Page - 445 - in THE FIRST WORLD WAR - and the End of the Habsburg Monarchy, 1914 – 1918

On the Priority of the Theatres of War 445 Empire to blame for the fact that no golden bridges were built for the Russians, or was it the case, as Bethmann Hollweg claimed immediately after the war, that the Russians were not so deterred by the successes of the Central Powers in the early summer of 1915 so as to already be prepared to settle for peace ? One thing is certain, and that is that only shortly beforehand, the Russians had undertaken in the convention with Italy not to agree a separate peace.1055 Was that really the end of the matter, however ? In his version, the German Imperial Chancellor drew on soundings taken by a Danish intermediary, the ship owner and privy councillor Andersen, who had gained the im- pression in St. Petersburg that the Tsar was anything but prepared to make peace. As a result, Bethmann Hollweg assumed that any proposals for peace would be fruitless. In contrast to Austria-Hungary, at that time, the German Imperial government felt it least of all necessary to end the war by concluding separate peace agreements and making concessions. It may also have played a role for Bethmann Hollweg that it was only the conflict with Russia that meant that the German Social Democrats continued to support the war.1056 Again, however, an initiative to partially end the war failed and, again, it had emerged that it was precisely alliances that prevented political and military solutions, or at least made them significantly more difficult. The war in the east continued. Falkenhayn finally agreed to Conrad’s proposal to select Lviv as the next goal for operations. Mackensen’s area of command was to be ex- tended to the Imperial and Royal 2nd Army. However, for the sake of Lviv, Conrad was even prepared to accept that. On 22 June, the capital of Galicia was already re-taken by the Imperial and Royal 2nd Army, and thus, the major part of the Austro-Hungarian territory that had been lost in August 1914 and during the following months was again ‘firmly in our hands’. This time, even the outward appearance was accurate : Mackensen had given the Austrians priority. Again, bells were rung, flags were hoisted and there were ovations. On the evening of 23 June, Archduke Friedrich left Cieszyn (Teschen) for Lviv in or- der to celebrate its recapture. However, he remained unimpressed by both the organised and spontaneous jubilations. ‘Everywhere along the route, torchlight processions, flags, the national anthem and so on. [The] Archduke doesn’t move, but continues eating ! And all around him behave as though this had nothing to do with them’, wrote Lieu- tenant Colonel Schneller, who accompanied the Archduke.1057 However, Emperor Franz Joseph ordered the Army High Command, even at the moment of recapture of the capital of Galicia, to spare the Ruthenians, who had to a not insignificant degree collaborated with the Russians. ‘We wish to come as liberators, not as judges’, he telegraphed. The warning certainly came at an appropriate time. Even so, it appeared here and there as though they had penetrated deep into enemy territory.1058 It was not only that measures were taken against those suspected of collaboration, but also that the people were again forced to work for the war effort. The rural population