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298
THE TRAGIC WEEK [chap. xvii.
punish the Serbians—die Friedenstorer—as they deserve.
You wish to prevent this. Very well, we cannot permit
you to assume this role of forced protectors of the
Serbians or of any other Balkan nation ; that gives these
small States a pride and an audacity which are
incompatible with the dignity and the vital interests of
Austria-Hungary and of Germany herself. That is
what we wish to stop, that is what we are arming for."
" But how can we entirely abandon our role of
protectors of the Slav and Orthodox nationalities of the Near
East ? It is an historical fact. One cannot go up-stream
in history! I could quite understand your saying to us :
come to some arrangement with Austria to maintain
order and political security in the Balkans. But to
undertake armed action in Serbia and then to say that it
does not concern us—that our public opinion could
never understand nor would it forgive the Imperial
Government if it agreed to such a thing ! . . . Just think:
during the last five years this is, so to speak, the third
ultimatum that you have virtually presented to us on the
subject of Balkan affairs. In March, 1909, you ordered
us to bow to the fact of the annexation of Bosnia; we
did bow to it. In 1912 you demanded that we should
make the Serbians retire from the northern coast of
Albania and the Montenegrins abandon Scutari; we
set about doing this honestly, in spite of the protests
and cries of the greater portion of our Press. Now you
wish us to be passive and indifferent spectators of the
execution of Serbia, without our even knowing how far
this execution will go! Come, come ! do you consider
it possible for our Foreign Office, for His Majesty the
Emperor himself to consent to this third capitulation ? "
"Of course, I realise that it would be difficult for you,
but for us it is impossible to recognise your right to
protect Serbia against us. It is impossible, quite
impossible!"
" Listen, Reichenau," 1 said, seized with deep and
sincere emotion; "think, think well over what you are
doing. You are unloosing a terrible war, a struggle
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