Page - 377 - in THE FIRST WORLD WAR - and the End of the Habsburg Monarchy, 1914 – 1918

The Final Offer 377 As yet, Italy had not declared war ; it continued to try its luck. Since more had been con- ceded to Italy by the Entente powers in the parallel negotiations, however, than Austria could offer in even the best case, it was no wonder that it was not Austria-Hungary who was the highest bidder but the Entente. Italy also had every reason to be distrust- ful towards the Austrian offers, since it always had to be taken into account that the Dual Monarchy would retake what it had ceded at the first good opportunity. The German Empire also thought this way and Falkenhayn sent Conrad on 29 April a telegram with the request to forward it to Count Burián ; the telegram stated : ‘In my view, the simple facts must be decisive for our actions, namely that the intervention of Italy and co., as far as it is humanly possible to say, will decide the war unfavourably for us, also that without this intervention we can be very confident of victory, and that the victor will decide on what Europe will look like and will thus be in a position to make good any sacrifice made for victory, and, finally, that whoever is ultimately defeated not only loses the sacrifices he has made but also his entire empire.’ Conrad forwarded the telegram to Vienna without any comment.895 In the meantime, there were fights and running street battles in Italy between the advocates and the opponents of an intervention. 60 Catholic bishops signed a mani- festo against Italian participation in the war. In Popolo d’Italia, Mussolini wrote : ‘War or republic’,896 and the opponent of intervention and former prime minister, Giovanni Giolitti, was publicly insulted. But neither the one nor the other was of any conse- quence for the secret diplomacy. On 25 April, the final text of the treaty was completed. The next day, the ‘Treaty of London’ was signed. However, it did not become known to the wider public until almost two years later, on 28 February 1917, when it was published by Izvestia, the new Communist daily newspaper in Russia. The Treaty of London of 1915 constituted the basis for Italian entry into the war. Italy committed itself to intervene actively in the war as soon as possible in the near future, and not later than one month after the signing of the treaty.897 Vienna did not know, of course, that there was actually nothing left to negotiate. One could have been distrustful on 1 May, however, when Foreign Minister Sonnino refused on this day to receive the former Imperial and Royal Foreign Minister, Count Agenor Gołuchowski, who had been sent to Rome on a special mission.898 The Ball- hausplatz did not even want to believe it when on the same day the Imperial and Royal delegation in Athens reported that according to their information Italy had concluded a treaty with the Entente on 26 April.899 The maxim retained its validity according to which one should ‘first of all play the flute and not yet blow the horn’.900 Day after day, Conrad’s telegrams from Cieszyn arrived in Vienna, however, in which he urged that war with Italy be avoided at all costs. If necessary, all Italian demands should be ful- filled.901 One can thus accuse Conrad and the senior Austro-Hungarian generals of all