Page - 375 - in THE FIRST WORLD WAR - and the End of the Habsburg Monarchy, 1914 – 1918

The Final Offer 375 Those at the German Grand Headquarters did not appear to think much of this. Conrad was requested urgently to travel to Berlin in order to persuade him otherwise. The Prussian War Minister General von Wild noted regarding the deliberations on a separate peace : ‘I see in this a first, shameful admittance of weakness and the great dangers of our federal brother breaking off. I have therefore emphatically brought this danger to the attention of Falkenhayn […]. We must not allow ourselves to be taken into tow by the “Oyster Hungarians” […]. There are no extra tours. This will have to be made clear to Conrad tomorrow, and in general we have to open his eyes and shine a light in his fantastical political darkroom.’887 In this way, and in accordance with the well-known maxim ‘suaviter in modo, fortiter in re’, Conrad would be brought ‘into line’. In Vienna, a map was shown to the Italian ambassador, the Duke of Avarna, that had been agreed on between the politicians and the military and in which the Austrian proposals on territorial cessions were marked. The Duke remained poker-faced, since he was merely the messenger. Since the session of the Privy Council, Archduke Karl Franz Josef had been in Vi- enna almost continuously and was ultimately also included in the deliberations of the Military Chancellery to send him on a special mission to Rome. He was immediately willing to do this. He went ‘enthusiastically’, it was said.888 The Emperor still knew nothing of this. Finally, on 16 March, General Bolfras mentioned this idea. The Em- peror did not comment on it, but did not reject the proposal out of hand. On 4 April it was the Lord Chamberlain Prince Montenuovo who urged the Emperor to agree to the trip. Franz Joseph wanted to talk to Minister Burián about it. But the latter was strictly against the idea.889 Then, on 5 April, Vienna knew that Italy would demand very much more than the former was willing to concede. The Brenner border, the Austrian Friuli and the terri- tory around Trieste were demanded. Even a visit by the heir to the throne would have changed nothing. The plan to send Archduke Karl was dropped. Instead, the Italy spe- cialist of the Army High Command returned immediately to Cieszyn, since he would probably be most urgently needed there in the coming weeks.890 The Final Offer The final round of negotiations was already characterised by the news of extensive Ital- ian troop transports becoming known and rumours about English offers to Italy simul- taneously filtering through. The only compromise that Sonnino was prepared to make in negotiations with Austria was that Italy would agree to make the Trieste region a de- militarised zone and a free port. Finally, Italy once more submitted concrete demands