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26 On the Eve
peace […] and the stupid Austrians, who never know exactly what they want and who
unsettle the whole world’ would have to manage on their own.34
For Russia, however, the matter was by no means brought to a close by the fact that
no further action was taken following the replenishment of Imperial and Royal troops
in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Just as Russia had already begun mobilisation manoeu-
vres along the military districts bordering Austria-Hungary, so during the following
months it also continued its measures to replenish its units, ensuring that troops in
the western military districts were present in sufficient numbers to enable it to wage
war. In short : Russia made full use of its repertoire of threatening gestures. Although
the Russian Foreign Minister, Sergei Sazonov, claimed in an official statement that no
military movement was occurring in Russia, and even denied that there had been an
increase in troop numbers in the western military districts, the Evidenzbüro (military
intelligence service) of the Imperial and Royal General Staff reported otherwise, and
saw itself vindicated in its suspicions.35 Sazonov – and this was not known until later –
had a tendency to lie unashamedly when matters came to a head, and this statement
should also have been treated with caution. In St. Petersburg, an anti-Austrian mood
was propagated which was only diminished in January 1913 when Emperor Franz
Joseph sent the former Austro-Hungarian military attaché in St. Petersburg, Prince
Gottfried Hohenlohe-Schillingfürst, with a personal letter to the Tsar. The danger once
again appeared to have passed – and yet on the Balkan Peninsula, there was no end in
sight. Now, Montenegro also made preparations to improve its war balance and occupy
Scutari. Montenegrin control of Scutari would make the Austro-Hungarian Albania
project, in other words, the creation of an independent Albanian state, impossible to
achieve. Montenegro also had the support of Serbia, which Austria-Hungary wanted
to prevent from gaining access to the Adriatic. In the end, the conflicting parties agreed
to arrange a conference of ambassadors in London designed to reinstate peace between
the Ottoman Empire and the Balkan states. At this conference, it was agreed on 11
March 1913 that in terms of their ethnic population, some of the territories claimed
by Montenegro and Serbia belonged without doubt to Albania, and should therefore
be surrendered to the newly created principality. The key territories in question were
Scutari and Prizren, as well as parts of Kosovo, which was occupied by the Serbs.
The Russian Foreign Minister nevertheless attempted to win some benefit for Serbia.
Through acts of extreme violence in the claimed territories, Serbs and Montenegrins,
the latter in Scutari, also sought to swing developments in their favour and create a
fait accompli. To put an end to the bloodbath, Berchtold consented to allow the Serbs
control of Gjakova on condition that the fighting and slaughter cease immediately. The
offer failed to achieve any improvement in the situation. Even so, in April 1913, Serbia
withdrew its troops from Albania, since it feared a war with its former League associate,
Bulgaria. On 23 April, Scutari, which had still been defended by the Turks, fell into the
THE FIRST WORLD WAR
and the End of the Habsburg Monarchy, 1914 – 1918
- Title
- THE FIRST WORLD WAR
- Subtitle
- and the End of the Habsburg Monarchy, 1914 – 1918
- Author
- Manfried Rauchensteiner
- Publisher
- Böhlau Verlag
- Location
- Wien
- Date
- 2014
- Language
- English
- License
- CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
- ISBN
- 978-3-205-79588-9
- Size
- 17.0 x 24.0 cm
- Pages
- 1192
- Categories
- Geschichte Vor 1918
Table of contents
- 1 On the Eve 11
- 2 Two Million Men for the War 49
- 3 Bloody Sundays 81
- 4 Unleashing the War 117
- 5 ‘Thank God, this is the Great War!’ 157
- 6 Adjusting to a Longer War 197
- 7 The End of the Euphoria 239
- 8 The First Winter of the War 283
- 9 Under Surveillance 317
- 10 ‘The King of Italy has declared war on Me’ 355
- 11 The Third Front 383
- 12 Factory War and Domestic Front, 1915 413
- 13 Summer Battle and ‘Autumn Swine’ 441
- 14 War Aims and Central Europe 469
- 15 South Tyrol : The End of an Illusion (I) 497
- 16 Lutsk :The End of an Illusion (II) 521
- 17 How is a War Financed ? 555
- 18 The Nameless 583
- 19 The Death of the Old Emperor 607
- 20 Emperor Karl 641
- 21 The Writing on the Wall 657
- 22 The Consequences of the Russian February Revolution 691
- 23 Summer 1917 713
- 24 Kerensky Offensive and Peace Efforts 743
- 25 The Pyrrhic Victory : The Breakthrough Battle of Flitsch-Tolmein 769
- 26 Camps 803
- 27 Peace Feelers in the Shadow of Brest-Litovsk 845
- 28 The Inner Front 869
- 29 The June Battle in Veneto 895
- 30 An Empire Resigns 927
- 31 The Twilight Empire 955
- 32 The War becomes History 983
- Epilogue 1011
- Afterword 1013
- Acknowledgements and Dedication 1019
- Notes 1023
- Selected Printed Sources and Literature 1115
- Index of People and Places 1155