Page - 447 - in THE FIRST WORLD WAR - and the End of the Habsburg Monarchy, 1914 – 1918

On the Priority of the Theatres of War 447 Generaloberst (immediately below the rank of field marshal), was able to present himself as someone who had now been subsequently reaffirmed in the operational principles he had already formulated in 1914. For his part, Falkenhayn, who had been named propri- etary colonel of Infantry Regiment No. 81 following the capture of Lviv,1062 was able to refer to the fact that without the provision of German troops and a significant German participation in the command in the north-east, these successes would not have been possible at all. During the meeting, details of the continued advance, the command and use of troops were negotiated, and while they were naturally not without friction, they were aimed at achieving a common goal. The offensive in Poland was continued. However, if anyone had imagined that the successful joint conduct of war might perhaps have increased the degree of understanding and sympathy between the Ger- mans and ‘Comrade Lace-Up’, as the Austro-Hungarians were known, they would soon be proved mistaken. Again, the Prussian War Minister Wild von Hohenborn expressed his contempt in particularly drastic terms. He was present during the capture of Kraśnik, the so-called ‘Second Battle of Kraśnik’ (1–10 July),1063 and wrote : ‘And the Austrians are wretchedly limpid. Recently at Kraśnik […] I saw sights that would make a dog whimper. […] They then proceeded in such a fashion that in our Grand Head- quarters we believed that they would soon be in Warsaw. Then the Russians turned about and the brave brothers in arms simply ran off ! It’s tough ! But one must bear them ! We have nothing better at our disposal.’1064 In July, considerable progress was made, and finally, at the end of the month, Lublin was taken, followed by Chełm (Cholm) on 1 August. On 4 August, the German 9th Army conquered Warsaw and the Austro-Hungarian Kövess Army Group (the rein- forced Imperial and Royal XII Corps) took Dęblin (Ivangorod). At this point, there- fore, the Vistula River was also crossed. The great campaign in the east appeared to have reached its conclusion.1065 In Vienna, at least, there was no concept of how to proceed following the recapture of the Austro-Hungarian territories that had been lost during 1914. As Conrad told the Emperor in the aforementioned audience on 26 July, the Germans also had no ideas on the issue, however. ‘They have no direction, no programme.’1066 The problem was that while there was a desire to bring Russia to the negotiating table, no-one knew how. The Foreign Minister, Burián, was at a loss as to how to enter into peace negotiations with the Tsarist Empire. The German Empire had failed in its attempts to establish talks on two occasions, and in the case of Austria, the Ukrainian question had in the interim become a particularly serious problem. The Russians feared that Austria-Hungary would exert a particularly strong appeal over the Ukrainians. As Burián reported, they harboured ‘uneasiness about the Ukrainian popu- lation, which is mostly intermingled with Jews. The Jews are the revolutionary element in Russia’1067. Once again, therefore, the best solution appeared to be to continue the war.