Evening star., 1914-07-28
Men and Issues in
Europe's War Crisis
Count Berchtold of Austria Hungary

Count Leopold Berchtold, a quiet
man, with English manners. sitting at
a desk in the foreign office in Vienna
such is the unimposing presence OF the
statesman who has
precipitated situation far more
menacing to the peace Of Europe than
any that has arisen since the events
that Immediately preceded the Franco
Prussian war. And the most extraor-
dinary feature Of the crisis is that
it should have arisen directly out OF
the assassination, by Servian, OF
Francis Ferdinand, the archduke VINO
in his life time was regarded as the
firebrand of Europe. Thus the arch
duke, after death, as he was In life,
remains the great menacing factor in
the affairs of European Christendom.
Count Berchtold assumed the port
folio of foreign affairs at Vienna upon
the retirement of Count Won Aehren-
thai who put through the act OF an
neXation of Bosnia-HerZeSovlna, Whlch
set in motion the wild passions that
eliminated in the assassination OF the
Austrian heir to the throne.
Russia Back Of Servia.
When he took office as the director
-
situation full of portent- Servia, in
censed by Austria's absorption Of ter
ritories which formerly had belonged
to Turkey and to which Servia consid-
cred itself the heir, because they are
populated largely by a people of Serb
race, was clamoring for the undoing Of
that which had been accomplished by
the decree Of annexation. Behind the
Dnlo do Ho hoo ia
sinister undertone of the growl OF the
Russian bear.
Berchtold set himself to work to re-
duce relations to a normal basis. Be
of the triple alliance-Germany and
Italy-and opposing him were Russia,
the self-imposed protector OF all the
Slavic nations, including Servia, and
the two other members Of the triple
entente, Great Britain and France.
Broke Up Balkan League.
Then came the Balkan war in 1912. in
which the Bulgarian and Servian Slavs
crushed the power of Turkey in Europe.
The formation OF the Balkan alliance
and the utter defeat Of Turkey were
startling events which caught Berchtold
mapping. His next move was to break
up the Balkan League by stimulating the
land hunger of Servia and Greece. with
their ally, Montenegro. and turning them
against Bulgaria, which was the pre-
dominant military factor in the war Of
1912.
The Graeco-Servian successes, though,
were another development for Whlch
Berchtold was unprepared. After 6ul-
garia had been defeated by the combina-
ton Of five nations, including Turkey,
the clamor at Belgrade against the an
nexation Of Bosnia-Herzegovina by Aus
tria was resumed with redouble vltupera-
tiveness and noisy rancor.
by Berchtold was the direct cause Of
the tragedy at Sarajevo, when the arch
duke and his morganatic wife fell by
bullets fired by a Servian. The Austrian
minister of foreign affairs demonstrated,
in the judicial inquiry that followed the
crime, that Servian officials. civil and
military, had been involved in the events
that led to the assassination.
Deemed Time for Action.
The moment for action had come.
Berchtold surveyed the international
horizon.
He observed that Russia was involved
in a big strike which had a revolutionary
tinge. -
That France was in turmoil Of po-
litical uncertainty.
That Great Britain was facing an in
ternal CONFUSION as result Of the Ulster
situation.
The Austrian ultimatum to Servia, de-
manding an apology for Servia's part in
the tragedy of Sarajevo and a suppress
sion of the anti-Austrian agitation in Bel
grade. followed promptly. in the midst
of the preoccupation Of the triple entente.
Berchtold realizes more clearly than
anybody else that he has challenged the
entire Slav world. with the exception Of
Bulgaria; that his quarrel is not with
Servia but with Russia, which has stood
back of Servia in her attacks upon