Prelude to the Great War: Russia

[Russia] is a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma…
– Winston Churchill, October 1939
While this quote is taken from a time 25 years after the beginning of the Great War, it is certainly applicable to the Russia of 1914 as well….
The Lost History of 1914: How the Great War Was Not Inevitable, by Jack Beatty.
Buchlau
In September 1908 at the Austrian foreign minister’s castle in Buchlau, Russian foreign minister Alexander Izvolski stepped into it; best to simply describe the aftermath, as who agreed to what is somewhat murky:
Russia would look benignly on the annexation of Bosnia-Herzegovina by the Dual Monarchy…. In return, Vienna would support Russia’s attempt to seek a new international agreement opening the [Turkish] Straits to its warships.
Izlovski either never agreed to this or stated he would take the proposal back to the Tsar. After much wailing and gnashing of teeth (and after an ultimatum from Austria’s ally Germany), the annexation was recognized by Russia.
Bargaining away two Slavic provinces to the Catholic monarchy was a bit too much for many Russians to accept – a betrayal of Slavdom.

This post was published at Lew Rockwell on July 18, 2016.