Countdown to War. Day 5, 2 July: 1914 – year of peace?

One hundred years ago today, on Thursday 2 July 1914, Britain was undergoing a heatwave. In London, temperatures reached 90 Fahrenheit (or 32 Celsius as the Continentals, who always want to be different, called it). 

And, as Martin’s crew discovered from the Manchester Guardian, there were other hotspots around the world. One article reported on “the cruelties committed on Greeks in Asia Minor” by their Turkish rulers. Or was it the other way round? Neither side was behaving well, it seemed, as a piece about “Balkan charges and counter-charges” made clear:

For some time past the Anglo-Hellenic League, the Ottoman Association, and other English bodies pledged to the support of the Moslem or Christian Balkan races have been bandying charges of atrocity which have made it clear that the aftermath of war have left the Balkans in an appalling state. Responsibility for this is attributed, in large measure, to the Christian races in the letter that we publish from Miss Durham – an eye-witness of both the Balkan wars; while an English gentleman travelling in the Aegean islands brings serious charges against the Turks.

A plague on both your houses, then. Six of one and half a dozen of the other. Pots and kettles.

Meanwhile, the dust still hadn’t settled after the assassinations in Sarajevo. It had emerged that the Archduke and his wife had never stood a chance of leaving alive:

Persons connected with the suite of the Archduke ... are reported as saying that the plot against the Archduke was so widely extended that it was impossible for him to leave Bosnia alive. They declare that under the luncheon table prepared for the Archduke and Duchess after their return from the Town Hall at noon were found two clockwork bombs. Another similar bomb was found in the chimney of the room.

Arrest of Gavrilo Princip, author of the Sarajevo murders
Four days later, disturbances were still going on in the region

There had also been “Disorders in many towns”:

Demonstrations were made yesterday at Konyitza (Herzegovina) by the Mussulman and Catholic inhabitants. There were also anti-Servian disturbances, during which the windows of several Servian houses were broken... 

Demonstrations took place at Livno (Bosnia), where several Servian shops and Servian schools were attacked...

At Zavidovitz (Bosnia) the day before yesterday a crowd of Mussulmans and Catholics assembled before the Servian club. Through a window was seen a portrait of King Peter of Servia hanging on a wall. The crowd broke into the building and demolished the furniture. The police dispersed the mob.

At least there was one place where the communities had shown their ability to rise above their differences:

In Banyaluka (Bosnia) great memorial ceremonies took place, in which Servian national societies participated.

Some, it seemed, appreciated peace. 

As did ordinary citizens in Britain and North America. Preparations for peace celebrations were under way, since 24 December 1914 would be the centenary of the signing of the Treaty of Ghent and the end of war between Britain and the United States. The Guardian picked up a piece from the Daily Chronicle:

The decision of the House of Representatives at Washington against a grant of money to promote the celebration of the centenary of the Treaty of Ghent should not discourage the supporters of the movement who represent the leading men of all parties in the United States, England and Canada. The movement did not originate in official quarters, it has been spontaneous and popular, and while it would add to its completeness for it to receive official recognition, it will not militate against its success if it remains of a voluntary character. The War of 1812 was ended not by the action of legislators, politicians, or diplomatists, but by the force of public opinion.

That was encouraging. The year 1914 could end, despite the many troubles in the world, under the sign of peace. A peace demanded on both sides of the Atlantic by peoples who had understood the futility of war. An idea with an attractive ring to it.

Countdown to War. Day 4, 1 July: so there weren't just Serbs in Bosnia. Who would have guessed?

One hundred years ago today, Wednesday 1 July 1914, our young Mancunian railwayman and his friends, leafing through their Manchester Guardian, would have read that the bodies of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie, brought to the coast from Sarajevo, had been picked up by a battleship of the Austrian navy.
“Austria has a navy?” Martin might have asked. “How does a country without a coastline get an Empire that stretches to the sea?”

Inland, the assassinations had sparked trouble:

Violent demonstrations have been made in many parts of Bosnia by Catholics and Moslems against the Orthodox Serbs. Many shops and houses have been looted and several persons injured. The disorders, in part no doubt genuine proofs of devotion to the Hapsburgs [the imperial family], would be more important than they are were they not largely due to an old political animosity.

Curious. So there were three communities in Bosnia, not just the Serbs. And they didn’t like each other very much. Nor were the problems limited to Bosnia: in the Diet (parliament) of the Austrian province of Croatia, “an angry quarrel between the Croatian Nationalists and the Croat-Servian coalition caused a suspension of the sitting.”

More internal dissension, then. 

That chap, Princip, the student who shot the Archduke and his wife, was a Serb nationalist, but in the province next door it seemed there were Croats who were just as nationalist in their own cause. Always a recipe for trouble, that kind of thing. Bosnia, Serbia, Croatia were none of his business, of course, but he couldn’t help feeling it would be a good idea to sort out those tensions before they became really nasty.

Sir Edward Grey, Foreign Secretary
He had plenty on his plate.
Long before Martin or his mates knew it

In another piece, the Manchester Guardian turned its attention to Sir Edward Grey, the British Foreign Secretary. Not in connection with Austria or Serbia, but with the other end of the Balkans altogether, where Turks and Greeks were being thoroughly vile to each other, and leaving a trail of bodies behind them. Challenged by his critics, Grey had one of his officials reply:

...as regards your proposal that his Majesty’s Government should suggest to the Greek and Turkish Governments their acceptance of an international commission to regulate the reciprocal emigration of their Christian and Moslem subjects, and the adjustment of losses thereby incurred, I am to state that Sir E. Grey considers that these objects should be attainable by the Turco-Greek Commission already designed for the purpose and, further, it is his experience that offers of mediation are seldom acceptable to Powers at variance unless they can be made at the desire of both of them.

Yes. If there was too much bad blood between them for the parties to agree among themselves, mediation was never going to work. The idea of swapping populations, on the other hand, was a good one. It made no sense to have Christians living in Muslim countries or Muslims in Christendom. The faiths weren’t designed to get on with each other.

How could there ever be peace between them?