International Law Studies—Volume 17 International Law Documents Neutrality Breaking of Diplomatic Relations War With Notes U.S. Naval War College (Editor) The thoughts and opinions expressed are those of the authors and not necessarily of the U.S. Government, the U.S. Department of the Navy or the Naval War College. 38 .l!ustria-Hungary Ultimatwm to Serbia. , n i 8 1JI is sal of German JJ!linister, September 13, 1917. The Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Argentine Republic to the Argentine Minister. Ar.Gr~N TIKE l\liXISTER: Please deliver to the Gennan Government the following: The Argentine Government has recognized and valued highly the exalted 1nanner in which the Government of Germany has soh·ecl in mnple tenns all the Argentine clailns, but must inform the Gennan Governn1ent that, because of the texts of l\Hnister von Luxburg's telegrmns which have been published, he has ceased to be persona grata, and in consequence this Governn1ent has delivered to hiln his passports. AUSTRIA-HUNGARY. Ultimatum to Serbia, July ·22, 1914.1 [Austro-Hungarian Red Book.] VII. Count Berchtold to Baron von Giesl, Belgrade. VIENNA, July 22, 1911.. You a re directed to hand the follo\ving note to the Royal Govern­ ment, in the course of the afternoon of Thursday, July· 23: · On the 31st of l\1arch, 1909, the Servian minister in Vienna, on instructions fr01n the Servian Government, made the follo\ving declaration to. the Itnperial and Royal Government: Servia recognizes that the fait accompli regarding Bosnia has not af­ fected her rights, and consequently she will conform to such decisions as t he powers may take with regard to Article XXV of the treaty of Berlin. In deference to the advice of the great powers, Servia undertakes to re­ liounce lwnceforth the attitude of protest and opposition which she has adopted with regard to the annexation since last autumn. She undertakes, moreover, to modify the direction of her present policy toward Austria­ Hungary and to live in future on good neighborly terms with the latter. The history of recent years, and in particular the painful events of the 28th of June last, have disclosed the existence of a subversive nwve1neut \vith the object of detnching a part of the territories of A nstria-Hnngary frOin the Monarchy. Tl1e n1ovement, ·which had it~ birth under the eye of the Servian Government, has gone so fa r as to 1nake itself n1anifest beyond the Servian frontier in the ~ hape of acts of terrorism and a series of outrages and murders. Far fron1 carrying out the formal undertakings contained in the c!eclarntion of the 31st of l\1arch, 1909, the Royal Servian Govern­ Inent has done nothing to repress this 1noven1ent. It has tolerated 1l1e crilninal activity of various societies and associations directed ~1gains t the l\1onarchy, the licentious langunge of the press, the glorification of the authors of outrages, arid the participation of 1 Delivered personally at 6 p. m~, July 23, 1914. (Serbian Blue Book, No. :32.) Ultimat~wn to ;Sf erbia. 3D <Jfficers and functiortaries in subversive agitation. It has per­ Initted an unwholesome propaganda in public instruction. In short, it has pennittecl all manifestations of a nature to incite the Servian population to hatred of the l\1onarchy and contempt fo1· its institutions. This culpable tolerance of the Royal Servian Government had not ceased at the 1noment when the events of the 28th of .Tune last denwnstrated its 01ninous consequences to the world. It is evident from the depositions and confessions of the criminal pPrpetrators of the outrage of the 28th of .Tune, that the Serajevo assassination had been planned in Belgrade, that the arn1s ancl explosives with which the murderers were provided, had been given to thmn by Servian officers and functionaries belonging to the Nnrodna Odbrana, and finally that the p_assage into Bosnia of the criminals and their arms ·was organized and carried out by the chiefs of the Servian frontier service. The above-n1entionecl results of the preliminary investigation oo not pern1it the Austro-Hungarian Gover1unent to pursue any l0nger the attitude of expectant forbearance which it has Inain­ tained for years in the face of machinations hatched in Belgrade, and thence propagated in the territories of the' Monarchy. The results, on the cont·rary, impose .upon it the duty of putting an end to the intrigues which form· a perpetual 1nenace to the tran- quillity of the l\ionarchy. To achieve this end, the Imperial and Royal Government finds itself cmnpelled to demand from the Royal Servian Government a formal assurance that it conde1nns this dangerous propaganda against the l\1onarchy-in other words, the whole series of ten­ dencies, the ultilnate aim of which is to detach from the Monarchy territories belonging to it-and that it undertakes to suppress by eyery n1€lanR at· its disposal this criminal a!ld terrorist propa­ ganda. - In order to give a solmnn character to this undertaking the Royal Servian Government shall publish on the front page of its " jour­ nal official," of the 26th of July (July 13) the following declaration:· The Royal Government of Servia condemns the propaganda directed against Austria-Hungary, of which. the final aim is to detach from the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy territories belonging to it, and it sincerely deplores the fatal consequences of these criminal proceedings. · The Royal Government regrets that Servian officers and functionaries have participated in the above-mentioned propaganda and thus compro­ mised the good neighborly relations to which the Royal Government was solemnly pledged by its declaration of the 31st of March, 1909. The Royal Government, which disapproves and repudiates all idea of interfering or attempting to interfere with the destinies of the inhabitants of any part whatsoever of Austria-Hungary, considers it its duty formally to warn officers and functionaries, and the whole population of the King­ dom, that henceforward it will proceed with the utmost rigor against per: sons who may be guilty of such machination,s, which it will· use all its efforts to prevent and suppress. -±0 ~ lust'l · ia-llungary li ltimatum, Serbia. This declaration shall silnultaneously be con1municated to the royal ar1ny as an order of the day by His lVIajesty the KJng, and published in the official b}llletin of the ar1ny. The Royal Servian Government further undertakes: 1. To suppress any publication which incites to hatred and con­ teinpt of the ~ustro-Hungarian l\1onarchy and the general tend­ ency of which is directed against its territorial integrity; 2. To dissolve immediately the society called N arodna Odbrana, to confiscate all its means of propaganda, and to proceed in the same 111anner against all other societies and their branches in Ser­ via ·which engage in propaganda against the Austro-Hu~garian Monarchy. The Royal Govern1nent shall take the necessary meas­ ures to prevent the societies dissolved fr01n continuing their activity under another name and form ; 3. To elilninate without delay from public instruction in Servia, both as regards the teaching body and the methods of instruction, everything that serves, or might serve, to foment the propaganda against Austria-Hungary; 4. To re1nove fro1n the military service, and frmn the adminis­ tration in general, alL officers and functionaries guilty of propa­ ganda against the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy whose na1nes and deeds the- Austro-Hungarian Government reserves the right of coininunicating to the Royal Government; 5. To accept the cooperation in Servia of representatives of the Austro-Hungarian Govern1nent in the suppression of the subversive Inoveinent directed against the territorial integrity of the Mon­ archy; 6. To take judicial proceedings against accmnplices in the plot of the 28th of June who are on Servian territory. Delegates of the Austro-Hungarian Government will take part in the investigation relating thereto ; 7. _To proceed without delay to tbe arrest of Maj. Voija Tanko­ sitch and of the individual named Milan Ciganovitch, a Servian State e1nployee, who have been compromised by the results of the preliminary investigation at Serajevo; 8. To prevent by effective measures the participation of the. Servian authorities in the illicit traffic of arms and explosives across the frontier; to dismiss and punish severely the officials of the frontier service at Schabatz and Loznica who have been guilty of having assisted the perpetrators of the Serajevo crime by facilitating their passage across the frontiers; 9. To furnish the llnperial and Royal Governn1ent with expla­ nations regarding the unjustifiable utterances of high Servian officials, both jn Servia and abroad, who, notwithstanding their official positions, did not hesitate after the crilne of the 28th of .Tune to give utterance, in published interviews, to expressions of hostility to the Austro-Hungarian Governn1ent; and fi-wlly, lleport J>reUminary I n,vestir;ation. 41 10. To notify the I1nperial and Hoyal Govern1nent without delay of the execution of the measures comprised under the preceding heads. The Austro-I--Iungarian Government awaits the reply of the Hoyal Government at the latest by 6 o'clock on Saturday evening, the 25tl_l of July. A Ineinorandunl dealing with the results of the preliminary inves­ tigation at Serajevo with regard to the officials mentioned under heads 7 and 8 attached to this note. [Inclosure.] The investigation by the court of Serajevo against Gabrilo Princip and accomplices in the assassination committed on Junf' 28 of this year has up to now established the following facts : 1. The plot to n,ul~der Archduke Francis Ferdinand during his stay in Serajevo was planned by Gabrilo Princip, · N edeljko Gabrino­ vitch, a certain Milan Ciganovitch, and Trifko Grabez, with the assistai1ce of 1\iaj.