Georgia: another Sarajevo moment avoided

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<The great powers learnt in 1914 that small conflicts can easily and quite accidentally trigger world wars
William Rees-Mogg

Who has heard of Freiherr von Musulin, apart from a few historians of Austria-Hungary and students of the diplomatic causes of the First World War? In 1925, he published his memoirs, which were reviewed in The Times Literary Supplement by the eminent historian, Lewis Namier. Musulin called his memoirs Das Haus am Ballplatz, which was the name of the Austrian Foreign Office.

Baron Musulin is not an outstanding figure in the history of European diplomacy; he was infinitely far from being a Metternich or a Talleyrand, yet perhaps he reshaped European history to a greater degree than either of them. From 1910 to 1916 he held the comparatively unimportant post of Chief of the Department for Church Affairs. In the summer of 1913, he took his holiday in Croatia, the country of his birth; on his return to Vienna he wrote a report on the Serbian problem, a subject on which he had not previously been regarded as an expert.

At some time in July 1914 he was asked to draft a diplomatic ultimatum to Serbia: “Wherein, on the basis of Serbia's moral responsibility for the events of June 28 certain demands would be addressed to her for the suppression in future of Great-Serb propaganda.” He believed himself to have a reputation for “abilities for office work and stylistic skill”. He drafted the note on the assumption that the Serbians would accept it.>

More: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/william_rees_mogg/article4498781.ece

[no_hypocrisy]

1. He drafted the note on the assumption that the Serbians would accept it.

That's not what I remember. The last term of the list of demands was for Serbia to effectively relinquish its sovereignty to Austrio-Hungarian empire as well as onerous terms of restitution to the monarchy to pay for its loss of a royal heir. It was known that Serbia would not accept this provision. Serbia did attempt to negotiate this term or to have it deleted but the demand was "all or nothing". Hence, the First World War.

[PatSeg]

2. You are more informed about World War I

than I am. The more I research it, the more confused I become. I am experiencing a similar "confusion" with this Georgia-Russia conflict. Somehow I cannot completely believe either side's assertions.