#19: 19-22 July 1914 - Finalising Fatalism

When Diplomacy Fails Podcast

Zack Twamley

19th Century, 20th Century, International Relations, Politics, Thirty Years' War, Korean War, 18th Century, First World War, Phd, 17th Century, European History, History, War

4.8 • 773 Ratings

🗓️ 9 August 2024

⏱️ 33 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

As the French sailed for St Petersburg, the Austro-Hungarian government gathered in Vienna for a meeting of historic importance.

It was here on 19 July 1914 that the infamous ultimatum to Serbia was finalised, but also the question of what kind of war Austria expected to fight. Shockingly, the question of Russian intervention barely registered. The tunnel vision was laser focused on Belgrade, and now that everyone was on the same page, and the pieces in place, nothing could stop Austria-Hungary putting the finishing touches on the most fatalistic policy imaginable. Their decision to move against Serbia was by now an open secret, but amidst the rumour and whisper, the most important step yet towards war had been taken, and this was to take the whole world by surprise.

Support the July Crisis series, join the conversation, and find out more through these links:

Get bonus content on Patreon

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	In summer 1914, the world went to war.
0:04.6	Now 110 years later, we go back to those figures, to those debates, to those questions,
0:12.2	in the greatest failure in the history of diplomacy.
0:16.3	I am Dr. Zach Twomley. You're listening to When Diplomacy Fails, and this is the July crisis. The Thunder Clouds on the political horizon are getting ever darker, impossible to say how it will pan out.
1:02.0	Do not worry yourself prematurely, however. Such crises have often passed, and one can hardly imagine
1:07.7	that a big world war might be unleashed because of this gang of murderers in
1:12.4	Serbia. Mauritz von Linker, Chief of the Kaiser's Military Cabinet, writes to his wife on the 22nd
1:20.4	of July 1914. By Sunday, the 19th of July 1914, three full weeks had passed since Franz Ferdinand and his wife had been assassinated in Sarajevo.
1:36.2	The situation had developed in Austria with a striking lack of speed, but from the middle of July,
1:42.2	Austria-Hungary's intention to send a stiff note to Serbia,
1:46.0	demanding the cessation of Panslav propaganda and cooperation with the Archduke's murder investigation,
1:52.6	was tantamount to an open secret. The secret had leaked out, thanks to indiscretions on the part of
1:58.7	the German foreign minister, Yago, who unwisely told his ambassador in Italy,
2:04.2	who then passed it on to the Italians.
2:07.5	But Berktold was also responsible for the leak.
2:10.3	His careless decision to include Heinrich von Luzzo in the scheme,
2:14.3	enabled that former ambassador to Rome
2:16.3	to spread the news to his British neighbour,
2:19.0	which then spread throughout the European capitals. In short, if secrecy was the key determinant
2:24.9	of success in the Austrian scheme against Serbia, the prospects were not exactly promising
2:30.2	by the time leading officials gathered for a joint ministerial meeting on the 19th of July.
2:36.9	Contemporaries outside of Vienna may not have known the precise details of the ultimatum,
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Zack Twamley, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Zack Twamley and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.