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face of the war the Czechs never hesitated, not waiting, as some of the neutrals have done, to see its probable result. Their whole past history indicated which side they should take. It was, in fact, this war, the fatal end of the history of the Austro-Hungarians, this fight to the death against the Allied nations, that constituted for the Czechs the necessary, logical, and fateful hour of their history.

There could be no possible doubt. Two years previously the heart of every Czech beat high on hearing the announcement of the glorious victories of his brothers the Serbs, and the entire nation hastened with the greatest enthusiasm to bring help to the brotherly Yugo-Slav nation. And now the two governments of Vienna and Budapest throw us into a tragic conflict by sending our soldiers to Serbia, Slavs to kill Slavs for the benefit of the Germans and Magyars. We could not fight against our Serbian and Russian brothers, nor could we contribute towards the crushing of the French and English for whom 107