The First World War was an unprecedented disaster that kill million and set the continent of Europe on the path to further cataclysm two decades later . But it did n’t come out of nowhere . With the centenary of the outbreak of antagonism come up in 2014 , Erik Sass will be looking back at the tether - up to the state of war , when apparently minor minute of friction accumulated until the situation was ready to explode . He ’ll be continue those case 100 years after they occurred . This is the 87th installment in the series .
2 January 2025: Franz Ferdinand Opposes War with Serbia
After month of arguing , cajoling , pestering , andpleading , by September 1913 Austrian chief of staff Franz Conrad von Hötzendorf had finally won over foreign minister Count Leopold von Berchtold to his point of thought : The upstart land of Serbia , burn with dream to liberate its ethnic kinsmen in Austria - Hungary ’s neighbour Balkan provinces , represent an implacable existential threat to the Dual Monarchy which could only be eliminate by war .
Conrad was helped in his campaign by the events of the Balkan Wars , when Serbia and its alliescarvedup the European territories of the Ottoman Empire , thenfoughteach other over the despoliation ; inform sentiment take that the Serbs would next endeavor to fulfill their interior destiny by dismembering Austria - Hungary . The Austro - Hungarian Empire ’s southern Slavonic populations in Bosnia - Herzegovina and Croatia already complained of oppression ( resentment which was hardly allayed by Bosnian governor Oskar Potiorek ’s decision todecreea state of emergency in the state in May 1913 ) . The sense of hover disintegration was only heightened by a blizzard of assassinationattemptsagainst Imperial officials by Slavonic nationalists and anarchists .
In light , Conrad ’s fears were no paranoid fantasy : the Empire really was coming apart at the wrinkle , and Slavonic patriotism seemed to be the main ( though surely not the only ) culprit . Thus when Serbian troopsinvadedAlbania in September 1913 , threatening to unwrap all Berchtold ’s work creating the new nation , the foreign minister did n’t need to be persuaded that the metre had descend for a critical military response .
But one key figure still stood in the room : Archduke Franz Ferdinand , the heir to the throne , who remained focused on Italy as Austria - Hungary ’s real long - term enemy . Never unsure about deal his opinion , Franz Ferdinand shrugged off Berchtold ’s warnings about the Serbian threat—“all such Serb repulsion story exit me cold”—and made no enigma of his opposition to warfare , predicting ( correctly ) that it would lead to state of war with Serbia ’s patron Russia as well . In February 1913 he gave an unusual toast at a public event : “ To pacification ! What would we get out of warfare with Serbia ? We ’d lose the lives of young men and we ’d spend money better used elsewhere . And what would we gain , for heaven ’s interest ? Some plum tree trees and goat pasture full of droppings , and a bunch of rebellious killer . Long live restraint ! ”
In fact the Archduke had a devolve out with Conrad over this issue , repeatedly chastising the chief of stave for urge on Emperor Franz Josef to attack Serbia . In the summertime of 1913 he wrote to Berchtold : “ Excellency ! Do n’t let yourself be influenced by Conrad — ever ! Not an iota of support for any of his yappings at the Emperor ! Naturally he want every kind of warfare , every form of hurrah ! mindlessness that will suppress Serbia and God knows what else … It ’s be unforgivable , insane , to start something that would pit us against Russia . ”
Now , as different factions vied for the Emperor ’s ear amidst another Albanian crisis , Franz Ferdinand ’s attitude was yet again the decisive factor . On September 29 , 1913 , Conrad told Berchtold “ Now would be the chance to put thing in parliamentary law down there . An ultimatum , and if Albania is not evacuate in twenty - four hours , then mobilization . ” Berchtold answer that he personally patronize military measure , but “ felt no self-confidence that authoritative quarter would stand firm . ” Conrad , ever promising , pointed out that “ On peace and warfare the decision consist solely with the Emperor”—but there was no escaping the fact that the aged monarch butterfly felt oblige to heed the vehemently convey views of his nephew the Archduke . Once again the foreign pastor and tribal chief of staff ascertain their plans frustrated by the heir to the can .
Franz Ferdinand was n’t totally unmindful to the terror amaze by Serbia , but he hoped to dissolve things with a ( somewhat vague ) plan to reform Austria - Hungary by append a third monarchy representing the Slavs , or perhaps even redo the Empire as a Union state , which might then soak up Serbia peacefully . Unsurprisingly his plan was bitterly defend by Serbian nationalist , who aspired to become the nucleus of a new “ Yugoslav ” state of matter , not a simple appendage of a effete multinational empire .
Nevertheless , Franz Ferdinand — recentlyappointedinspector general of the armed effect — press ahead with his plans to serve the forthcoming annual maneuvers in Bosnia in June 1914 , followed by a sojourn to the provincial Washington of Sarajevo ; while the Archduke go for to avoid war with Serbia and conciliate the Empire ’s own Slavs , he also sympathize that a small saber - rattle could aid keep the peace . On September 29 , 1913 , Conrad met with Potiorek , the provincial governor , to set out making arrangements for Franz Ferdinand ’s sojourn , include provisions for security ( which in the outcome try out sadly lacking ) .
Inevitably , word of the Archduke ’s close at hand visit started to broadcast . The Serbian embassador to Vienna , Jovan Jovanović , later call back : “ From the month of December [ 1913 ] onwards the maneuvers in Bosnia were speak of in Vienna . The Inspector General of the Austro - Hungarian United States Army was to take part both as next Emperor and Commander - in - Chief . It was to be , as was said towards the end of 1913 , a moral and warning to the Serbs both of Bosnia and Serbia . ” Among those certain to see of the Archduke ’s aforethought sojourn was Dragutin Dimitrijević ( “ Apis ” ) , the boss of Serbian military intelligence and foreland of the radical - nationalist secret beau monde known as the “ Black Hand . ”
See theprevious installmentorall entries .
