Page:Diplomacy and the War (Andrassy 1921).djvu/76

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WHO PERPETRATED THE WAR?
69

A breach between Bulgaria and Serbia would be a chance for Austria, and the agony of Serbia would only be prolonged for many years." Is it possible to be more explicit?

In the same year the Serbian Ambassador in Petrograd reported that an authoritative person had brought the following to his notice: "We are immediately faced by the danger of a general European War, and the reason that this war had been avoided at the expense of moral sacrifices, was to be traced, among other things, to the desire to give the allies in the Balkans opportunity for recovery, and to prepare themselves for possibilities which may come to be realized within the near future."

The chief representative of the Pan-Serbian idea, Pasics, wired to Belgrade in 1914 that the Czar had told him that he had "done his duty to the Slavs," by mobilizing during the Balkan War against Austria-Hungary. The Czar encouraged Pasics to induce Serbia to approach Roumania, because the Roumanians who were domiciled in Austria and Hungary were anxious to join up with Roumania. When the Serbian President boasted before the Czar that the Southern Slavs gravitated outwards, he noticed that the Czar was very pleased. Nicholas expressed the hope that the Russian banks would now take a greater interest in Slavonic countries than they had done heretofore. He said that Austria treated her Slav citizens very badly, and he emphasized that this procedure was sure to be avenged. The Czar expressed the greatest joy