As soon as the danger of war seemed arrested,
the report would spread that mobilization was going to be ordered within
a few minutes.
Within each twenty-four hours were compressed the disquietude, anxiety
and nervous waste of a normal year. And that which was aggravating the
situation still more was the uncertainty, the expectation of the
event, feared but still invisible, the distress on account of a danger
continually threatening but never arriving.
History in the making was like a stream overflowing its banks, events
overlapping each other like the waves of an inundation. Austria was
declaring war with Servia while the diplomats of the great powers were
continuing their efforts to stem the tide. The electric web girdling the
planet was vibrating incessantly in the depths of the ocean and on the
peaks of the continents, transmitting alternate hopes and fears.
Russia was mobilizing a part of its army. Germany, with its troops in
readiness under the pretext of manoeuvres, was decreeing the state of
"threatened war." The Austrians, regardless of the efforts of diplomacy,
were beginning the bombardment of Belgrade. William II, fearing that the
intervention of the Powers might settle the differences between the
Czar and the Emperor of Austria, was forcing the course of events by
declaring war upon Russia. Then Germany began isolating herself, cutting
off railroad and telegraphic communications in order to shroud in
mystery her invading forces.
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