Page:Diplomacy and the War (Andrassy 1921).djvu/259

 when peace came, his words would not be realized in deeds. It was particularly clear to me, from the very beginning, that, if the war was waged to the last stage, that is to say, until one of the opponents was forced upon his knees, then the only possibility was an imperialistic peace. The victor would exploit the acquired position for which he had paid the price of enormous danger and unparalleled sacrifice, and he would not allow himself to be impeded by any sort of moral impulse. Moreover, even among the masses, the love of humanity would not predominate but Chauvinism, the hatred against the vanquished enemy, the desire to punish him, and the effort to be compensated for the losses that had been sustained. Finally, I believe this phase will not be one of short duration.

None the less, I declared my readiness, in answer to Burian's summons, to accept the fourteen points of Wilson, together with the commentary upon them, as the basis for peace negotiations, because this was the only concrete peace proposal and I considered it probable that, if we tried to obtain new conditions from the Entente, these would be even more severe. Moreover, we had no free choice in the matter. The German opening of negotiations made the impression upon Burian that Germany would desert us and accept Wilson's proposals even if we did not agree to do the same.

I had hardly returned when I was summoned, together with Szterényi, Wekerle, Windischgraetz and Tisza, to Reichenau in order to have a consultation