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i9i3] PAN-GERMANS AT WORK
215
thought of going at once to the help of Serbia when she
was attacked from behind by the Bulgarians; and the
desperate efforts of conscientious men of worth in both
countries were required to lead them back into the path
of honour and self-sacrifice !
I could not rid myself of the obsession that the
two Central Empires would never be reconciled to
the results of the Balkan War and of the Bukharest
Treaty. Germany having caused Adrianople to be
restored to the Turks and having herself regained all
her influence in Stambul, now had to fulfil her
engagements to Austria-Hungary, that is to say she had to
contribute to the humiliating and weakening of Serbia,
whose victories and political successes were making
her a centre of attraction to the Slav populations of the
Empire of the Hapsburgs.
From the signing of the Treaty of Bukharest I was
daily expecting either that we should be forced to enter
into conversations — most humiliating for us — with
Vienna and Berlin and to allow the two Central Powers
to seize advantages on the political ground of the Balkans
which would annul all the successes of 1912 and 1913, or
else that we should be attacked by the Central Empires.
As far as I know Sazonoff did not share these fears.
Resolved to oppose a calm and dignified resistance to
all attempts at political blackmail on Berlin’s part,
reckoning steadfastly on the support of France and
England, he believed that this attitude and this support
would suffice to check German policy on the dangerous
slope which could only lead to the formidable abyss of
a world-war. Subsequent events proved the futility of
these calculations. The Treaty of Bukharest had
singularly reinforced the arguments and the propaganda
of the Pan-Germans. And at the same time the active
co-operation of Turkey was again assured to Germany
in the event of a conflict, and to this co-operation that
of Bulgaria was added in spe. From that time the
military party in Berlin was only concerned with
precipitating matters, with injecting energy and courage
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