Page - 28 - in THE FIRST WORLD WAR - and the End of the Habsburg Monarchy, 1914 – 1918

28 On the Eve borne the brunt of the First Balkan War while on the other making significant con- quests, succumbed to a combined attack by Romanians, Turks, Greeks and Serbs and again suffered substantial territorial losses. Since Bulgaria felt let down first and fore- most by the Russians  – and could not justifiably feel abandoned by Austria-Hungary and Germany  – It subsequently began to lean toward the large central European pow- ers, with revenge in mind. There was one further consequence of the Second Balkan War. Serbia, which until 1913 had had reason to assume that Serbian minorities would settle in both the north and south of its state, had now been able to absorb almost all Serbian territories (as well as a few others) located in the south. It was therefore to be expected that it would then focus greater attention on Austria-Hungary to the north in furthering its nationalist ambitions. Once more, the Balkan war had failed to provide any real solution, but rather had diverted tensions elsewhere and left the region even more volatile. And the period of turmoil during that year was still not over. Serbia had reneged on the pledges it had made at the London Ambassadors’ Con- ference and had not withdrawn fully from Albania. While Great Britain in particular applied pressure for the agreement to be observed, no joint démarche by the states that had signed the Treaty of London was made. Only Vienna made one attempt after an- other to put pressure on the Serbian government and to agree on a joint approach with the other powers involved. It was all in vain. Now it was Italy’s turn to demur, which while benefiting from Serbia being kept away from the Adriatic also feared an expan- sion of Austro-Hungarian influence and wished to see this compensated. For Vienna, no alternative remained but to give in or to decide on even more far-reaching measures. Once again it was Conrad, who had been reinstated as Chief of the General Staff, who pressed ahead with his radical demands. In his view, clear conditions had to be created, particularly also with regard to Romania. He pleaded for an annexation of Serbia to the Danube Monarchy in a similar way as Bavaria had been to the German Empire. If this proved impossible to achieve in a peaceful manner, the hostilities would have to be conducted openly ; in his view, the risk to the southern Slav territories of the Monarchy from an act of Serbian irredentism was so great that no other solution would be possi- ble.39 The Hungarian Prime Minister, Count István Tisza, disagreed vehemently with him. He had no desire for further territorial expansion, and certainly not in the manner recommended by Conrad. The Imperial and Royal Finance Minister Bilínski joined him in disagreeing with this proposal, although he also regarded a dispute with Serbia as inevitable : Austria-Hungary would not be able to avoid war. It would therefore be nec- essary to strengthen the army despite the weak financial situation. Once again, therefore, the deficit of war became a focus of interest, as did the deficit in the state coffers. On 18 October 1913, the Austrian chargé d’affaires in Belgrade, Baron Wilhelm von Storck, was ordered to issue an ultimatum on behalf of the Viennese Cabinet, demand-