Page:EB1922 - Volume 30.djvu/380

340

exert every effort in his power to support the just claims of France to Alsace-Lorraine vis-a-vis his allies. In other ques- tions too, notably in that of Belgium, the Emperor Charles showed a wish to further the desires of the enemy Powers as far as possible. On the other hand, there was no mention in Charles's letter of any readiness to cede Austrian territory to Italy. Count Czernin, who was well informed as to essentials in the negotiations, but was unacquainted with the text of the imperial letter, endeavoured in the meanwhile to win over the German Government to the idea of peace. On March 27 1917 an agreement was signed at Vienna between him and Bethmann Hollweg which provided for a minimum and maximum pro- gramme. In the former the restoration of the territorial status

quo ante bellum of the Central Powers in the E. and Peace Pro- W. was laid down as the condition precedent to their grammes, evacuation of the occupied provinces of Russia

(except Poland), Serbia, Albania, Greece and Ruma- nia; in the latter, which was to hold good in the event of the war taking a more favourable turn, provision was made for a permanent acquisition of enemy territory in proportion to their respective military achievements. In this event Germany's field of expansion was to be in the East, Austria-Hungary's in Rumania.

Shortly afterwards, April 3 1917, the Emperor Charles and Count Czernin arrived at Homburg as guests of the Emperor William. Czernin here came forward with a proposal (the con- nexion with Prince Sixtus's demarche being noteworthy) that Germany might make concessions to France in Alsace-Lorraine, and as a substitute for her losses in the West take permanent possession of a Poland supplemented by Galicia. These plans found a basis in the prospact of concluding a favourable peace with Russia, which had opened up shortly before the abdication of the Tsar Nicholas II. in March. To reinforce his efforts, Count Czernin, on April 14, sent to the Emperor William a report, drawn up by himself and the Emperor Charles in per- son, in which the internal situation of the Habsburg Monarchy was painted in the blackest colours, and its collapse, involving a revolution and the downfall of the dynasty, was represented as imminent. At the same time Czernin renewed in authorita- tive quarters in Germany his offer to compensate the German Empire for eventual losses in Alsace-Lorraine by the permanent acquisition of Poland enlarged by the addition of Galicia. But the Emperor William and his counsellors refused to open nego- tiations with the enemy on this basis, and urged the continua- tion of the war. It soon afterwards became clear that the secret negotiations conducted by Sixtus of Parma with the Entente Powers would not lead to the results desired by the Emperor Charles and Czernin. For Italy held by her bond, and demanded the cession of all those provinces of the Habsburg Monarchy which had been promised her by the Treaty of London of April 26 1915. To this, however, the Emperor Charles, particularly in view of the military situation at the time, neither would nor could consent.

The negotiations with the Western Powers having thus for the present led to no tangible results, the Emperor Charles and . Count Czernin decided at Kreuznach (May 17-18

Kreuznacn * '

Agreement 1917) to come to an agreement with the German "'"* Government, in which there was no further men-

< * ny ' tion of the cession of Alsace-Lorraine, but in which it was stipulated by Austria-Hungary that not only should her integrity be guaranteed but she should receive considerable accessions of territory in the Balkans. Germany, furthermore, agreed in the event of her being able to carry out " the terri- torial incorporation (Anglicdcrung) of Courland and Lithuania, together with the dependence (Anlchnung) of Poland contem- plated on the German side," that " Rumania so far as occu- pied, with the exception of the Dobruja (frontier anterior to 1913) and a border strip to the S. of the Cernavoda-Constantza railway, falls as a separate State into the Austro-Hungarian sphere of interests, subject to a guarantee of Germany's economic interests in Rumania." On the fulfilment of these conditions Austria-Hungary consented to renounce her condominium in

Poland, and promised to declare her desinleressement, political and military, in Poland. On June 8 1917 the Emperors William II. and Charles signed an agreement as to Poland's military forces, by which their organization was placed entirely in the hands of Germany.

The war continued. The Quadruple Alliance waged it with the exertion of all its military strength, and even now gained not inconsiderable successes. On the western front the Germans held at bay the attacks of the French and Growing British troops, lavishly furnished with war material, weariness. On the eastern front the armies of the Alliance fought successfully against the Russians. In the S. the armies of Austria-Hungary, stiffened by German, troops, undertook an invasion of Italy which led to the occupation of further Italian territory. But all these successes did not suffice to compel a desire for peace on the part of the enemy, while, in the coun- tries of the Quadruple Alliance, war weariness, furthered by a skilfully managed propaganda on the part of the Entente, kept spreading to wider circles among the soldiers and citizens of the Central Powers and their allies. This feeling among the people, and the recognition of the fact that the war could only be ended by diplomatic means, decided Czernin to resume with the greatest energy his efforts to achieve a peace which should preserve the vital interests of the monarchy. In this he was strongly supported by the declaration made by the majority in the German Reichstag on July 19 1917 in favour of a peace by agreement, in which the forcible acquisition of territory, and oppressive political, economic and financial measures were repudiated, and the freedom of the seas and the renunciation by the enemy of the economic blockade of the Central Powers were demanded. Yet neither the Pope's official efforts for peace nor the secret Revertera-Armand (July-Aug. 1917) and Mens- dorff-Smuts (Dec. 1917) negotiations led to tangible results, since the enemy had exact information as to the critical internal situation of the Powers of the Quadruple Alliance, and, count- ing upon the strong support of the United States for the follow- ing year, made conditions to which, in view of their favourable military situation at the end of the year 1917, Germany and her allies would not accede. At this time, moreover, the pros- pect was opening to them of concluding a favourable peace with their enemies in the E. which would enable them to fall with their full strength upon their enemies in the West.

The revolution which had taken place in Russia in March 1917 had not brought peace; on the contrary, the numerous negotiations which took place between the Central Powers and Russia, having as their aim the conclu- Etfe. ct. f .. sion of a separate peace, dragged on inconclusively. Revolution The war went on; it was waged successfully by Ger- many, and brought wide territories in the East into the posses- sion of the allies. But a decisive change took place for the first time in the attitude of the Russian politicians in Nov. 1917, when the second phase of the Russian revolution the " social revolutionary" phase led by Kerensky -was succeeded by a third, that of the " Bolsheviks," led by Lenin and Trotsky. As early as the end of Nov. 1917 the new Government summoned all the combatant Powers to enter immediately upon an armi- stice and begin negotiations for the conclusion of a general peace, which should assure to every nation freedom of economic and cultural development. When the Entente Powers refused to comply with this summons, the Russians on Dec. 3 entered into a suspension of hostilities with Germany and her allies, which was to last till Dec. 17. On Dec. 15 the suspension of hostili- ties was succeeded by an armistice, which was to last till Jan. 14 1918 and then be continued with the right to de- N ego tia- nounce it on seven days' notice. Peace negotiations tions at began on Dec. 22 at Brest-Litovsk. They were con- Brest- ducted in public. The upshot was that on Dec. 25 the Quadruple Alliance accepted the Russian proposals for the conclusion of a peace without annexations and indemnities as the basis for a general peace. At the suggestion of the Russian delegates, the negotiations were suspended for ten days and a request was addressed to the enemies of the Quadruple Alii-