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Updated: May 5, 2025
To break up the Austrian Empire and achieve for Russia the Slav Caliphate of South-East Europe whilst defeating Prussia with the help of France and of Russia's old enemy and Prussia's old ally England, was a temptation so enormous that Sazonoff, in resisting it so far as to shew Sir Edward Grey frankly the only chance of preventing it, proved himself the most genuine humanitarian in the diplomatic world.
The reply of Russia to this warning was quite conciliatory. The Russian foreign minister, M. Sazonoff, assured the British minister that Russia had no aggressive intentions, and would take no action unless forced. Austria's action, M. Sazonoff added, in reality aimed at over-throwing Russia's influence in the Balkans. This statement was believed in England to lack sincerity.
Even on August 1 the Austrian Ambassador at Petrograd expressed to the Foreign Minister, Sazonoff, the hope that things had not gone too far . There was then still a hope that Sir Edward Grey's offer of friendly mediation might be accepted by Germany, Austria, and Russia. But on August 1 Germany declared war on Russia.
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