Context: during the July Crisis of 1914, the Austrian government agreed with the Hungarian portion that, in a war with Serbia (following the assassination of Franz Ferdinand), Austria-Hungary would not annex a foot of Serbian land.
When Friedrich von Pourtalés (German ambassador to Russia) met with Sergey Sazonov (Russian foreign minister) to convince him to cancel Russian mobilisation (as Russia wanted to protect Serbia), Sazonov refuses, telling Pourtalés, “if Austria-Hungary swallows Serbia, we will go to war.” Pourtalés, however, thinks little of this statement – he had no idea that Austria-Hungary had zero intention of annexing any Serbian land.
The significance? This was one of many points in the July Crisis where war could have been avoided (like in a movie where things seem to happen for the sake of the plot).
by undying_anomaly
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Context: during the July Crisis of 1914, the Austrian government agreed with the Hungarian portion that, in a war with Serbia (following the assassination of Franz Ferdinand), Austria-Hungary would not annex a foot of Serbian land.
When Friedrich von Pourtalés (German ambassador to Russia) met with Sergey Sazonov (Russian foreign minister) to convince him to cancel Russian mobilisation (as Russia wanted to protect Serbia), Sazonov refuses, telling Pourtalés, “if Austria-Hungary swallows Serbia, we will go to war.” Pourtalés, however, thinks little of this statement – he had no idea that Austria-Hungary had zero intention of annexing any Serbian land.
The significance? This was one of many points in the July Crisis where war could have been avoided (like in a movie where things seem to happen for the sake of the plot).
WWI has so many movie moments like this. If you had a serious movie where the assassins who set the events in motion were part of a group called “The Black Hand” I’d roll my eyes thinking it was a bit too much on the nose
It wasn’t Russia’s fault for protecting Serbia, it was entirely Austria-Hungary and Germany’s fault for invading a neutral country. And they absolutely had the intention of annexing Serbia via turning them into a puppet like they did to Bosnia.