It was Russia, therefore, that took the
assassins under her wings, and some weeks already before the war broke
out she promised her assistance to that blood-stained State. Nobody but
Russia has given the dangerous turn to the conflict; nobody but Russia
is to blame for the outbreak of the war. The German Emperor, who has
proved his love of peace by a peaceful reign of more than twenty-five
years, in face of the imminent danger, tried to intermediate between
Austria and Russia with the greatest zeal, but while he was negotiating
with the Czar Russia was busy with the mobilization of a large army
toward the German frontier. This necessitated an open and decisive
inquiry that led to the war. This only happened because Russia wanted it
so, because she wanted to raise the Muscovites against the Germans and
the Western Slavs and to lead Asia into the field against Europe.
France, too, might have kept the peace, the decision resting solely with
her. The security of Germany demanded that she should inquire what
France would do in the impending war; the answer of France unmistakably
betrayed her intention to join in the war.
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