Hidden History: The Secret Origins of the First World War.

by Gerry Docherty

  35. Durham, Twenty Years of Balkan Tangle, chapter 20, p. 1.

  36. Grey, Twenty-Five Years, vol. II, p. 88.

  37. Fay, Origins of the World War, vol. I, p. 473.

  38. Stieve, Isvolsky and the World War, p. 94.

  39. Clark, Kaiser Wilhelm II, p. 200.

  40. Many Liberal and Radical MPs were extremely critical of the czarist regime in Russia. One example amongst many is Mr Joseph King (Hansard, House of Commons, Debate, 1 May 1913, vol. 52, c1343).

  CHAPTER 20 – SARAJEVO – THE WEB OF CULPABILITY

  1. Editorial, New York Times Current History of the European War, vol. 28 (1928), issue 4, p. 619.

  2. Harry Elmer Barnes, ‘Germany Not Responsible for Austria’s Actions’, New York Times Current History of the European War, vol. 28 (1928), issue 4, p. 621.

  3. Editorial, New York Times Current History of the European War, vol. 28 (1928), issue 4, p. 619.

  4. Fay, Origins of the World War, vol. I, p. 439.

  5. Ibid., p. 27.

  6. Edith Durham, Sarajevo Crime, pp. 197–201.

  7. MacKenzie, Apis, p. 275.

  8. Barnes, In Quest of Truth and Justice, p. 43.

  9. Dedijer, Road to Sarajevo, pp. 236–70.

  10. Friedrich von Wiesner, ‘Austria’s Life and Death Struggle Against Irredentism’, New York Times Current History of the European War, vol. 28 (1928), issue 4, p. 63.

  11. Dedijer, Road to Sarajevo, p. 175.

  12. Luigi Albertini, Origins of the War of 1914, vol. II, pp. 27–28, and 79.

  13. Dedijer, Road to Sarajevo, pp. 388–9.

  14. Albertini, Origins of the War of 1914, vol. II, pp. 282–3.

  15. Dedijer, Road to Sarajevo, p. 388.

  16. MacKenzie, Apis, p. 120.

  17. Ibid., p. 121.

  18. Dedijer, Road to Sarajevo, p. 385.

  19. Barnes, ‘Germany Not Responsible for Austria’s Actions’, p. 620.

  20. David James Smith, One Morning in Sarajevo: 28 June 1914, p. 166.

  21. Dedijer, Road to Sarajevo, pp. 317–19.

  22. Smith, One Morning in Sarajevo, p. 193.

  23. Alexander, Count Hoyos, ‘Russia Chief Culprit in Precipitation of World War’, New York Times Current History of the European War, vol. 28 (1928), p. 628 and seven other articles therein.

  24. von Wiesner, ‘Austria’s Life and Death Struggle Against Irredentism’, pp. 630–3.

  25. Ibid., p. 632.

  26. Ibid.

  27. Barnes, ‘Germany Not Responsible for Austria’s Actions’, p. 622.

  28. W.A. Dolph Owings, The Sarajevo Trial, Part 1, pp. 527–30.

  29. Ibid.

  30. Princip endured a painful death. Following tuberculosis, he had an arm amputated, and in prison conditions that became markedly harsher during the war, he died from malnutrition, blood loss and disease, weighing around 40 kilograms. He survived Ferdinand’s assassination by three years and ten months.

  31. Barnes, ‘Germany Not Responsible for Austria’s Actions’, p. 620.

  32. The Times, 16 July 1914.

  33. MacKenzie, Apis, pp. 329 and 344–7.

  34. Ibid., pp. 129–30.

  35. Dedijer, Road to Sarajevo, pp. 398–400.

  36. Barnes, Genesis of the World War, p. 731.

  37. Victor Serge, ‘La Verité sur l’Attentat de Sarajevo’, in Clarte, no. 74, 1 May 1924.

  38. Dedijer, Road to Sarajevo, p. 513.

  CHAPTER 21 – JULY 1914 – DECEPTION, MANIPULATION AND MISREPRESENTATION

  1. King George I of Greece was assassinated in 1913; Mahmud Sevket Pasha, prime minister of Turkey in 1913; José Canalejas, prime minister of Spain in 1912; Prime Minister Stolypin in Russia in 1911; Grand Duke Alexandrovitch Romanov in 1911. Many survived attempted assassination, including Prince Albert Edward in 1900, Kaiser Wilhelm II in 1900 and Theodore Roosevelt in 1912.

  2. Prime Minister Herbert Asquith in Hansard, House of Commons, Debate, 30 June 1914, vol. 64, cc214–6.

  3. Imanuel Geiss, July 1914: The Outbreak of the First World War: Selected Documents, p. 55.

  4. Ferdinand’s marriage caused controversy because he chose to wed Countess Sophie Maria rather than royalty. Both parties had to accept that the marriage would be morganatic, meaning that none of the archduke’s titles, property or privileges would be inherited by his wife or children.

  5. Geiss, July 1914, p. 63.

  6. New York Times, 3 July 1914.

  7. Fay, Origins of the World War, vol. II, p. 205.

  8. Ibid., p. 206.

  9. Stieve, Isvolsky and the World War, p. 209.

  10. Ibid. He asks the rhetorical question: ‘Is this the result of a prudent holocaust?’

  11. Gooch, Temperley and Headlam-Morley, British Documents on the Origins of the War, vol. XI, p. 22.

  12. Fay, Origins of the World War, vol. II, p. 186.

  13. Morel, Diplomacy Revealed, pp. 299–300.

  14. Ibid.

  15. Novoe Vremya was a daily newspaper in St Petersburg. In its earlier years it was liberal and published articles and extracts from Karl Marx. By 1914 it had become an anti-Semitic, reactionary government rag. The day after the Bolsheviks came to power, Lenin shut it down.

  16. Quigley, Anglo-American Establishment, p. 12.

  17. Fay, Origins of the World War, vol. II, p. 332.

  18. Irene Cooper Willis, England’s Holy War, p. 59.

  19. Ibid., p. 25.

  20. Jonathan Bardon, A History of Ireland in 250 Episodes, p. 435.

  21. Count Leopold Berchtold, ‘Austria’s Challenge Justified by Serbian Menace’, New York Times Current History of the European War, vol. 28 (1928), p. 626.

  22. Geiss, July 1914, p. 71.

  23. Ibid., p. 72.

  24. Barnes, In Quest of Truth and Justice, p. 52.

  25. Fay, Origins of the World War, vol. II, p. 175.

  26. Barnes, Genesis of the World War, p. 241.

  27. Gooch and Temperley, British Documents on the Origins of the War, vol. XI; Bunsen to Grey, 5 July, BD 40.

  28. ‘Origin of the World War: Minutes of a Historic Council’, New York Times Current History of the European War, vol. 11, (1919), pp. 455–60.

  29. Geiss, July 1914, pp. 80–7.

  30. Hansard, House of Commons, Debate, 7 July 1914, vol. 64, cc1032–55, Anglo-Persian Oil Company (Acquisition of Capital).

  31. Geiss, July 1914, p. 105.

  32. Hansard, Foreign Office, Class II, House of Commons, Debate, 10 July 1914, vol. 64, cc1383–463.

  33. Arthur Ponsonby, Hansard, House of Commons, Debate, 10 July 1914, vol. 64, cc1397–398.

  34. Joseph King pointed out in that debate that Mr Cassel, a distinguished financier, Sir P. Magnus, a world renowned medical scientist, Mr Montagu, the secretary to the Treasury, Mr Herbert Samuel, president of the Local Government Board, and the lord chief justice himself, Isaac Rufus, were all barred by their Jewish faith from entering Russia.

  35. Joseph King, Hansard, House of Commons, Debate, 10 July 1914, vol. 64, cc1438–50.

  36. Fay, Origins of the World War, vol. II, p. 236.

  37. Berchtold, ‘Austria’s Challenge Justified by Serbian Menace’, pp. 626–8.

  38. Barnes, In Quest of Truth and Justice, p. 46.

  39. Bunsen to Grey, 16 July, BD 50, but suppressed from the British Blue Book (BBB). Thus the official documents published in this ‘book’, Great Britain and the European Crisis, Correspondence and Statements, together with an Introductory Narrative of Events, published in 1914, deliberately sifted out incriminating evidence; also in Fay, Origins of the World War, vol. II, p. 247, footnote.

  40. Ibid.

  41. Barnes, ‘Germany Not Responsible for Austria’s Actions’, p. 624.

  42. Grey to Rumbold telegram 197, BD 116, in Geiss, July 1914, p. 212.

  43. ‘Did Germany Incite Austria in 1914? Evidence in the War Guilt Controversy’, New York Times Current History of the European War, vol. 28 (1928), pp. 619–25.<
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  CHAPTER 22 – JULY 1914 – LEADING EUROPE TOWARDS THE BRINK

  1. Fay, Origins of the World War, vol. II, p. 363.

  2. Pasic to Serbian legations, 19 July 1914, Serbian Blue Book (SBB 30). As quoted in Fay, Origins of the World War, vol. II, p. 335.

  3. It was very important for Poincaré to camouflage his real intentions in visiting the czar and Sazonov. The official visit had been agreed at the start of 1914, but a fixed date was only agreed after the assassination of Franz Ferdinand.

  4. Fay, Origins of the World War, vol. II, p. 278.

  5. Barnes, Genesis of the World War, p. 320.

  6. Stieve, Isvolsky and the World War, p. 210.

  7. The Times, 22 July 1914.

  8. The Times, 21 July 1914.

  9. Fay, Origins of the World War, vol. II, p. 280.

  10. A detailed analysis of the French official telegrams was printed in 1927 showing the omissions and alterations to original documents that had been approved at the Quai d’Orsay. In particular, details of Poincaré’s visit to St Petersburg and subsequent Russian military manoeuvres were removed. G. Demartial, L’Evangile du Quai d’Orsay, p. 11.

  11. Fay, Origins of the World War, vol. II, p. 280.

  12. Ibid., p. 283.

  13. Barnes, Genesis of the World War, p. 331.

  14. Buchanan to Grey, 24 July, BD 101, in Geiss, July 1914, p. 196.

  15. Stieve, Isvolsky and the World War, p. 215.

  16. Buchanan to Grey 24 July, BD 101. The notes appended to this telegram are particularly valuable. Sir Eyre Crowe at the Foreign Office, a rabid anti-German, advocated immediate preparations to back up France and Russia. The telegram was then passed to the permanent under-secretary, Sir Arthur Nicolson, who added his support to Crowe. Sir Edward Grey responded that he had discussed the matter with Churchill. Layers of support and influence surrounded Grey.

  17. Geiss, July 1914, p. 198.

  18. Ibid., p. 199.

  19. Hansard, House of Commons, Debate, 10 July 1914, vol. 64, cc1397–398.

  20. Lloyd George, Hansard, House of Commons, Debate, 23 July 1914, vol. 65, cc666–781.

  21. Geiss, July 1914, p. 133, and Rumbold to Grey, BD 77, 22 July 1914, p. 158.

  22. Ewart, Roots and Causes of the Wars, vol. II, footnote p. 1071.

  23. Bethmann Hollweg to the ambassadors at St Petersburg, Paris and London, DD100; Berlin, 21 July 1914, in Geiss, July 1914, p. 149.

  24. Geiss, July 1914, p. 150.

  25. Montgelas, British Foreign Policy under Sir Edward Grey, p. 65.

  26. Ewart, Roots and Causes of the Wars, vol. II, pp. 1062–3.

  27. Montgelas, British Foreign Policy under Sir Edward Grey, p. 66.

  28. Barnes, Genesis of the World War, p. 200.

  29. Extract from the Austrian Red Book, OD 10616, 24 July 1914, in Geiss, July 1914, p. 174.

  30. Geiss, July 1914, p. 178.

  31. Geiss, July 1914, p. 175. Mensdorff to Berchtold, 24 July 1914.

  32. Willis, England’s Holy War, p. 32.

  33. Manchester Guardian, 25 July 1914.

  34. The Times, 22 July 1914.

  35. Fay, Origins of the World War, vol. II, p. 369.

  36. H.H. Asquith, Letters to Venetia Stanley, edited by Michael and Eleanor Brock, 26 July 1914, p. 125.

  37. Asquith, Grey, Haldane, Lloyd George and Churchill were exclusively ‘in the know’ in Cabinet.

  38. Churchill, World Crisis, p. 155.

  39. David, Inside Asquith’s Cabinet, pp. 176–7.

  40. Fay, Origins of the World War, vol. II, p. 369.

  41. Berchtold, ‘Austria’s Challenge Justified by Serbian Menace’, p. 226.

  42. Barnes, In Quest of Truth and Justice, p. 44.

  43. Pierre Renouvin, The Immediate Origins of the War, p. 99.

  44. Fay, Origins of the World War, vol. II, p. 340.

  45. Ibid., p. 337.

  46. Ibid., p. 339.

  47. Barnes, Genesis of the World War, p. 201.

  48. Fay, Origins of the World War, vol. II, p. 338.

  49. The Times, 22 July 1914.

  50. Fay, Origins of the World War, vol. II, p. 338.

  51. Barnes, Genesis of the World War, pp. 200–1.

  52. Ferguson, Pity of War, p. 156.

  53. Fay, Origins of the World War, vol. II, p. 348.

  54. Ferguson, Pity of War, p. 156.

  55. Renouvin, Immediate Origins of the War, p. 98.

  56. Swain, Beginning the Twentieth Century. p. 353.

  57. Ewart, Roots and Causes of the Wars, vol. II, p. 1040.

  58. Stone, World War One, p. 21.

  59. Barnes, In Quest of Truth and Justice, p. 47

  60. Buchanan to Grey, 25 July 1914, BD 125, in Geiss, July 1914, p. 213.

  CHAPTER 23 – JULY 1914 – THE FIRST MOBILISATIONS

  1. Jack Levy, ‘Organisational Routines and the Causes of War’, International Studies Quarterly, vol. 30, no. 2, June 1986, p. 196.

  2. Ibid., p. 195.

  3. Barnes, Genesis of the World War, p. 354.

  4. Kennan, Fateful Alliance, p. 161.

  5. Barnes, Genesis of the World War, p. 374.

  6. Kennan, Fateful Alliance, pp. 250–1.

  7. Marc Trachtenberg, ‘The Meaning of Mobilization in 1914’, International Security, vol, 15, issue 3, Winter 1990–91, pp. 120–50.

  8. Fay, Origins of the World War, vol. II, pp. 307–8.

  9. Sergei Dobrorolsky, The Mobilisation of the Russian Army, 1914 at http://www.vlib.us/wwi/resources/archives/texts/t040831b.html

  10. Memorandum of the day of the Russian Ministry for Foreign Affairs, St Petersburg, 24 July 1914, in Geiss, July 1914, p. 190.

  11. Special Journal of the Russian Council of Ministers, St Petersburg, 24 July 1914, in Geiss, July 1914, pp. 186–7.

  12. Alexander Solzhenitsyn, August 1914, pp. 92–3.

  13. Geiss, July 1914, p. 214.

  14. Barnes, Genesis of the World War, p. 324.

  15. Buchanan to Grey, St Petersburg, 25 July 1914, BD 125, in Geiss, July 1914, p. 214.

  16. Ibid.

  17. Special Journal of the Russian Council of Ministers, St Petersburg, 25 July 1914, in Geiss, July 1914, p. 207.

  18. Fay, Origins of the World War, vol. II, p. 309.

  19. Stephen J. Cimbala, Military Persuasion: Deterrence and Provocation in Crisis and War, p. 58.

  20. George Buchanan, My Mission to Russia and Other Diplomatic Memories, vol. 1, p. 93.

  21. Ibid., p. 94.

  22. Montgelas, Case for the Central Powers, p. 129.

  23. Lutz, Lord Grey and the World War, p. 244.

  24. Grey to Buchanan, London, 25 July 1914, BD 112, in Geiss, July 1914, p. 211.

  25. Grey to Rumbold, London, 25 July 1914, BD 116, in Geiss, July 1914, p. 212.

  26. Lutz, Lord Grey and the World War, pp. 241–2.

  27. Barnes, Genesis of the World War, p. 336.

  28. Trachtenberg, ‘The Meaning of Mobilization in 1914’, p. 126.

  29. Fay, Origins of the World War, vol. II, pp. 302–3.

  30. Trachtenberg, ‘The Meaning of Mobilization in 1914’, pp. 120–50.

  31. Fay, Origins of the World War, vol. II, pp. 306–7.

  32. Barnes, Genesis of the World War, p. 337.

  CHAPTER 24 – JULY 1914 – BUYING TIME – THE CHARADE OF MEDIATION

  1. Illustrated History of the Great War, vol. 1, p. 17. Created by Northcliffe’s Amalgamated Press in 1914 to provide instant propaganda and glorify the war effort.

  2. Geiss, July 1914, pp. 214–15.

  3. George Malcolm Thomson, The Twelve Days, p. 80.

  4. Fay, Origins of the World War, vol. II, p. 377.

  5. Barnes, Genesis of the World War, p. 26.

  6. Pierre Renouvin, La Crise Européene et la Grande Guerre, p. 112.

  7. Thomson, Twelve Days, p. 86.

  8. Fay, Origins of the World War, vol. II, p. 383.

  9. Renouvin, La Crise Européen
e, p. 117.

  10. Ibid., p. 113.

  11. Thomson, Twelve Days, p. 114.

  12. Barnes, Genesis of the World War, p. 337.

  13. Ibid., p. 340.

  14. Grey, Twenty-Five Years, vol. II, p. 162.

  15. Lutz, Lord Grey and the World War, p. 244.

  16. Ibid.

  17. Fay, Origins of the World War, vol. II, p. 321.

  18. Geiss, July 1914, p. 240.

  19. Fay, Origins of the World War, vol. II, p. 405.

  20. Lutz, Lord Grey and the World War, p. 251.

  21. Telegram 328, Berlin, 30 July 1914, OD.110130, in Geiss, July 1914, p. 302.

  22. Fay, Origins of the World War, vol. II, p. 409.

  23. In fact, the Austrian army did not cross the Serbian frontier until 13 August, by which time the world war had already erupted: a testimony to how urgently the Secret Elite precipitated the conflagration.

  24. Handwritten by Wilhelm II, 28 July 1914, DD293, in Geiss, July 1914, p. 256.

  25. Ibid.

  26. Buchanan to Grey, St Petersburg, 28 July 1914, BD 247, in Geiss, July 1914, p. 264.

  27. Asquith, Letters to Venetia Stanley, p. 131 and footnote 5. Rothschild was particularly hostile to associations with Russia because of the notorious pogroms.

  28. Ibid. It was ominous. He received news that Austria had declared war on Serbia, but since it was a quiet evening in Parliament, he set up dinner and a game of bridge.

  29. The Schlieffen Plan, Germany’s defensive plan, was widely known across Europe.

  30. Fay, Origins of the World War, vol. II, p. 431.

  31. Moltke to Bethmann, Berlin, 29 July 1914, DD349, in Geiss, July 1914, p. 284.

  32. Fay, Origins of the World War, vol. II, p. 435.

  33. Lichnowsky to Jagow, London, 29 July 1914, DD357, in Geiss, July 1914, p. 286.

  34. Ibid.

  35. Lichnowsky to Jagow, London, 29 July 1914, DD368, in Geiss, July 1914, pp. 288–90.

  36. This was a booklet of diplomatic correspondence, selected, altered and added to, which purported to prove to Parliament and the country that war had been forced on Britain by Austria-Hungry and Germany.

  37. Prince Henry to Kaiser, Kiel, 28 July 1914, KD 374, in Fay, Origins of the World War, vol. II, p. 500.

  38. Lloyd George, War Memoirs, p. 34.

  39. Nicholas II to Wilhelm II, St Petersburg, 29 July 1914, DD332, in Geiss, July 1914, p. 260.