Austria delivered her ultimatum to Serbia at 6 p.m. on Thursday, July 23rd.

The original schedule had been for 5 p.m., but Vienna ordered the delivery postponed for an hour

to ensure that the President and Prime Minister of France would be aboard their ship and leaving St. Petersburg before the news broke.

As the Serbian government scrambled to assemble its scattered cabinet and draft a response,

the tensions between her and Austria, which were already fading from memory in most of Europe,

moved to the front and center once again.

Welcome to the history of the 20th century. The 20th century. Episode 77 The Lamps Go Out, Part 1

The delivery of the Austroids The LAMPS Go Out, Part 1.

The delivery of the Austrian ultimatum triggers what history has come to call the July crisis.

It's worth noting that this is something of a misnomer, since the Austrian spent most of July plotting and drafting the ultimatum in secret, as we saw last time,

and it was only now on July 23rd, 1914, that the ultimatum has been delivered and made public,

and the July crisis truly begins.

The ultimatum was delivered to Serbia while that country was in the midst of a general election campaign.

The Prime Minister, Nikola Pashic, was on that date campaigning in the city of Niche.

He had given a speech that morning, but in the afternoon began to talk of taking a few days off to vacation in Salonica,

the coastal city on the Aegean that had only last year come under Greek control. As Pashich was arranging his impromptu vacation, he received a telephone

call from Belgrade. It was the finance minister, Lazar Pachu, frantic that the prime minister

drop everything and return to the capital immediately.

It seemed the Austrian ambassador was coming to the foreign ministry that afternoon with an important note.

Pachitch told Pachu that whatever it was, there would be plenty of time to deal with it after he got back from his Greek getaway.

Pachu told him that the rumor was that this was going to be no ordinary diplomatic note.

Pashich refused to be deterred, boarded his train, and began his journey to the beach.

...