To the left, caricatures of a fallen King Albert of Belgium, Tsar Nicholas of Russia, President Poincare of France, generic (?) caricatures of an English man and a Japanese soldier, Kings Peter of Serbia, and Nikola of Montenegro engaging in a tug of war, the rope being held on the right by a German (in gray) and an Austro-Hungarian soldier. Between the teams and behind the rope stands the diminutive caped figure of King Victor Emmanuel of Italy, all hat, mustache, and chin.
Das Europaische Gleichgewicht 1914The European Equilibrium, 1914
". . . he has given much thought and prayer to the matter. At last, after hearing mass a day or two ago, he said to us: Perhaps a scapegoat is needed to save Russia. I mean to be the victim. May the will of God be done. He was very pale as he said this, but on his face was an expression of utter resignation.'These words of the Emperor made me shiver all down my spine. The idea of predestination to sacrifice and complete resignation to the divine will is only too consistent with his passive nature."
Maurice Paléologue, French Ambassador to Russia, writing on September 2, 1915. The first speaker is Madame Vyrubova, an intimate companion of the royal family, sent by Tsar Nicholas of Russia to get the Ambassador's thoughts on the Tsar's decision to take command of the Russian Army in the face of the on-going Russian retreat before the German-Austro-Hungarian Gorlice-Tarnow Offensive begun on May 2, four months earlier. The Russian retreat extended from the Baltic Sea to Romania. Later in the evening Paléologue was asked for his conclusion after all he had heard, and replied, 'I haven't any. . . . When mysticism takes the place of policy it's impossible to prophesy. I'm ready for anything now!'
An Ambassador's Memoirs Vol. II by Maurice Paléologue, pp. 65, 68, publisher: George H. Doran Company
1915-09-02, 1915, September, Tsar Nicholas II, Tsar Nicholas, Tsar, Nicholas II, Nicholas, icon, ikon, Paléologue, Paleologue
