Page:Diplomacy and the War (Andrassy 1921).djvu/128

 support which caused the cessation of the rapid successes of Germany. I had always been of the opinion that the best plan would have been to attack Russia first and content oneself with defensive action in the West, I will give my military reasons for taking this point of view later, and will only point to the political reasons here.

The weak spot in the side of the Entente was Russia. I always counted upon the internal collapse of this country. The events which took place after the Japanese war and the growing discontent allowed one to suppose that it was highly probable that a serious defeat of the army would bring about an internal collapse, and that this internal collapse would carry with it complete military and political destruction. As I had no insight into the diplomatic and military reports of the actual situation, I was in the position of believing in the Russian revolution almost up to the moment when it occurred, and I was just giving up hope when the catastrophe was imminent.

The natural continuation of the diplomatic battle would have been to attack Russia, against whose aggressive policy the war was directed. The most favourable beginning of the fight would have been common action of the allies, which could naturally only occur in the Russian theatre of war; that is to say, in the only theatre of war where both allies were interested to the same degree. The strongest political argument for an offensive against Russia was that by  this means only could the neutrality of England be