Austria-Hungary orders general mobilisation

On 31 July 1914 Emperor Franz Joseph I ordered the mobilisation of the entire army and navy of Austria-Hungary. That same day the Chief of the General Staff, Franz Conrad von Hötzendorf, informed his German counterpart by telegram: “According to the decision of His Majesty the resolution is: war against Serbia. Mobilisation of the rest of the army, which is to be assembled in Galicia. First day of mobilisation 4 August. Order of mobilisation given today, 31 July.” According to the French ambassador in Vienna, the mobilisation covered men aged 19 to 42.

Pressure from Berlin

Until then the monarchy had mobilised only the forces intended against Serbia and Montenegro. On 29 July Russia had announced the mobilisation of four districts aimed at Austria-Hungary, and Vienna concluded that it had to respond. On 30 July the Austro-Hungarian ambassador in Berlin reported that the Chief of the German General Staff, Helmuth von Moltke, was urgently advising an immediate general mobilisation. According to the Austrian historian Manfried Rauchensteiner, Moltke wanted it to be a response to the Russian moves, so that Russia would appear the aggressor. Meanwhile Chancellor Theobald von Bethmann Hollweg, through the ambassador in Vienna, was urging acceptance of British mediation. In Vienna the soldiers’ view prevailed. According to information passed to Berlin on 31 July, the decision had been taken the day before, and the order went out on 31 July.

That same day Berlin already knew of the general mobilisation in Russia. Bethmann Hollweg telegraphed to Vienna that Germany had proclaimed a state of imminent danger of war, which would be followed within 48 hours by mobilisation, and “this inevitably means war”. He added: “We expect from Austria immediate active participation in the war with Russia.”

The council in Vienna

On 31 July the joint council of ministers met in Vienna under the chairmanship of the Foreign Minister, Leopold Berchtold. The subject was the British mediation proposal passed on by the Germans. Berchtold declared that operations against Serbia must continue, that the proposal could not be discussed as long as Russia did not halt its mobilisation, and that the Austro-Hungarian conditions had to be accepted in full. He called a mere occupation of Belgrade “tinsel”. The joint Finance Minister, the Pole Leon Biliński, observed that the mobilisation had created an entirely new situation and that proposals which would earlier have been acceptable no longer were. The Austrian Prime Minister, Karl Stürgkh, said that the very idea of a conference was so odious to him that he wished to avoid even the appearance of agreeing to it. The council unanimously adopted the formula of the Hungarian Prime Minister, István Tisza: Vienna was in principle ready to consider the British proposal, but only on condition that the war with Serbia continued and Russia halted its mobilisation.

Franz Joseph explained his decision in a telegram to Wilhelm II. He wrote that immediately after receiving Grey’s proposal he had learned of the Russian mobilisation of the districts bordering the monarchy. “Conscious of my serious duties for the future of my realm, I have ordered the mobilisation of my whole army and navy,” he declared. He would not interrupt the action against Serbia, because another rescue of Serbia by Russia would have the gravest consequences for his lands.

Conrad’s dilemma

General mobilisation did not solve a problem that Conrad had created for himself. The plans assumed that in a war with Russia the so-called B-Echelon, headed by the Second Army, would go north to Galicia. But the B-Echelon had already been mobilised against Serbia. According to Rauchensteiner, few transports had left by 31 July: on 30 July 31 trains set off for the Balkans, and 42 the next day. The head of the General Staff’s railway office, Colonel Johann Straub, argued that if the transports to the south were stopped the railway network would no longer be able to cope. Despite pressure from the German General Staff, which wanted the Serbian front relegated to a secondary role, most of the B-Echelon went to the Balkans. It was moved east only later.

The monarchy still delayed declaring war on Russia, because Conrad wanted to advance mobilisation and the concentration of troops as far as possible. The declaration came on 6 August, and at the end of the month the first great battles were fought in Galicia, in which the Austro-Hungarian army suffered heavy losses.