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134 Unleashing the War
On 1 August the German Empire declared war on Russia ; two days later, on 3 Au-
gust, the German declaration of war was issued to France. Great Britain informed the
German Empire the next day that it regarded itself as being at war. Austria-Hungary
waited until 6 August to declare war on Russia because Conrad wanted to advance as
far as possible with his preparations for mobilisation and with deployment by the time
the declaration of war was issued. On 5 August, Montenegro declared war on Aus-
tria-Hungary. King Nikola let Vienna know that he intended to lay siege to Kotor and
would promptly ask the civilian population to leave the city.301
At this point in time, it was no longer individual states that were at war but alliances.
Whereas the Entente, however, was able to deploy its grouping in full, for the Triple
Alliance both Italy and the de facto ally Romania were absent. Austria-Hungary ad-
mittedly saw no necessity to declare war on Great Britain and France, yet these two
states, which were already at war with the German Empire, paid little heed to this. In
spite of the almost daily assurances that the Habsburg Monarchy harboured no hostile
intentions towards the Entente, indeed only demanded compensation from Serbia and,
in the event that the war remained limited to Serbia, would not make any territorial
demands against the Balkan state, it was above all France who was determined to ex-
pand the war to include the Danube Monarchy. On 8 August, the French Foreign
Minister Gaston Doumergue accused Austria-Hungary of transporting troops along
the French border. The entire XIVth Corps (Innsbruck) had allegedly taken up posi-
tions there.302 Despite assurances to the contrary by the Imperial and Royal ambassador
in Paris, Count Szécsen, Monsieur Doumergue declared on 10 August that diplomatic
relations had been broken off. From 11 August, France and Austira-Hungary were also
at war. This was logical, as alliances were after all brought into the war. The Danube
Monarchy had in any case harboured little hope of avoiding war with the Entente
powers, as Conrad von Hötzendorf had already promised the German Supreme Army
Command on 6 August to send two batteries of 30.5 cm mortars to the western front,
in order to overpower the French defensive forts. The pieces of artillery that came from
Gorizia (Görz) arrived on wagons on 12 and 13 August and were first deployed on 20
August near Namur.303 Thus, with the best will in the world they could not serve as a
justification for the steps taken by the French.
Since direct relations had already been severed, the French declaration of war was
handed to the Austro-Hungarian ambassador in London by the British Foreign Secre-
tary Sir Edward Grey. Great Britain kept things brief : although the British ambassador
in Vienna, Sir Maurice Bunsen, had cast doubt vis-à-vis the Foreign Office regarding
the French version of the intervention of Austro-Hungarian troops in the west,304 the
government in London informed Austria-Hungary on 12 August that Great Britain
was also at war with Austria-Hungary, as the Danube Monarchy had declared war on
Russia and sent troops against France. The diplomats on all sides found positive words
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