Page - 772 - in THE FIRST WORLD WAR - and the End of the Habsburg Monarchy, 1914 – 1918

772 The Pyrrhic Victory : The Breakthrough Battle of Flitsch-Tolmein struction of Austria-Hungary and conscious support for the process of dissolution from within as one of their most important war aims. The fact that this was targeted not only at Austria-Hungary, but possibly to an even greater degree also Germany, had already been emphasised by the British Foreign Office in a memorandum presented in May 1917. The memorandum contained highly controversial issues for observation and con- sideration : Austria-Hungary, it claimed, was entirely dependent on Germany, whose primary interest was in securing its continued existence. The greater the increase in ir- redentism, the greater was the need in the Habsburg Monarchy for German assistance. And if a separation of Galicia, Bukovina and Italian territories were indeed to occur, ul- timately, only the German element in Austria would be strengthened, to the inevitable detriment of the non-German nationalities. This was the one aspect. However, this was not all. The Russian Revolution had changed this major Slav power. Russia, according to the opinion held in London, would no longer fight to retain its dominance, but instead  – if at all  – would do so with the aim of securing independence for the states of East Central Europe. A series of sovereign states in the Balkans would finally deny both Germany and Russia access to the Mediterranean. As a result, the power ratio on the Continent would also be balanced to a certain degree following the dismember- ment of the Habsburg Monarchy.1799 The purpose now was therefore to wait and see how events unfolded, but also to influence them as far as possible. And in relation to Austria-Hungary, this was relatively easy to put into practice. For the Imperial and Royal Foreign Minister, Count Czernin, the Kerensky Offen- sive marked the point at which it was necessary to strengthen the ties between Vienna and Berlin, and indeed to make them appear stronger than ever before. Until June 1917, he had emphasised the separate policy of the Ballhausplatz (Austro-Hungarian Impe- rial Chancellery) from that of Berlin ; from July onwards, he stressed the unshakeable nature of the alliance. However, on one issue, he remained firm : he advocated a peace without annexations. He saw himself confirmed in this goal by a majority decision in the German Reichstag (Imperial Diet) on 19 July, and also vehemently argued in favour of it to Ludendorff, who by contrast wished to pursue a pro-annexationist policy.1800 Czernin went one step further. When at the end of July 1917, contact was again made with the Entente, and Count Nikolaus Revertera-Salandra met with the French Count Abel Armand in Fribourg in Switzerland, Czernin urged the new German Im- perial Chancellor, Georg Michaelis, to seek an understanding with France, even at the expense of Alsace-Lorraine. He offered the Germans Galicia if they agreed to forfeit Alsace-Lorraine. The offer had already been made earlier by Emperor Karl when he had met the German Kaiser and his wife in Bad Homburg on 3 April.1801 This created a situation similar to that of 1915, when the ‘Silesian offer’ had been made. At that time, Germany had offered Silesian territory if Austria declared itself willing to forfeit Trentino to Italy. However, just as Austria-Hungary had rejected this offer at the time,