July 1914: Countdown to War

by Sean McMeekin

  20. Lichnowsky to Jagow, 27 July 1914 (1:31 PM, arrived Berlin 4:37 PM), no. 258 in DD, vol. 1.

  21. Lichnowsky to Jagow, 27 July 1914 (6:17 PM, arrived Berlin 8:40 PM), no. 266 in DD, vol. 1.

  22. Lichnowsky to Jagow, 27 July 1914 (5:08 PM, arrived Berlin 8:40 PM), no. 265 in DD, vol. 1, 255.

  23. Riezler diary, cited in Jarausch, 159.

  24. Riezler diary entries, 25–26 July 1914, cited in Jarausch, 165–166. (emphasis added).

  25. Riezler diary entry for 27 July 1914, cited in Jarausch, 167.

  26. Bethmann to Tschirschky, passing on Lichnowsky from London (with edits and commentary), 27 July 1914 (11:50 PM, arrived Vienna 5:30 AM July 28), no. 277 in DD, vol. 1.

  27. Szögyény to Berchtold, 27 July 1914 (9:15 PM), no. 10793 in Oe-U, vol. 8.

  28. Albertini, for example, devotes nearly twenty pages to unpacking what he calls Bethmann’s “double game,” in vol. 2, 443–460.

  29. Bertie to Grey, 27 July 1914 (2:45 PM), no. 183 in BD, vol. 11.

  30. Lichnowsky to Jagow, 27 July 1914 (6:17 PM, arrived Berlin 8:40 PM), no. 266 in DD, vol. 1.

  31. Buchanan to Grey, 26 July 1914, 8 PM (received 11 PM), no. 155 in BD, vol. 11.

  32. Buchanan to Grey, 27 July 1914 (8:40 PM), no. 198 in BD, vol. 11.

  33. Cited in Churchill, vol. 1, 218.

  34. Viviani to Paléologue, 27 July 1914, cited in Schmidt, 93.

  Notes to Chapter 18“You Have Got Me into a Fine Mess”

  1. Plessen diary, 28 July 1914, cited in Albertini, vol. 2, 467.

  2. Kaiser Wilhelm II, marginal notes on Serbia’s reply to the Austrian ultimatum, scribbled at 10 AM on Tuesday, 28 July, no. 271 in DD, vol. 1.

  3. Kaiser Wilhelm II to Jagow, 10 AM on Tuesday 28 July, marked received, afternoon 29 July, no. 293 in DD, vol. 1 (emphasis in original).

  4. As noted by Jannen Jr., 148.

  5. The Austrian declaration-of-war telegram is reproduced (in French original facsimile) in Fay, vol. 2, 419.

  6. Albertini, vol. 2, 461.

  7. Yanushkevitch to Yudenich at Tiflis command, 14/27 July 1914, in RGVIA, fond 2000, opis’ 1, del’ 3796, list’ 13.

  8. Odessa consul report, passed on by Pourtalès to Berlin, 28 July 1914 (1:21 PM, arrived Berlin 2:25 PM), no. 296 in DD, vol. 2.

  9. Consul Brück from Warsaw, 28 July 1914 (received 29 July), no. 49 in Pourtalès, 132.

  10. Cited in Zuber, 157.

  11. Cited in Turner, “The Russian Mobilization in 1914,” 77.

  12. Buchanan to Grey, 28 July 1914, 8:45 PM (received 10:45 PM), no. 234 in BD, vol. 11.

  13. Buchanan to Grey, 28 July 1914 (8:45 PM), no. 247 in BD, vol. 11.

  14. Buchanan, My Mission to Russia, 197.

  15. Paléologue, vol. 1, 39 (emphasis added). Buchanan recalls the conversation almost identically, in My Mission to Russia, 199.

  16. Sazonov to Bronevski, with instructions to circulate secretly, 15/28 July 1914, no. 168 in IBZI, vol. 5.

  17. Sazonov to Benckendorff, 15/28 July 1914, no. 167 in IBZI, vol. 5.

  18. Fromkin, 222. London Times citation: Neiberg, 75. “Crowd of stone-throwing Dubliners”: Beatty, 119.

  19. Grey to Goschen, 28 July 1914 (4 PM), no. 218 in BD, vol. 11.

  20. Fromkin, 227.

  21. Citations in Jannen Jr., 165. “Ferocious melee of shouts”: Beatty, 242.

  22. Citation in Jannen Jr., 149.

  23. Lichnowsky to Jagow, 28 July 1914 (12:58 PM, received Berlin 3:45 PM), with Bethmann’s marginal notes, no. 301 and footnotes in DD, vol. 2, 23.

  24. Bethmann to Tschirschky, 28 July 1914 (10:15 PM, received Vienna 29 July 4:30 AM), no. 323 in DD, vol. 2 (emphasis added).

  25. Bethmann to Tschirschky, 28 July 1914 (3:20 PM, received Vienna 6 PM), no. 299 in DD, vol. 2. For Berchtold’s request that Bethmann warn Russia: Tschirschky to Jagow, 27 July 1914, cited in Albertini, vol. 2, 483.

  26. Bethmann to Pourtalès, copied to Vienna, Paris, and London, 28 July 1914 (9 PM), no. 315 in DD, vol. 2.

  27. Willy to Nicky telegram, 28 July 1914 (10:45 PM), sent off at 29 July 1914 (1:45 AM), with accompanying notes on which phrases the kaiser rewrote from the original draft, no. 335 in DD, vol. 2, and footnotes.

  28. Nicky to Willy, 29 July 1914 (1 AM), received at Neues Palais Potsdam at 7:30 AM, 29 July 1914, no. 332 in DD, vol. 2, and footnotes.

  29. Citations in Turner, 104. Doumergue: cited in Turner, 89.

  30. Entry for 15/28 July 1914, in Schilling, 43.

  31. Sazonov to Izvolsky, copied to London, Vienna, Rome, and Berlin, 29 July 1914, no. 221 in IBZI, vol. 5.

  32. Albertini, vol. 2, 544.

  33. Paléologue to Paris, 28 July 1914 (7:35 PM, received 11:10 PM), no. 216 in DDF, ser. 3, vol. 11.

  34. Yanushkevitch to commanders of all of Russia’s military districts, 28 July 1914, no. 210 in IBZI, vol. 5. Incidentally, the Russian sources from this night are not precisely dated by hour—even in Schilling’s Foreign Ministry logbook (Schilling, 16, 43–45), which is more informative for other dates—but a reconstruction of the timeline is still possible by comparing the dispatches of the French and German ambassadors with the memoir accounts left by Sazonov, Sukhomlinov, Dobrorolskii, and Danilov. I have followed here Albertini’s excellent reconstruction of the most likely sequence of events, in vol. 2, 539–545.

  Notes to Chapter 19“I Will Not Be Responsible for a Monstrous Slaughter!”

  1. Churchill, vol. 1, 225.

  2. Viviani, As We See It, 98.

  3. Poincaré diary, cited in Jannen Jr., 177. “Many people here seem to think war imminent”: Poincaré, Au service de la France, vol. 4, 361–362.

  4. For analysis see Albertini, vol. 2, 590–591n6.

  5. Entry for 15/28 July 1914, in Schilling, 43. “They cannot send me any instructions”: Paléologue, vol. 1, 41.

  6. Viviani to Bienvenu-Martin, no. 190 in DDF, ser. 3, vol. 11.

  7. Bienvenu-Martin to Viviani, 26 July 1914 (4:30 PM), no. 90 in DDF, ser. 3, vol. 11.

  8. Viviani to Paléologue, 27 July 1914 (noon), no. 138 in DDF, ser. 3, vol. 11, and note; for analysis, Albertini, vol. 2, 593.

  9. Citations in Jannen Jr., 177, and in Albertini, vol. 2, 597; for “enormous pile of telegrams,” Poincaré, vol. 2, 215.

  10. Poincaré, Au service de la France, vol. 4, 368–369.

  11. Log entry, 11:15 AM on 29 July 1914, in QO Autriche-Hongrie (“Conflit austro-serbe”), vol. 31; and Sazonov to Benckendorff (passed on to Viviani by Izvolsky), 28 July 1914, no. 167 in IBZI, vol. 5.

  12. See Article II of the Franco-Russian Military Agreement, updated in 1913, reproduced (with commentary) in Albertini, vol. 2, 585.

  13. Consul Brück from Warsaw to Bethmann, 29 July 1914 (arrived afternoon 30 July), in PAAA, R 19873.

  14. Viviani to Paul Cambon, 29 July 1914, no. 260 in DDF, ser. 3, vol. 11.

  15. Moltke memorandum to Bethmann, “Zur Beurteilung der politischen Lage,” 29 July 1914 (marked received same day), no. 349 in DD, vol. 2.

  16. Cited in Albertini, vol. 2, 491.

  17. Moltke memorandum to Bethmann, “Zur Beurteilung der politischen Lage.”

  18. Bethmann to Schoen, 29 July 1914 (12:50 PM), no. 341 in DD, vol. 2.

  19. Bethmann to Pourtalès, 29 July 1914 (12:50 PM), no. 342 in DD, vol. 2.

  20. Szapáry to Berchtold, 29 July 1914 (11 PM), reporting a conversation with Sazonov, in which Sazonov learned (by telephone) about the bombardment, no. 11003 in OeE-U, vol. 8. For the sequence of events detailed here, see Foreign Ministry log entry for 16/29 July 1914, in Schilling, 47–48.

  21. Pourtalès to Jagow, 29 July 1914 (8 PM), no. 378 in DD, vol. 2.

  22. Schilling, 48–49 (I have translated the internal quotes, which Schilling gives in the original French).

  23. Entry for 16/29 July, in Schilling, 49; and, for the timing (which Schilling gets wrong), see Nicky-Willy telegram of 8:20 PM, cited immediately following.

  24. Nicky to Willy fro
m Peterhof, 29 July 1914 (8:20 PM), arrived Potsdam 8:42 PM, no. 366 in DD, vol. 2.

  25. “Permission to S. D. Sazonov . . .”: Entry for 16/29 July, in Schilling, 49–50. “A war with a coalition”: Yanushkevitch to Yudenich, 16/29 July 1914, in RGVIA, fond 2000, opis’ 1, del’ 3796, list’ 19. On the mobilization orders being carried around in his pocket: citation in Albertini, vol. 2, 547.

  26. Entry for 16/29 July, in Schilling, 49–50.

  27. Dobrorolskii, 25 and passim.

  28. Willy to Nicky, 29 July 1914 (6:30 PM): deciphered at 9:20 PM and delivered to Peterhof Palace at 9:40 PM, according to Schilling, 55.

  29. Citations in Albertini, vol. 2, 558–559.

  30. Dobrorolskii, 25 and passim. Dobrorolskii claims this all happened at 9:30 PM, but as the tsar did not read Willy’s telegram until 9:40 PM, this is too early; 10 PM is a likelier estimate.

  31. Tirpitz, 287–288.

  32. Cited in Albertini, vol. 2, 500.

  33. Chelius to Jagow, 29 July 1914 (2:30 PM, received Berlin 3:15 PM), no. 344 in DD, vol. 2.

  34. Cited in Zuber, 157.

  35. German General Staff to Wilhelmstrasse, 29 July 1914 (4 PM), no. 372 in DD, vol. 2, 91–94.

  36. Lichnowsky to Jagow, 29 July 1914 (2:10 PM, arrived Berlin 4:34 PM), no. 355 in DD, vol. 2.

  37. Lichnowsky to Jagow, 29 July 1914 (2:08 PM, arrived Berlin 5:07 PM), no. 357 in DD, vol. 2.

  38. Falkenhayn notes of 29 July 1914 meeting, cited in Albertini, 502.

  39. Prince Heinrich of Prussia to Kaiser Wilhelm II, 28 July 1914, no. 374 in DD, vol. 2, 96–97. On the timing of the prince’s arrival in Potsdam, see Fay, vol. 2, 500.

  40. Goschen to Grey, 30 July 1914 (1:20 AM), reporting 10:30 PM conversation with Bethmann, no. 293 in BD, vol. 11.

  41. Sir Eyre Crowe, minuting on Goschen to Grey, 30 July 1914 (1:20 AM).

  42. Asquith, 30 July 1914, 136.

  43. Lichnowsky to Jagow, 29 July 1914 (6:39 PM, arrived Berlin 9:12 PM), no. 368 in DD, vol. 2.

  44. Buchanan to Grey, 24 July 1914 (5:40 PM), no. 101 in BD, vol. 11.

  45. Cited in Jannen Jr., 198.

  46. Churchill, vol. 1, 216.

  47. Bethmann to Tschirschky, passing on Lichnowsky’s 6:39 PM telegram with commentary, 30 July 1914 (2:55 AM), no. 395 in DD, vol. 2.

  48. Bethmann to Tschirschky, 30 July 1914 (3:00 AM), no. 396 in DD, vol. 2.

  49. Pourtalès to Bethmann Hollweg, 30 July 1914, 4:39 AM (arrived Berlin 7:10 AM), in PAAA, R 19873.

  50. Nicky to Willy from Peterhof Palace, 30 July 1914 (1:20 AM, received Potsdam 1:45 AM), no. 390 in DD, vol. 2.

  Notes to Chapter 20Slaughter It Is

  1. Kaiser’s marginal notes on Nicky to Willy from Peterhof Palace, 30 July 1914 (1:20 AM, received Potsdam 1:45 AM), no. 390 in DD, vol. 2.

  2. Kaiser’s marginal notes on Bethmann to Kaiser Wilhelm II, written 29 July 1914 and sent to Neues Palais 6 AM on 30 July 1914, passing on Pourtalès of previous day, marked read by Kaiser 7 AM, 30 July, no. 399 in DD, vol. 2.

  3. Willy to Nicky, 30 July 1914 (3:30 PM), no. 420 in DD, vol. 2; and, for immediate backdrop, Bethmann to Kaiser Wilhelm II, passing on Grey/Lichnowsky of previous night, 30 July 1914 (dispatched to Potsdam 11:15 AM by automobile), no. 407 in DD, vol. 2.

  4. Cited in Conrad, vol. 4, 151–152; see also Fay, vol. 2, 506–507 and 507n62.

  5. Albertini, vol. 3, 6.

  6. Turner, 108–109. “Far advanced”: Zuber, 157.

  7. Conrad, vol. 4, 152 (emphasis added).

  8. Cited in Turner, 109.

  9. Danilov, La Russie dans la guerre mondiale, 39.

  10. Cited in Albertini, vol. 2, 586–587.

  11. Entry for 15/28 July 1914, in Schilling, 43.

  12. See Schmidt, 334.

  13. Sazonov to Izvolsky, 17/30 July 1914, in LN, 289 (emphasis added).

  14. The best documentation of the evening’s timeline is in Schmidt, 231–232. For “Good God! . . . ,” see citations in Jannen Jr., 182–183, and Tuchman, 109 (her translation from the French is somewhat more colorful). Tuchman, however, gets the date of these encounters dramatically wrong: by two days. See also epilogue.

  15. Jules Cambon to Bienvenu-Martin, 25 July 1914, 1:15 AM, received Paris 2:50 AM, in QO Autriche-Hongrie, vol. 32.

  16. Viviani to Paléologue, 30 July 1914 (7 AM), no. 305 in DDF, ser. 3, vol. 11; also no. 294 in BD, vol. 11 (emphasis added). For further analysis of this critical dispatch, see Albertini, vol. 2, 604n1; Schmidt, 319.

  17. Poincaré diary entry, 30 July 1914, cited in Schmidt, 322.

  18. Izvolsky to Sazonov, 30 July 1914, in LN, 290.

  19. Tsar Nicholas II, diary entries for 16 (29) and 17 (30) July 1914, in GARF, fond 601, opis’ 1, del’ 261, list’ 158–160.

  20. Entry for 17/30 July 1914, in Schilling, 62–63.

  21. Ibid., 63–64. For “coax out of the French a promise of neutrality . . . upon my telephone call in the afternoon”: cited in Fay, vol. 2, 469–470.

  22. As reported by Buchanan to Grey, 30 July 1914 (1:15 PM), no. 302 in BD, vol. 11.

  23. Pourtalès to Jagow, 30 July 1914 (1:01 PM), no. 421 in DD, vol. 2.

  24. Buchanan to Grey, 30 July 1914 (1:15 PM), no. 302 in BD, vol. 11. That the Sazonov-Pourtalès meeting Sazonov discussed in Buchanan’s presence took place between 11 AM and noon on 30 July 1914 is confirmed by the numbering of Pourtalès’ telegrams to Berlin (when compared against Sazonov’s noontime meeting with Paléologue/Buchanan, and his 12:30 PM lunch with Krivoshein): Pourtalès’s 30 July 1914 (1:01 PM) telegram was no. 192, directly following no. 191, sent off at 11 AM; the one reporting the previous night’s confrontation with Sazonov, by contrast, was no. 189, sent off at 4:30 AM. For more on the timing of these meetings, see Pourtalès, 46–47.

  25. Entry for 17/30 July 1914, in Schilling, 64.

  26. Cited in Albertini, vol. 2, 570.

  27. Entry for 17/30 July 1914, in Schilling, 64–65.

  28. Paléologue, vol. 1, 45.

  29. Entry for 17/30 July 1914, in Schilling, 65–66.

  30. Dobrorolskii, 28.

  31. Entry for 18/31 July 1914, in Schilling, 69.

  32. Tsar’s mobilization directive, 30 July 1914, to be made active at midnight, cited in Schmitt, vol. 2, 245.

  33. Sazonov to Izvolsky, 17/30 July 1914, in LN, 292.

  34. Paléologue to Viviani, 30 July 1914 (9:15 PM), no. 359 in DDF, ser. 3, vol. 111. On the purging of the key sentence from this telegram from the Yellow Book, see Albertini, vol. 2, 620.

  35. Sazonov to Benckendorff, 17/30 July 1914, no. 281 in IBZI, vol. 5.

  36. Dobrorolskii, 28 and passim.

  37. Cited in Fay, vol. 2, 491.

  38. Viviani (via Abel Ferry) to Cambon, 30 July 1914: reproduced as no. 319 in BD, vol. 11. For analysis of couverture and its real nature, see Schmidt, 344–345.

  Notes to Chapter 21Last Chance Saloon

  1. Bethmann’s first urgent instructions to Vienna: Bethmann to Tschirschky, 30 July 1914 (9 PM), received Vienna 3 AM on 31 July, no. 441 in DD, vol. 2. Wired again to disregard: Bethmann to Tschirschky, 30 July 1914 (11:20 PM), no. 450 in DD, vol. 2. Changed instructions again: Bethmann to Tschirschky, 31 July 1914 (2:45 AM), arrived Vienna 9 AM, no. 464 in DD, vol. 2.

  2. Cited in Albertini, vol. 3, 33 (emphasis added).

  3. Goschen to Grey (by private letter), undated but presumably 31 July 1914, no. 677 in BD, vol. 11.

  4. Goschen to Grey, 31 July 1914 (11:55 AM), no. 337 in BD, vol. 11. This precisely dated dispatch confirms the gist of the conversation described in the longer letter, although with less detail.

  5. Pourtalès to Jagow, 31 July 1914 (10:20 AM), received Berlin 11:40 AM, no. 473 in DD, vol. 2.

  6. Details regarding Kriegsgefahrzustand in Albertini, vol. 3, 38; on the timing, see Fay, vol. 2, 523.

  7. Kaiser Wilhelm II, marginalia on Pourtalès to Jagow, 30 July 1914 (4:30 AM), received Berlin 7:10 AM, read by Kaiser at 7 PM on 30 July 1914, no. 401 in DD,
vol. 2.

  8. Willy to Nicky, 31 July 1914 (2:04 PM), no. 480 in DD, vol. 3.

  9. Willy to King George V, 31 July 1914 (12:55 PM), no. 477 in DD, vol. 2.

  10. Protocol of the meeting of the Prussian State Ministry on 30 July 1914, no. 456 in DD, vol. 2.

  11. Bethmann’s 31 July 1914 telegrams to his ambassadors comprise nos. 479, 488, 490–492 in DD, vol. 2 and vol. 3. The one to Schoen is no. 491, dispatched at 3:30 PM. The ones to Petersburg, Rome, and London were sent between 3:10 PM and 3:30 PM. No. 479, to Tschirschky in Vienna, was sent a bit earlier (1:40 PM), such that it mentioned everything but the twelve-hour deadline to Russia for compliance.

  12. Details in Marcus, 244, and Liaquat Ahamed, Lords of Finance, 29–30.

  13. Asquith, 31 July 1914, 138.

  14. Cited in Jannen Jr., 252.

  15. Grey to Bertie, 31 July 1914 (7:30 PM), no. 352 in BD, vol. 11. “Tapped on the shoulder . . . beaten you after all”: cited in Marcus, 235–236.

  16. As noted by Jannen Jr., 253.

  17. Grey to Bertie, 31 July 1914, no. 367 in BD, vol. 11, 226–227. On Grey’s source as to Russian mobilization, see Albertini, vol. 3, 373.

  18. Grey to Bertie, 31 July 1914 (5:30 PM), no. 348 in BD, vol. 11. “Unburdened himself”: cited in Jannen Jr., 254.

  19. McMeekin, Berlin-Baghdad Express, 107 and passim.

  20. On the French mobilization plan and how it intersected with the German one, see Schmidt, 343–344.

  21. Albertini, vol. 3, 67.

  22. Jules Cambon to Viviani, 31 July 1914 (2:17 PM, received 3:30 PM), no. 402 in DDF, ser. 3, vol. 11.

  23. On the dispute over whether Schoen specified that German mobilization was tantamount to war, see Albertini, vol. 3, 76–80.

  24. Viviani to Paléologue, 31 July 1914 (9/9:30 PM), no. 438 in DDF, ser. 3, vol. 11; and, for Viviani’s promise to reply by 1 PM on Saturday, Schoen to Jagow, 31 July 1914 (8:17 PM, received 1 August 12:30 AM), no. 528 in DD, vol. 3.

  25. Cited in Albertini, vol. 3, 91.

  26. Paléologue to Viviani, 31 July 1914 (10:43 AM, received 8:30 PM), in QO Autriche-Hongrie, vol. 32.

  27. Viviani to Paléologue, 31 July 1914 (9/9:30 PM), no. 438 in DDF, ser. 3, vol. 11. For the point about decoding taking only a few minutes: Albertini, vol. 3, 89.

  28. Cited in Beatty, 244.

  29. Tuchman, Proud Tower, 461; for the details on the pistols, Berenson, Trial of Madame Caillaux, 242.