Seite - 112 - in THE FIRST WORLD WAR - and the End of the Habsburg Monarchy, 1914 – 1918

112 Bloody Sundays concluded from this conversation that the Foreign Ministry was anticipating a peaceful solution after all. And he conceivably left feeling dissatisfied.247 In the days following the dispatch of the draft note to Berlin, German diplomats also believed that Austria-Hungary might be softening. Count Berchtold had also expressed his concern to ambassador von Tschirschky that Serbia might accept the ultimatum. What then ? For this reason, Berlin proposed setting harsher terms that it would be simply impossible for Serbia to accept. Naturally, the German pressure for war was also linked to the fact that they wanted to exploit the situation, and in an overes- timation of their own potential, regarded themselves as being by all means capable of keeping France and Russia in check. The Germans had superior artillery and German guns were better than those of the French and the Russians. In the view of the German General Staff, France had not yet overcome the transition from a two-year to a three- year period of military service. In the German Empire, the harvest had already been gathered. Why wait any longer ? For this reason, concluded von Jagow, the permanent secretary at the Foreign Office in Berlin, ‘localisation cannot be accomplished, and if Russia attacks Austria-Hungary, this will be a casus foederis.’248 The German Empire also created the impression of being lulled to sleep. The sailing weeks at Kiel were hardly over before Kaiser Wilhelm embarked on a journey to Nor- dland that had been planned for some time. Politicians and members of the military were on holiday, while the latter declared that besides, everything was so well prepared that military action could be started immediately at any time. They also wanted to enjoy a few peaceful days on holiday before war broke out. However, this policy of distraction and creating a sense of calm was not the most influential factor for France and Great Britain. In both countries, so much energy was consumed with their own affairs that neither Sarajevo nor the developments during July were considered worthy of notice. In France, greater attention was paid to the politi- cally delicate trial of Henriette, the wife of the former Prime Minister Joseph Caillaux, who had shot the chief editor of the Figaro and had been released on the grounds of temporary insanity. The administration in France showed disinterest in events in Aus- tria-Hungary and emphasised particularly that the murdered Archduke Franz Ferdi- nand had been extremely unpopular there. How could such a development possibly lead to a particular crisis ?249 The cabinet led by Viviani, which at that time was still newly formed, had not yet gained an overview of the situation, and ultimately spent most of its time handling the visit by President Poincaré to Russia, during which entertainment was to play a not too minor role. A return visit by Tsar Nicholas II to France was planned for the summer of 1915. London, meanwhile, was being challenged by events in Ireland, where there was a threat of civil war. For this reason, developments there were of the uppermost importance for politicians and the military alike, and hardly anything else seemed to matter.250 However, this situation was to come to an abrupt end.