Lest We Forget: World War StoriesThompson, John G. (John Gilbert)
History
Lest We Forget: World War Stories
Thompson, John G. (John Gilbert)
Readers -- History; Readers -- World War, 1914-1918
What were the Austrian demands? Serbia sympathized with her
fellow-countrymen in Bosnia. That was one of her crimes. She must do so
no more. Her newspapers were saying nasty things about Austria. They
must do so no longer. That is the Austrian spirit. How dare you
criticize a Prussian official? And if you laugh, it is a capital
offense. Serbian newspapers must not criticize Austria. I wonder what
would have happened had we taken up the same line about German
newspapers. Serbia said: "Very well, we will give orders to the
newspapers that they must not criticize Austria in future, neither
Austria, nor Hungary, nor anything that is theirs." She promised not to
sympathize with Bosnia; promised to write no critical articles about
Austria. She would hold no public meetings at which anything unkind was
said about Austria. That was not enough. She must dismiss from her army
officers whom Austria should subsequently name. But these officers had
just emerged from a war where they were adding luster to the Serbian
arms--gallant, brave, efficient. I wonder whether it was their guilt or
their efficiency that prompted Austria's action. Serbia was to
undertake in advance to dismiss them from the army--the names to be
sent in subsequently. Can you name a country in the world that would
have stood that? Supposing Austria or Germany had issued an ultimatum
of that kind to this country. "You must dismiss from your army and from
your navy all those officers whom we shall subsequently name." Well, I
think I could name them now. Lord Kitchener would go. Sir John French
would be sent about his business. General Smith-Dorrien would be no
more, and I am sure that Sir John Jellicoe would go. And there is
another gallant old warrior who would go--Lord Roberts.
It was a difficult situation for a small country. Here was a demand
made upon her by a great military power who could put five or six men
in the field for every one she could; and that power supported by the
greatest military power in the world. How did Serbia behave? It is not
what happens to you in life that matters; it is the way in which you
face it. And Serbia faced the situation with dignity. She said to
Austria: "If any officers of mine have been guilty and are proved to be
guilty, I will dismiss them." Austria said, "That is not good enough
for me." It was not guilt she was after, but capacity.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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