"Have you decided?" Li Haydn, who had been designated as crown prince by Emperor Franz, looked at the Foreign Minister Porchitot and Chief of Staff Condra, who were standing in front of him, and asked faintly.

Nearly a month after the assassination of the Grand Duke Ferdinand and his wife in Sarajevo, he has been in Vienna, trying to prevent the war from happening. But it is useless. Militants have gained the absolute advantage in the Vienna government. Serbian radicals provided them with the best excuse. The Austro-Hungarian rulers who had coveted the legacy of the Ottoman Empire in the Balkans for many years could no longer resist the greed in their hearts. But they only saw the weak Serbia, and perhaps the Tsarist Russia, which could not be protected behind them.

After obtaining the guarantee from the German Emperor, they became more determined. The Russians were dealt with by the Germans, while the Austro-Hungarian Empire only had to deal with the Serbs.

But no one saw clearly the British hiding at the back. The Germans seemed to think that Britain would not declare war. The British used an ambiguous expression to make the Germans convinced that Britain would not participate in the war. It seemed that the Germans could only deal with the Russians and the French. If William II knew the true thoughts of the British, he would not declare war rashly.

After receiving the clear support of the French and the secret guarantees of the British, Nicholas II issued a general mobilization order. In fact, before that, they once wanted to give up the Serbs.

But the British assured the Russians at a critical moment that they would join the war.

But now, no one can see this, it is just July 23rd.

Porchitot took out the emperor's handwriting: Then let's fight!

That's what Emperor Franz Joseph really wrote, with a hint of helplessness in his tone. The emperor himself could not change the decisions made by the senior officials of the imperial government.

Lee Haydn signed his name on the ultimatum to Serbia handed over by Porchitot. This was actually a declaration of war. The Serbs could not accept the police sent by the Austro-Hungarian Empire to arrest and trial anti-Austrian militants at will, which undoubtedly completely damaged sovereignty.

The Serbian government had the ability to stop the assassination, but they did nothing. You should know that the "Black Shadow" cut their king into meat sauce in 1903, and had a considerable force in the government and the army. They allowed such an organization that advocated violence and terror, and should have been punished.

"The Russians will definitely participate in the war, Condra, please be prepared." Lee Hayden did not forget to remind his chief of staff, but he could see from the other party's eyes that the chief of staff of the Army did not take the advice of a crown prince as an admiral to heart.

But the Serbs almost accepted this ultimatum. The Russians initially decided to compromise, and they were not sure whether Britain would stand on their side. The Austro-Hungarian Empire proposed extremely harsh conditions to Serbia on July 23, limiting the reply within 48 hours. In order to endure humiliation, Serbia was forced to accept all other conditions except for the Austrian side to send personnel to pursue the murderer.

At this critical moment, British Prime Minister Gray made it clear to Russian Foreign Minister Samzonov that the British would stand on the side of the Russians and even participate in the war. Although during the day, King George V of England was still publicly proclaiming to the world: "We will do all our efforts to not be involved in the war, but ensure neutrality."

The reason why the Germans guaranteed the Austro-Hungarian Empire was because they mistakenly thought that Britain would be out of the matter. Now the British acted as if they did not want to get involved in this matter. They were put into a trap by the British.

After receiving Russia's assurance, the Serbs began to become tough. On the morning of July 28, it was clear that Belgrade refused the final note from the Austro-Hungarian Empire. At noon, the Austro-Hungarian Empire declared war on Serbia.

The war has begun.

Lee Haydn could only be a spectator. Although he became the crown prince, the emperor and the parliament did not give him the military command he wanted. At most, he could give some suggestions to the Chief of Staff of the Army Condra.

He would rather be the Chief of Staff of the Army, but this is absolutely impossible.

Condra and the General Staff made a mistake at the beginning, and they willingly believed that the Russians would not participate in the war and focused their main forces on the Serbian border when formulating war plans.

But the Russians did not do what they wanted. After the Russians announced the national mobilization on July 30, Condra hurriedly transferred his army from the Danube side on the Osai border to Galicia on the Austro-Russian border.

On July 31, Berlin submitted an ultimatum to Russia and France respectively. In an ultimatum to Tsarist Russia, Germany asked Russia to cancel its general mobilization order "within 12 hours of receiving the ultimatum". The ultimatum to France required Paris to announce within 18 hours that if a war broke out between Russia and Germany, France would remain neutral. If France remain neutral, it would have to hand over the fortresses of Turkey and Verdun to Germany as a guarantee of neutrality and return it after the war was over. Russia did not want to respond at all, but France made a brief reply: "We must act according to our own interests."

At this time, the Second German Empire had no choice.

On August 1, Germany declared war on Russia and the next day.

But on August 4, Britain suddenly declared war on Germany, giving the Allies a heavy blow.

Emperor William II of Germany almost fainted by this stick: Oh, ah, what's going on? Didn't you agree to be neutral?!

The next process Li Haidn can no longer be changed.

A big mistake made by the Germans was the strategic direction. They kept the rules and regarded the Western Front as the main attack direction, rather than concentrating their all-out efforts to defeat the weaker Russians first. They spent a lot of time and energy in the Liege Fortress in Belgium, but the French were able to arrange their troops calmly.

After the war broke out, there were almost a series of news of failure: the German army was blocked by the Belgians in Liège, and the Russians' actions were unexpectedly swift, defeating the German Eighth Army in the Battle of Compinan on the Eastern Front, and the Germans seemed to be about to lose the entire East Prussia.

On the Austro-Russian border, Kondra rashly ordered an active attack on the Russians despite the shortage of troops on the front line. After suffering the initial failure, the Russians gradually gained a foothold and began to launch a counterattack, gradually taking the initiative on the battlefield.

Lee Haydn can no longer control these things. The Austro-Hungarian Empire needs a victory to boost morale in the country. Otherwise, the Imperial Army, which had already had complex relations, would quickly collapse due to these upcoming failures.

He returned to Trieste.

The first conflict with Britain and France on the European battlefield occurred at sea.
Chapter completed!