Declaration of War by Austria—­Bombardment of Belgrade—­ Servian Capital Removed—­Seasoned Soldiers of Servia Give a Good Account of Themselves—­Many Indecisive Engagements—­Servians in Austrian Territory.

Formal declaration of war against Servia was proclaimed by Austria on Tuesday, July 28.  The text of the official announcement was as follows: 

“The Royal Government of Servia not having given a satisfactory reply to the note presented to it by the Austro-Hungarian Ministry in Belgrade on July 23, 1914, the Imperial and Royal Government of Austria-Hungary finds it necessary itself to safeguard its rights and interests and to have recourse for this purpose to the force of arms.  Austria-Hungary, therefore, considers itself from this moment in a state of war with Servia.”

This declaration was signed by Count Berchtold, the Austrian minister for foreign affairs.

The events that immediately preceded the declaration of war, as summarized in a previous chapter, were as follows: 

On June 28 a Slav student who thought he was a patriot killed the Archduke Francis Ferdinand, heir to the Austrian throne, at Serajevo, the capital of Bosnia, which had been lately made a province of Austria.  An inquiry was begun in which evidence was introduced to show that the assassin’s work was part of a plot for the revolt of the Southern Slav provinces of Austria, and that it was instigated by Servians, if not by the Servian Government.  On July 23, however, before the investigation was completed, Austria sent an ultimatum to Servia demanding that it use every means in its power to punish the assassins and also to stop all further anti-Austrian propaganda.  Austria demanded that she be permitted to have representatives in the work of investigation in Servia.

The next day, July 24, Russia joined the little Slav country in asking for a delay.  Austria refused to grant this.

On July 25, ten minutes before 6 p.m., the hour at which the ultimatum expired, the Servian premier, M. Pashitch, gave his reply to the Austrian ambassador at Belgrade.  Servia agreed to all the conditions and apologies demanded by Austria, except the requirement that Austrian officials should be allowed to participate in the inquiry to be conducted in Servia into the assassination of the Archduke.  Even this was not definitely refused.

On July 27 the Austrian foreign office issued a statement in which appeared these words: 

“The object of the Servian note is to create the false impression that the Servian Government is prepared in great measure to comply with our demands.

“As a matter of fact, however, Servians note is filled with the spirit of dishonesty, which clearly lets it be seen that the Servian Government is not seriously determined to put an end to the culpable tolerance it hitherto has extended to intrigues against the Austro-Hungarian monarchy.”