A discussion took place concerning an appropriate response from the Austria-Hungary governments, to the Serb government. They realised this might ultimately involve a military attack, but were worried that the Russians might intervene on the side of the Serbs. They believed that if they could gain the support of the Germans before such an attack, the Russians would not be so keen on joining in. A response to a letter to the Kaiser soon confirmed that they had the support of the Germans. .
So it came to be that a note was sent to the Serb government from Austria-Hungary. In it they demanded the suppression of anti-Austrian propaganda in Serbia, the dissolution of the Serbian Nationalist Association (Narodna Odbrana), the purging of officers and officials guilty of propaganda, the arrest of officers guilty of propaganda, and of those guilty of aiding and abetting the assassination, and the tightening up of border controls. In addition to these many strongly worded demands, the Austrian-Hungarians also demanded their own involvement in the investigations. The Serbs were given forty eight hours in which to reply. .
While the Serbs were deliberating over the ultimatum, members of the German government were advocating swift military action against Serbia in the hope that it would discourage Russia from supporting the Serbs. They did not realise that Russia had broken an Austrian cipher and already had some idea of the intended action. .
At 6pm on July 25th, the Serbs reply to the ultimatum was handed over. The Serbs agreed to all the demands apart from the final one, probably because they were frightened that involvement of Austria-Hungary in the investigations would reveal the extent to which the Serbian government had played a part in the assassination of the Archduke. The disagreement on the last point was enough for diplomatic relations to be severed. Serbia, now aware of the danger to their country in such a situation, pleaded with the Russians for help.
