Count Berchtold, who was Austrian Premier in July, 1914, is
revealed in the Red Book as a man after Bismarck's own heart. Bismarck precipitated the Franco-Prussian War by editing a despatch from King William at Ems, concerning his interview with Benedetti, so that instead of giving a pacific turn to the incident it became intensely provocative to France. As Bismarck said, he converted a chamade into a fanfare— a signal for retreat into an order to advance—and brought on the war that he desired. Count Berchtold on July 28th, 1914, informed the aged Emperor Francis Joseph that the Serbs had fired on Austrian troops, and that for this reason he must sign a declaration of war on Serbia. Having obtained his master's signature, Count Berchtold struck out the reference to the alleged Serbian attack, on the ground that the reports had not been confirmed. He had told the Emperor a deliberate lie in order to secure his formal assent to war. With such men as Count Berchtold and Herr von Bethmann. Hollweg in power at Vienna and Berlin, it was obviously impossible for British diplomacy to avert the catastrophe.
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