western civilization ; and that the 
 Slavs in general are a war-hating and peace-loving 
 people. Their uniting in one great federation 
 would help to stabilize the peace of the world in- 
 stead of endangering it. 
 
 The economic advantage arising for America 
 out of such a solution of the complex and ever- 
 menacing European problem cannot be too much 
 emphasized. American industry and trade would 
 immensely profit as the newly created Slav federa- 
 tion would be eager to conclude the most advan- 
 
282 THE INSIDE STORY OF 
 
 tageous commercial treaties with her American sis- 
 ter repubHc in order to throw off the German 
 economic and poHtical yoke. America, by thus 
 aiding the Slavs to secure permanent freedom, 
 would win for herself permanent access to their 
 immense European and Asiatic markets; would 
 become their teacher and guide in the upbuild- 
 ing of new industries in the Slav countries; in 
 the developing of the limitless natural resources 
 of the Caucasus, the Ural, and the Altai regions 
 of eastern Siberia, the Amur region, and the 
 Maritime Province, etc., as well as of the Balkans 
 and Poland. America would thus have oppor- 
 tunity to direct the development of the immense 
 deposits of coal, iron, and gold, and the bound- 
 less wheat-growing plains of the Slav countries. 
 There are about eight million Slavs in America 
 from whose ranks the necessary commercial, in- 
 dustrial, and political agents could be recruited. 
 No country ever had the opportunity to start 
 such vast and widely embracing commercial and 
 industrial activities as America has to-day among 
 the Slav nations of Europe. 
 
 The Americans of Slav origin will with enthusi- 
 asm support American development of Slav coun- 
 tries, thus aiding to establish a mutually helpful 
 relationship between a great Slav federation and 
 the great American federation. Tlie American 
 Slav is fond of saying that "Slavia is his sister, but 
 America his adopted mother.'* 
 
AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 283 
 
 On many historical occasions, in meetings, in the 
 press, and in national conventions — one of the fore- 
 most of which was held during the All-Slav Expo- 
 sition, in Prague, in 1848 — the Slavs have pledged 
 themselves to help and to promote the idea of the 
 independence of each of the Slav nations, and of 
 the Slavs in general. To-day, the Slavs of Europe 
 are planning a federation of Slav nations, not for 
 the waging of future wars of vengeance, but for the 
 preservation of their own and the world's peace. 
 
 To-day, more than ever, the Slavs are profoundly 
 convinced that only unity can save them from 
 destruction; and unity means federation. This 
 federation must begin with a federation of the 
 Western Slavs and another of the Southern Slavs, 
 with complete independence of all the member 
 nations in their internal affairs. To these two 
 federations should be added a federation of East- 
 ern Slavs, i.e., of those states which have arisen 
 in place of the former Russian Empire. For both 
 Western Slavs (the Czecho-Slovaks and the Poles) 
 and the Jugoslavs (Slovenes, Croats, Serbs, and 
 Bulgars), are convinced that even if so united they 
 will still need further support. This support can 
 best be found in a union or confederation of all Slavs, 
 that is in a union of the Western and Southern Slav 
 federations with the Eastern Slavs, i.e., with Russia. 
 Therefore, what the Slavs are striving for is, in 
 the last analysis, the creation of a United States 
 of Slavia on the basis of the Swiss Federation, 
 
284 THE INSIDE STORY OF 
 
 or the federation of the United States of America, 
 with each constituent state free to adopt its own 
 form of government. 
 
 To exclude Russia, Serbia, or Bulgaria from such 
 a federation because of past differences would be, 
 to say the least, very unwise. By such confedera- 
 tion the immense eastern and southern Slav mar- 
 kets would be thrown open to all the Slav nations, 
 would quickly enrich them, and heal the terrible 
 wounds inflicted upon them all by the war. 
 
 All the hatreds of past centuries ever provoked 
 and nourished by Austro-German intrigues will 
 melt before the warmth of the sun of freedom. 
 Hatred is a bad adviser in diplomacy. Hate never 
 wins the sympathy or support of humanity. The 
 Balkan Slavs, for instance, had the sympathy of 
 America in their war of liberation from the Turk- 
 ish yoke, but they lost it as soon as they began to 
 fight among themselves. 
 
 On January 3, 1919, President Wilson de- 
 livered in Rome a very remarkable speech in which 
 he said: "The great difficulty among such states 
 as those of the Balkans has been that they were 
 always accessible to secret influence; that they 
 were being penetrated by intrigue of some sort or 
 another; that north of them lay disturbed popula- 
 tions which were held together not by sympathy 
 and friendship, but by the coercive force of a 
 military power. 
 
 ."There is only one thing that holds nations to- 
 
AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 285 
 
 gether, if you exclude force, and that is friendship 
 and good will. The only thing that binds men to- 
 gether is friendship, and by the same token the only 
 thing that binds nations together is friendship." 
 
 This that was said of the Balkan Slavs may 
 be said of all the Slavs. The German-Magyar- 
 Turkish bloc, which so long held under its su- 
 premacy and exploited the Slav race, spread a 
 net of intrigue throughout the great Slav world, 
 inciting one Slav people against another, thus 
 artificially breaking them up into quarrelling frag- 
 ments. Austria-Hungary maintained her precarious 
 existence only by the ruthless application of the 
 famous unofficial state maxim of the Hapsburgs: 
 '' Divide et impera,"" The only remedy which can 
 heal all the wrongs created by past intrigue is 
 mutual sympathy, friendship, and justice. But 
 these ideas are not new; they are, in fact, traditional 
 among the Slavs. That an American president, 
 as leader of the great American nation,has endorsed 
 them is but a proof that the American and Slav 
 souls are to-day vibrating with the same passion, the 
 same deep desire for friendship, sympathy, and 
 justice among the nations. 
 
 In the great work "Slavdom," published in 
 Prague by a score of prominent Slav public men. 
 Dr. K. Kramarz, the founder of the new Slav 
 movement, Neo-Slavism, while most warmly de- 
 fending the Poles against the Russification in- 
 augurated by the Czar's Government, says: "The 
 
286 THE INSIDE STORY OF 
 
 Slavs do not intend to live for the conquest of or 
 by the oppression of non-Slav nations; the more so 
 then must we exclude the idea that any Slav nation 
 should prosper at the expense of other Slav peoples 
 or by making an unfair use of its political, cultural, 
 or economic superiority. Suum cuique must be 
 the first law of the Slav world." 
 
 Justice, sympathy, and friendship among them- 
 selves must therefore be the chief aim of the Slavs. 
 As to their internal affairs, or interrelations, it is 
 the unanimous opinion of the defenders of the new 
 Slav idea of unity that each Slav nation has the 
 right to govern herself; that she has the inalienable 
 right to liberty of conscience, that is, religious 
 liberty ; libertj^ for her own language, that is liberty 
 in education, in speech, of the press; and liberty of 
 administration in all her internal affairs. This 
 Slav federation would oppose vigorously any at- 
 tempt, for instance, at the Russification of the 
 Poles, or Polonization of the Czecho-Slovaks, or 
 vice versa, just as the Slavs have in the past opposed 
 all attempts at the Germanizing of their kins- 
 men. To express it differently: the place of every 
 Slav nation inside this great Slav family would be 
 that of "A daughter in her mother's house, a 
 mistress in her own." This formula will insure 
 to each Slav nation its distinct nationality and 
 language and the right to its existence as a separate 
 nation, until time and circumstances shall merge 
 them in one organic whole. 
 
AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 287 
 
 But the scarecrow of Russification is buried for- 
 ever, because it was the Germans, and particularly 
 the German Kaiser, who influenced the Czar and 
 persuaded him to use oppressive methods against 
 the Poles. 
 
 In an exactly similar way must be viewed the 
 national problems of the Balkan Slavs. There 
 must be no Bulgarizing of Serbs, or Serbization of 
 the Bulgars. No Slav nation should be permitted 
 to force its nationality or language on any other. 
 All enlightened Slav leaders must realize that only 
 if they hold firmly together on grounds of justice 
 and tolerance can they be successful in dealing with 
 friends or foes. If they come in single file before 
 the forum of the world they will make little im- 
 pression. If, on the other hand, they march on to 
 the scene in an unbroken phalanx, they are bound not 
 only to make an impression, but to score a success. 
 
 The Slavs must realize that "United we stand, 
 divided we fall." Further, the Slavs must say to 
 the world : " All for one and one for all." They must 
 say aloud and in no uncertain terms that there can 
 be no peace in the world until the Slavs, all of them, 
 are liberated. They must make the world realize 
 the meaning of the famous mot of Joseph de Mais- 
 tre: "Bury a Slav aspiration, a Slav idea, under a 
 fortress and that fortress will blow up." But their 
 unification is the sine qua non to make the dip- 
 lomats and the nations of the world respect them 
 and prevent them from committing the blunder of 
 
288 THE INSIDE STORY OF 
 
 dividing any Slav nation or putting it under a 
 foreign yoke. 
 
 The common affairs of the Slav Federation 
 should comprise the army and navy, the customs 
 service and diplomacy. Everything else should 
 be managed by the various states composing the 
 Union, in accordance with their local customs and 
 desires. The common affairs must serve as a 
 shield of protection against external enemies, and 
 should repose in firm hands. 
 
 The Slav Union, by adopting the principle of 
 nationality, may do away with national disputes and 
 leave no ground for friction. Where there is a 
 majority of a given nationality in a given territory, 
 the inhabitants of that particular community 
 should be entitled to national schools, thus 
 protecting their rights as a distinct national 
 group. 
 
 The only definition of the term "Slav" should be 
 the speaking of a Slav tongue. Any other definition 
 will fail to win the support of the Slavs, as it 
 would fail to win the support of any modern 
 nation. No nation, speaking a Slav language, be 
 it Bulgarian, Russian, or Polish, may be excluded. 
 
 THE TRANSITION AND THE DEFINITE PERIOD 
 
 In uniting the Slovenes, Croats, Serbs, and 
 Bulgars in the Jugoslav Federation; the Czechs, 
 Slovaks, and Poles into the Western Slav Federa- 
 tion, and all the Russians in the Eastern Slav 
 
AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 289 
 
 Federation, there will of necessity be two periods 
 through which the state-forming process will have 
 to pass. The first, the period of transition : during 
 which Poles must be governed by Poles, Czechs by 
 Czechs, Slovaks by Slovaks, Slovenes by Slovenes, 
 Croats by Croats, Serbs by Serbs, Bulgars by Bul- 
 gars, and Russians by Russians, while there will be 
 as many languages. This first period may last 
 for one or two generations. 
 
 When the second period arrives all the smaller 
 Slav nationalities will have melted into one nation, 
 which by mutual agreement among enlightened 
 leaders will have been welded together by the use 
 of a common literary language. 
 
 There should be complete liberty of creed in all 
 component states of the United States of Slavia; 
 a strict separation of Church from State; above 
 all, no such thing as religious control, or supremacy, 
 should ever be permitted; such, for instance, as 
 making Poland an exclusively Catholic state. 
 
 No such a thing as a Catholic Slav nation does 
 or can exist. Even Poland is not Catholic, because 
 she has among her population a great number of ad- 
 herents of other creeds. Poland, in her greatest 
 period, when she was admired by everybody and by 
 all nations of the world, stood for complete religious 
 liberty. In the Czech and Slovak lands the people 
 are more divided as to religion, but they consider 
 themselves as absolutely united in spite of religious 
 differences. 
 
200 THE INSIDE STORY OF 
 
 As for the Southern Slavs, they are composed of 
 the Orthodox, CathoHcs, Mohammedans, and Jews. 
 Absolutely no distinction can be made between the 
 people because of their espousal of any one of these 
 religions. The Jews in Serbia have fought valiantly 
 on the side of the Serbian Orthodox people, and 
 have shown themselves worthy of the complete 
 confidence which the Serbian Government wisely 
 confided in them. The Jugoslavs must and will 
 always condemn the former Austrian Government 
 for creating animosities in the Southern Slav 
 countries, especially in Bosnia, by instigating 
 religious hatreds, by instituting in Bosnia a 
 constitution based on religious differences, so that 
 the local Parliament in Sarajevo was even elected 
 on religious lines. The Jugoslavs discarded the 
 idea of religious intolerance a long time ago, as they 
 recognized in it a treacherous weapon of the Aus- 
 trian Government deliberately devised to hold 
 them in slavery. 
 
 The capital of the United States of Slavia should 
 be erected wherever in the view of the joint dele- 
 gates it will best suit the common interests of the 
 several states. Whether this be in Moscow, Kieff, 
 Yalta, or Cracow, is quite immaterial. The federal 
 capital of the Balkan Slavs should be similarly 
 located. If necessary, a new city should be built, 
 so situated as to meet the needs of the various 
 peoples comprising the union. Also the capital of 
 the Western Slav Federation should be located in 
 
AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 291 
 
 one of the smaller towns on the Polish-Slovak 
 frontier rather than in a big city. Experience 
 has shown that great industrial and commercial 
 centres are not a fit environment for quiet legisla- 
 tive and administrative work. 
 
 While the Slavs are passing through the chaotic 
 and possibly even turbulent and bloody period of 
 transition from the old hopeless thraldom which 
 they have so long suffered into this stable, peaceful, 
 and contented condition they must ask their 
 European and American friends to be patient with 
 them and to remember that all the great, free states 
 have had to grope their way upward from confu- 
 sion and turbulence. Let them remember also 
 that the Slav ideals are their ideals, and that as 
 they achieved their aims so the Slavs shall achieve 
 theirs, provided they are aided and not thwarted 
 or neglected by the older and more powerful na- 
 tions with whom they have fought in a victorious 
 war against the would-be oppressors and exploiters 
 of all mankind. 
 
APPENDIX 
 
APPENDIX 
 
 PRELIMINARY PEACE CONFERENCE 
 
 Report presented to the Preliminary Peace Con- 
 ference by the Commission on the Responsibihty^ of 
 the Authors'of the War and on Enforcement of Penalties. 
 
 March 29, 1919. 
 Commission on the Responsibility of the Authors 
 of the War and on Enforcement of Penalties. 
 
 Annex II.—Memorandum of Reservations by the 
 Representatives of the United States to the Report of 
 the Commission, April 4, 1919. 
 
 (Signed) 
 
 Robert Lansing 
 James Brown Scott. 
 
 "The conclusions reached by the Commission as to 
 the responsibility of the authors of the war, with which 
 the representatives of the United States agree, are 
 thus stated: 
 
 "The war was premeditated by the Central Powers, 
 together with their allies, Turkey and Bulgaria, 
 and was the result of acts deliberately committed 
 in order to make it unavoidable. 
 "Germany, in agreement with Austria-Hungary, 
 deliberately worked to defeat all the many con- 
 
 * Since this book was wTitten the ultimate confirmation of some of our 
 fundamental contentions, contained in these extracts from this report of the 
 Commission on the Responsibility of the Authors of the War, etc., has been 
 made public. The Authors. 
 
 295 
 
296 APPENDIX 
 
 ciliatory proposals made by the Entente Powers 
 and their repeated efforts to avoid war. 
 
 "The American representatives are happy to declare 
 that they not only concur in these conclusions, but 
 also in the process of reasoning by which they are 
 reached and justified. However, in addition to the 
 evidence adduced by the Commission, based for the 
 most part upon oflBcial memoranda issued by the various 
 governments in justification of their respective at- 
 titudes toward the Serbian question and the war 
 which resulted because of the deliberate determination 
 of Austria-Hungary and Germany to crush that gallant 
 little country which blocked the way to the Dardanelles 
 and to the realization of their larger ambitions, the 
 American representatives call attention to four docu- 
 ments, three of which have been made known by His 
 Excellency Milenko R. Vesnitch, Serbian Minister at 
 Paris. Of the three, the first is reproduced for the 
 first time, and two of the others were only published 
 during the sessions of the Commission. 
 
 "The first of these documents is a report of Von 
 Wiesner, the Austro-Hungarian agent sent to Sarajevo 
 to investigate the assassination at that place on June 
 28, 1914, of the Archduke Francis Ferdinand, heir to 
 the Austro-Hungarian throne, and the Duchess of 
 Hohenberg, his morganatic wife. 
 
 "The material portion of this report, in the form of a 
 telegram, is as follows: 
 
 Herr von Wiesner, to the Foreign Ministry, Vienna. 
 
 Sarajevo, July 13, 19H, 1.10 'p.m. 
 Cognizance on the part of the Serbian Government, participa- 
 tion in the murderous assault, or in its preparation, and supplying 
 
APPENDIX 297 
 
 the weapons, proved by nothing, nor even to be suspected. On^the 
 contrary there are indications which cause this to be rejected.* 
 
 "The second is likewise a telegram, dated Berlin, 
 July 25, 1914, from Count Szoegyeny-Marieh, Austro- 
 Hungarian Ambassador at Berlin, to the Minister of 
 Foreign Affairs at Vienna, and reads as follows; 
 
 Here it is generaUy taken for granted that in case of a possible 
 refusal on the part of Serbia, our immediate declaration of war will 
 be coincident with military operations. 
 
 Delay in beginning military operations is here considered as a 
 great danger because of the intervention of other Powers. 
 
 We are urgently advised to proceed at once and to confront the 
 world with a. fait accompli.^ 
 
 "The third, likewise a telegram in cipher, marked 
 strictly confidential, and dated Berlin, July 27, 1914, 
 two days after the Serbian reply to the Austro-Hungarian 
 ultimatum and the day before the Austro-Hungarian 
 declaration of war upon that devoted kingdom, was 
 from the Austro-Hungarian Ambassador at Berlm 
 to the Minister of Foreign Affairs at Vienna. The 
 material portion of this document is as follows: 
 
 The Secretary of State informed me very definitely and in the 
 strictest confidence that m the near future possible proposals for 
 
 *HeTr V. Wiesner an Miniaterium des Aeussern in Wien. 
 
 Sarajevo, IS, Juli 191i, 1.10 p.m. 
 Mitwissenschaft serbischer Regierung. Leitung an Attentat oder dessen Vorbereitung 
 und Bestellung der WaBen. durch nichts erwiessen oder auch nur zu vermuten. fcs bestehen 
 vielmehr Anhaltepunkte, dies als ausgeschlossen anzusehen. 
 ^OrafStoegvenyanMiniiterdeaAeuBserninWien. 
 
 ^ Berlin, 25. JtUi 19U. 
 
 Hier wird allgemein vorausgesetzt. dass auf eventuelle abweiaende Antwort Serbians sofort 
 unsere Kriegserklarung verbunden mit kriegerischen OperaUonen erfolgen werde. 
 
 Man sieht hier in jeder Verzbgerung des Beginnes der kriegerischen Operat.onen grosse 
 Gefahr betreffs Einmischung anderer Mfichte. 
 
 Man rat uns dringendst sofort vorzugehen iind die Welt vor em fait accompli zu stellen. 
 
298 APPENDIX 
 
 mediation on the part of England would be brought to Your Ex- 
 cellency's knowledge by the German Government. 
 
 The German Government gives its most binding assurance that 
 it does not in any way associate itself with the proposals: on the con- 
 trary, it is absolutely opposed to their consideration and only trans- 
 mits them in compliance with the English request.* 
 
 "Of the English propositions, to which reference 
 is made in the above telegram, the following may be 
 quoted, which, under date July 30, 1914, Sir Edward 
 Grey, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, telegraphed 
 to Sir Edward Goschen, British Ambassador at Berlin : 
 
 If the peace of Europe can be preserved, and the present crisis 
 safely passed, my own endeavour will be to promote some arrange- 
 ment to which Germany could be a party, by which she could be 
 assured that no aggressive or hostile policy would be pursued against 
 her or her allies by France, Russia, and ourselves, jointly or sepa- 
 rately.! 
 
 "While comment upon these telegrams would only 
 tend to weaken their force and effect, it may neverthe- 
 less be observed that the last of them was dated two 
 days before the declaration of war by Germany against 
 Russia, which might have been prevented had not 
 Germany, flushed with the hope of certain victory and 
 of the fruits of conquest, determined to force the war." 
 
 'Graf Szoegyeny an Ministerium des Aeussern in Wien. 
 
 (307, Strcng vertraulieh.) Berlin, S7. Juli 19U- 
 
 StaatssekretSr erklarte mir in streng vertraulicher Form sehr entschieden, dass in der 
 nficbsten Zeit eventuelle Vermittlungsvorsehlfige Englands durch die deutsche Regierung zur 
 Kenntnis Euer Exc. gebracht wUrden. 
 
 Die deutsche Regierung versicbere auf das Biindigste. dass sie sich in keiner Weise mil den 
 Vorschldgen ideniifiziere, sogar entschieden gegen deren Beriieksichtigung sei, und dieselben 
 nur, um der englischen Bitte Rechnung zu tragen, weitergebe. 
 
 tBritiah Parliamentary Papers, "Miscellaneous, No. 10 (1915)," "Collected Documents 
 Relating to the Outbreak of the European War," p. 78. 
 
BERLIN WANTED WAR ON SERBIA, 
 BERCHTOLD TOLD 
 
 RESENTS CRITICISM AND INSISTS GERMAN ENVOY IN- 
 TIMATED MILITARY ACTION WAS SOUGHT 
 
 By Karl H. von Wiegand 
 
 Herald and Examiner Staff Correspondent 
 
 Berlin, Oct. 8. 1919— I have just received an impor- 
 tant telegram from Count Von Berchtold who, as Foreign 
 Minister of Austria-Hungary, formulated and sent the 
 ultimatum to Serbia which brought about the World War. 
 The Count, who is in Berne, Switzerland, answers a 
 message from me in which I asked him four questions 
 touching on as many vital points raised against him in 
 the revelation of the secret records of the Vienna Foreign 
 Office and the accompanymg commentaries by the 
 compiler of the recent Red Book, Doctor Gooss. 
 
 In these disclosures Berchtold was represented more 
 or less as the alleged arch-conspirator that forced the 
 great war. The former Austrian Foreign Mmister now 
 informs me in his telegram that he was led to beheve 
 that Berlin wanted military action agamst Serbia and 
 that he feared Germany would drop Austria as an ally 
 if the latter did not take aggressive action. 
 
 ADMITS ALTERING RECORDS 
 
 He admits having made alterations in the records 
 and gives his reasons therefor. He states he advised 
 
 299 
 
SOO APPENDIX 
 
 Berlin in time of the contents of the ultimatum to 
 Serbia. 
 
 I was with Count Von Berchtold in the fourth Isonzo 
 battle near Gorizia, where he served as a cavalry cap- 
 tain attached to the staff of General Wurm as a dispatch 
 courier. I also knew him in Vienna. I, therefore, 
 telegraphed him asking whether he could give answers 
 to the following four questions: 
 
 1. Why he had made alterations in the original 
 drafts of records of cabinet meetings in Vienna. 
 
 2. Whether the German Ambassador at Vienna, 
 Von Tschirschky, had given him the impression that 
 Berlin wanted war with Serbia. 
 
 3. Whether it was true that he had not given Von 
 Tschirscliky the textual contents of the ultimatum to 
 Serbia. 
 
 4. Whether it was true that he had not given Berlin 
 any answer to Sir Edward [now Viscount] Grey's last 
 proposal for mediation which was forwarded to the 
 Austrian Government by Berlin. 
 
 Here is the Count's telegram to me in answer to these 
 questions : 
 
 Wiegand, Berlin. 
 
 The following is in answer to your questions. I am making an 
 exception to meet your special wishes: 
 
 1 — The subsequent changes and corrections in the protocol 
 drafts were made because the recorder, not being a stenographer, 
 made notes in longhand, but not verbatim. As a result of this 
 incorrect versions occurred, even whole passages being omitted. 
 This made necessary the subsequent corrections and supplementary 
 notes. 
 
 2 — Repeated conversations and interviews I had with Ambassador 
 Von Tschirschky could create no other impression than that his 
 [the German] Government expected warlike action on our part 
 
APPENDIX 301 
 
 against Serbia. Especially a conversation I had with him during 
 the early hall of July convinced me that if we did not show this 
 time that we were in earnest, then on the next occasion Berlin not 
 only would not support us but would in fact "orient" itself in some 
 ohter direction. 
 
 What that would have meant for us, in view of the ethnographic 
 composition of the Dual Monarchy and the territorial aspirations 
 of our neighbour states need not be explained. 
 
 3 — ^Tschirschky was informed about the material points in the 
 ultimatum to Serbia before the final editing of the note, and the 
 textual contents were given to him two days before the Belgrade 
 demarche. 
 
 4 — We accepted, in principle. Grey's last mediation proposal, 
 with two reservations which the military [advisers] found necessary. 
 In view of vital national interests of the Dual Monarchy being in- 
 volved therein, this acceptance signified a great sacrifice for us, as in 
 mediation even an ally must be calculated upon as a possible op- 
 ponent. 
 
 The delay in answering Grey's proposal was due to the fact that 
 the answer was not determined by us until July 30th, and the min- 
 isterial council, as far as I recall, could not convene until the follow- 
 ing day because of the absence of Tisza [Count Stephen Tisza, 
 Hungarian Premier, later assassinated]. 
 
 (Signed) Bebchtold.* 
 
 'From Chicago Herald and Examiner, October 10, 1919., 
 
 THE END 
 
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