On July 28, the British ambassador in Vienna warned London that "postponing or preventing the war with Serbia would be, without doubt, a great disappointment for that country, which is excited at the perspective of war." Then something strange happened, which was kept secret until after the war.
Kaiser Wilhelm II, after reading that morning, for the first time, the full text of the Austrian ultimatum and the Serbian response, found no reason for Austria to declare war and wrote on the margin of the Serbian response: "A great moral victory for Vienna, but with it all motives for war disappear and Giesl [German ambassador in Serbia] should stay in Belgrade, calmly. Because of this, I would have never ordered a mobilization. ”
He then suggested that “as a “satisfaction d ’honneur” visible to Austria, the Austrian army should occupy Belgrade temporarily, as a guarantee.” Then they could start negotiations to end the brief military conflict. The Kaiser wrote to von Jagow: “I am convinced that the wishes of the Danube monarchy in general have been granted.”
In my opinion, the few reservations that Serbia has regarding some points can be perfectly clarified through negotiation, but it contains the announcement to the whole world of a capitulation of the most humiliating and, with it, all reason for war disappears. It was too late for a conciliatory council like that: that noon, minutes more, minutes less, the declaration of war was handed over to the Serbian government.
Source: "World War I" by Martin Gilbert

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