Note 22 — Chapter VIII · JOURNEYS TO THE CRIMEA AND RUMANIA—PRESIDENT POINCARÉ’S VISIT—DECLARATION OF WAR BY GERMANY (APRIL-JULY, 1914)

A few weeks later the King of Saxony was the only prince in the German Confederation—with the exception of the Grand-Duke of Hesse, the Czarina’s brother—who tried to prevent a rupture with Russia. He was averse to associating himself with any employment of force against a nation whose guest he had just been. Yet it did not prevent him from indulging in the most fiery speeches once war had been declared.