Zweibund — the Dual Alliance — Germany and Austria-Hungary united, were the core of the Central Powers, and here join hands. The bars of Germany's flag border the top left, and those of the Habsburg Austrian Empire and ruling house the bottom right.
Schulter an SchulterUntrennbar vereintin Freud und in Leid!'Shoulder to shoulderInseparably united in joy and in sorrow!
"If Vienna declines to give in in any direction, especially along the lines of the last Grey proposal, as may be assumed from the telephone conversation of your excellency with Mr von Stumm, it will hardly be possible any longer to place the guilt of the outbreak of a European conflagration on Russia's shoulders. His Majesty undertook intervention at Vienna at the request of the Czar since he could not refuse to do so without creating the incontrovertible suspicion that we wanted war."
Beginning of a telegram from German Chancellor von Bethmann Hollweg to Germany's Ambassador to Vienna Tschirschky on July 30, 1914. The Chancellor has realized that Britain will not remain neutral in a European war, that Austria-Hungary will not reverse its decision to go to war against Serbia, that Russia will support Serbia by mobilizing against Austria-Hungary, that a European war will result, and that the Central Powers will be blamed, including by their own citizens.
July, 1914; the Outbreak of the First World War; Selected Documents by Imanuel Geiss (Editor), page 305, copyright © 1967 Imanuel Geiss, publisher: Charles Scribner's Sons, publication date: 1967
Germany, Austria, Austria-Hungary, 1915, empire, Zweibund, Dual Alliance, 1916-12-27, December, map
