#31: 27 July 1914 II - Don't Stop Me Now!

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

🗓️ 7 October 2024

⏱️ 45 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

On this otherwise unassuming Monday in 1914, Austria-Hungary was preparing to declare war on Serbia.

The declaration would come the following day, but in the meantime, Germany assisted Austria in keeping up appearances. Those tenacious Brits were at it again, and Grey's mediation proposal still hung in the air. Could a rejection of this scheme worsen the crisis? Perhaps, so it was necessary to tread carefully. The mediation idea would be passed onto Vienna, albeit without much enthusiasm, and Austria could maintain its image as the power in search of justice. But other concerns were rising to the surface.

The Russians were furthering their mobilisation efforts, and looked determined to continue their pressure campaign against Austria. But still, an optimistic view of Russian intervention reigned in Vienna, which stressed that the Tsar would bark but not bite. All evidence to the contrary was ignored, and encouraged but not directed by Berlin, Austria prepared to cut through all this mediation noise, and shatter the expectations of contemporaries with a declaration of war. No one could stop her now.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Yes! I just can't believe!
0:02.4	This Christmas, you could be a millionaire.
0:05.2	Get your lotto ticket for tonight's draw.
0:07.0	The National Lottery. Rules and procedures apply.
0:08.8	Players must be 18 or over.
0:12.0	In summer 1914, the world went to war.
0:16.9	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.
0:28.6	I am Dr. Zach Twomley. You're listening to When Diplomacy fails.
0:32.8	And this is the July crisis.
1:17.6	Thank you. And this is the July crisis. A will to peace at Berlin and Vienna would have found no difficulties in escaping from this terrible net which was drawing in upon us all hour by hour. But underneath the diplomatic communications and maneuvers, the baffling proposals and counter-proposals, the agitated intervention of Tsar and Kaiser, flowed a deep tide of calculated military
1:30.6	purpose.
1:31.6	As the ill-fated nations approached the verge, the sinister machines of war began to develop
1:36.9	their own momentum and eventually take control themselves.
1:42.5	Winston Churchill reflects on the European mood at the height of the crisis.
1:47.7	By Monday the 27th of July, the July crisis was entering its final phase. Austria-Hungary had announced
1:55.7	its unwillingness to accept the Serbian reply. Russia was standing by to intervene and contribute to Serbia's
2:02.2	defence. Germany was trying to insulate its ally from any mediation efforts and to localise
2:08.2	the looming war between Austria and Serbia. But even as these three powers appeared to be
2:13.3	squaring up to each other, several complications had emerged. The first of these were the genuine
2:19.0	mediation efforts, advocated above all by Britain, as we saw in the previous large episode.
2:25.4	The second was the conclusions reached in Vienna that war could not commence against Serbia
2:30.3	until the 12th of August. This delay meant no fate accompli would be forthcoming, and it gave
	...

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