Page - 538 - in THE FIRST WORLD WAR - and the End of the Habsburg Monarchy, 1914 – 1918

538 Lutsk : The End of an Illusion (II) achieve anything without troops. It was not the commander who was important but the sending of German troops. Furthermore, in spite of the extension of German influence, in the event of a declaration of war by Romania, it could happen that the German Empire might undertake nothing against Italy or against Romania and perhaps even conclude peace with Russia, Italy and Romania at the expense of Austria. Lastly, Con- rad complained about the ‘diplomatic impact on purely military matters’, and requested that Emperor Franz Joseph prohibit this.1266 Privately, he wrote to Bolfras : ‘Since the unfavourable events of the war in the north, there has been a relentless, nervous inter- ference of the Foreign Ministry as well as the Prime Ministers in the conduct of the war, which I regard at all times, but especially in critical times, as exceedingly worrying, all the more so since the Foreign Ministry in particular proves itself to be responsive to different influences, including external ones.’ Finally, he stressed that he could at any time resign from his post, should he so wish. ‘It would never occur to me to cling to my post, if trust was denied to me or doubts were raised about my ability to continue to fulfil this post for the good of our cause.’1267 The only person who appeared to stead- fastly stand by Conrad was Archduke Friedrich, although even his Adjutant General, Brigadier Count Herberstein, had in the meantime crossed over into the camp of the opponents of Conrad.1268 From Berlin, the question ultimately reached the German Plenipotentiary General attached to the Imperial and Royal High Command, General Cramon, as to whether he did not regard it as sensible for Kaiser Wilhelm to address Emperor Franz Joseph directly and demand the dismissal of Conrad. Cramon advised against it, although he barely had anything positive to say about Conrad, or wanted to for that matter. As far as he was concerned, the Chief of the General Staff had spent a little too much time in the Albrecht Grammar School, the headquarters of the Army High Command in Cieszyn. In the eyes of Cramon, he was a ‘paper strategist’ who was already moreover exhibiting signs of ‘senility’.1269 Cramon later noted that he had only advised against Conrad’s dismissal because he feared that if the Imperial and Royal Army were to be deprived of its idolised Chief of the General Staff, then despondency would gain con- siderable ground. So far, only the hinterland had lost its faith in the genius of Conrad ; the soldiers, however, still believed in him.1270 The ‘Hindenburg front’ was eventually realised, after all. On 20 July 1916, the Rus- sians broke through the positions of the Imperial and Royal 1st Army (Puhallo), and a day later the Army had to be withdrawn a long way back. Day after day, Burián wrote about the Romanian danger. Bethmann Hollweg and Permanent Secretary von Jagow worked on Kaiser Wilhelm, who did not want to hear of any threat of war from com- ing from Romania. On 21 July, Conrad travelled to Vienna and argued as before. He especially pointed out to the Emperor that in the event of German overall command on the eastern front, two-thirds of Austro-Hungarian troops would be under German