WAR OF THE NATIONS 



WAR OF THE NATIONS 



A WORLDWIDE CALL TO ARMS 



The countries indicated by the black areas became directly interested in the war through decla- 

 rations of hostile attitude. The white areas represent neutral countries ; some of these nations suf- 

 fered acutely. 



(6) That methods of education in Serbia which 

 fomented feeling against Austria-Hungary should 

 be eliminated. (Accepted.) 



(7) That officials and officers guilty of propa- 

 ganda against Austria-Hungary be dismissed, the 

 Austrian government to have the right to name 

 such officers and officials. (Accepted, subject to 

 proof.) 



(8) That officials of the Austro-Hungarian 

 government should assist Serbia in suppressing in 

 Serbia the movement against, the Integrity of the 

 Austro-Hungarian government and take part in 

 the judicial proceedings in Serbia against persons 

 implicated in the Sarajevo crime. (Rejected un- 

 conditionally, as destroying the sovereignty of a 

 free state.) 



( 9 ) That Serbia furnish Austria-Hungary with 

 explanations of utterances of high Serbian offi- 

 cials who ventured to speak ill of the Austro- 

 Hungarian government after the Sarajevo crime. 

 (Accepted, conditionally, subject to proof, and 

 suggestion of mediation if reply was not satis- 

 factory. ) 



Serbia's attitude towards all points of the 

 ultimatum is indicated in the parenthetical 

 remarks. It was thought by all the powers dur- 

 ing the forty-eight hours in which the little 

 kingdom was given to reply that it could not 

 humiliate itself by acceptance, and the tele- 

 graph wires of Europe were loaded with dis- 

 patches from one power to another in an en- 

 deavor to avoid hostilities. France was con- 

 cerned as an ally of Russia, England as an ally 

 of France and Russia, Italy as an ally of Aus- 

 tria and Germany, and Germany as the mentor 

 of Austro-Hungarian politics, and that coun- 

 try's powerful ally. England, France and Rus- 



sia were bound together in the Triple Entente 

 (which see) ; Germany, Austria-Hungary and 

 Italy formed the Triple Alliance (which see). 



Austria-Hungary rejected the prompt reply 

 of Serbia, declaring that it failed to meet the 

 demands which had been made. On the 28th 

 of July it declared war. 



Their Positions Stated. Austria-Hungary of- 

 ficially excused itself for precipitating the war 

 on the ground that the Serbians and Monte- 

 negrins were at all times plotting against the 

 dual monarchy with the avowed intention of 

 separating its Slavic provinces from their al- 

 legiance and destroying its political integrity, 

 and that the murders of the future emperor 

 and his wife were inspired by Serbian officials 

 with that end in view. 



Serbia protested that the legitimate aspira- 

 tions of the kingdom had always been retarded 

 and to a great extent prevented by the un- 

 friendly attitude of Austria-Hungary; that the 

 latter had wrongfully annexed Bosnia and 

 Herzegovina (1908), inhabited by Slavs and 

 close kinsmen of the Serbs; and that Austria 

 had assumed an attitude hostile to Serbia in 

 the recent Balkan Wars. 



Why the Conflict Spread. Russia at once 

 made it known that it considered its own in- 

 terests as inseparably linked with those of 

 Serbia and the smaller Slav states in the Bal- 

 kans. It declared its purpose to mass its troops 

 for war the day Austrian troops crossed the 

 Serbian border. It was the general belief that 



