tria, and his wife, the Duchess of Hohenberg, paid a
visit to Serajevo, the capital of Bosnia, and were there murdered by
Bosnian assassins. It has not been proved that Germany had any part in
the murder, but she was quite willing to take advantage of it. The Kiel
canal, joining the Baltic with the North Sea had just been widened to
admit the largest battleships, and the German army had just been raised
to an unexampled strength. The gun was loaded and pointed; if it was
allowed to be fired by accident the military rulers of Germany were much
to blame. They were not in the habit of trusting any part of their plans
to accident. But the excitement caused by the Archduke's murder was
allowed to die away, and an uneasy calm succeeded. On the 23rd of July
the Austrian Government, alleging that the Serajevo assassinations had
been planned in Belgrade, presented to Serbia, with the declared
approval of Germany, an ultimatum, containing demands of so extreme a
character that the acceptance of them would have meant the abandonment
by Serbia of her national independence. Serbia appealed to Russia, and,
acting on Russia's advice, accepted all the demands except two. These
two, which involved the appointment of Austro-Hungarian delegates to
assist in administering the internal affairs of Serbia, were not bluntly
rejected; Serbia asked that they should be referred to the Hague
Tribunal. Austria replied by withdrawing her minister, declaring war
upon Serbia, and bombarding Belgrade. This action was bound to involve
Russia, who could not stand by and see the Slavonic States of southern
Europe destroyed and annexed. But the Russian Government, along with the
Governments of France, Great Britain, and Italy, did their utmost to
preserve the peace. They suggested mediation and a conference of the
Powers. Germany alone refused. Alleging that Russia had already
mobilized her army, she decreed a state of war, and on Saturday, the 1st
of August, declared war upon Russia. France by her treaty with Russia
would shortly have become involved; but the German Government would not
wait for her. They judged it all-important to gain a military success at
the very start of the war, and to this everything had to give way. They
declared war on France, and massed armies along the frontier between
Liege and Luxembourg, with the intention of forcing a passage through
Belgium. England, who was one of the guarantors of the integrity of
Belgium, was thus involve