the subject by disputing the assertion that a Crown-Council took place on July 5th “which decided on war with Serbia, or, according to another version, on the world-war.” But the study which is supposed to set us right only declares:
(1) That no Crown-Council took place, but merely individual conversations.
(2) That the world-war was not decided on. (There is no mention of the war with Serbia.)
It concludes as follows:
“From the telegram (of the German Government} to Vienna of July 6th, and the personal letter of the Kaiser William of July 14th, it is clear that in Berlin the possibility of Russian intervention and its consequences were taken into account with other factors, but that a general war was not considered in the least probable. And as the attached documents indisputably show, there could have been no intention of letting loose a European war.” (Page 57.)
Lichnowsky reports on this in his memorandum:
“I learned positively that at the critical conference in Potsdam on July 5th, the inquiry addressed to us by Vienna found the most uncompromising affirmation from all the leading men present, and in addition it was thought that it would be no harm even if the result should be a war with Russia. So at least it appears from the Austrian protocol which Count Mensdorff received in London.” (Page 28.)
Count Szögyeny, Austrian Ambassador in Berlin, reports on his conversation with William on July 5th:
