In summer 1914, the world went to war.

Now 110 years later, we go back to those figures, to those debates, to those questions,

in the greatest failure in the history of diplomacy.

I am Dr. Zach Twomley. You're listening to When Diplomacy Fails.

And this is the July Crisis. The Lord only knows what will happen, and I tell you that we shall be lucky if we get out of this without the long-dreaded European war, a general bust-up, in fact.

The British Charger de Fair in Berlin writes to his wife, 25th of July 1914.

As the sun rose on the morning of Sunday the 26th of July 1914, Europe appeared to teeter

on the edge of war, even if some had not yet got the memo. It's possible to identify four possible scenarios open to contemporaries

by this point. First, Serbia could still comply with Austrian demands. Although the deadline had

passed, Austrian coercion could convince Spell-Grade that resistance was dangerous, and the

crisis could be resolved

if Serbia committed to accept all the ultimatum's terms and pay Austrian costs for its military

measures so far. Let's call this the Austrian pipe dream scenario. Second, Austria and Russia

could agree in the end to Britain's mediation proposal, which provided

for a reconvening of the Ambassador's Conference in London. Let's call this Sir Edward Gray's

pipe dream scenario. The final two options involved conflict. The third option was that Austria

could attack Serbia, but if the Serbs refused to meet them in battle,

the phony nature of the war would give intermediaries a chance to settle it. Fourth was the option

we ended up getting. Austria could attack Serbia, the Serbs would resist, and Russia would come to her

rescue through measures, which would provoke Germany to become directly

involved, thus steering the crisis off the cliff and into the abyss.

That said, for all the build-up in Vienna over the last few weeks, the morning of the 26th of July

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