on hearing that Serbia possessed a powerful army. When Pasics gave vent to the project that there should be an alliance by marriage between the Serbian and the Russian dynasties, so that the Queen would be the Czarina of all the Southern Slavs, the Czar accepted this suggestion according to the report of the Serbian statesman "with visible joy." This characteristic interview ended with the statement of the mighty Czar that he would "do everything for Serbia."
All this proves that in 1908 and 1909 Russia did not want a war à propos of the Bosnian annexation, but only because she considered herself to be too weak; but, on the other hand, it shows that she had already approved of the Pan-Serbian idea. Russian diplomacy worked steadily in order to ensure that Serbia should not surrender her aggressive wishes, although she knew that the realization of these wishes could only be rendered possible after the war. In connection with the Balkan War, Russia did not yet desire an armed conflict, but again, only because her preparations were incomplete, at the same time, with incredible care, she fed the flame from which the present firebrand was lit. By encouraging Serbia to keep alive the Pan-Serbian ideal, she made sure that this was done at our expense and not at that of Bulgaria.
Russia's responsibility for the war is therefore not in question. Russia collected the materials for the European conflagration with conscious tenacity.
She had determined upon our destruction, whether by war or by revolution.
