Page - 774 - in THE FIRST WORLD WAR - and the End of the Habsburg Monarchy, 1914 – 1918

774 The Pyrrhic Victory : The Breakthrough Battle of Flitsch-Tolmein in Dąbrowa in Poland, which covered the needs of the railways in the Monarchy and on the north-eastern front were no longer available ? What would be the consequences if the Romanian imports, which helped overcome the severest of shortages in supplies no longer arrived, or if there were no more mineral oil from Ploeşti and Piteşti ? And so it went on. Basically, it was almost impossible for Austria-Hungary to leave the alliance. The foreign policy of the Monarchy had become a rubber cell : outwardly, a demon- stration of the will and the ability to carry on was demanded and needed. Internally, confidence must be nurtured that the Monarchy would emerge from the war intact. In the spring, emphasis had been placed on the waiver of annexations and the retention of the status quo, while in the summer, they had been directly offered. In the same way, however, everyone was prepared to take up the old war aims once again and mentally to allow the Monarchy to expand. In the spring, the alliance with the German Empire had been questioned, and in the summer, it had again been attested. The conditions announced by the Entente gave hardly a clue. While in the spring, they had still talked of destroying Austria-Hungary, in the summer, they stated that the only firm condi- tions were the territorial cessions to Italy, Romania and Russia, which had already been agreed. In return, Austria-Hungary was to recoup German territory and become the dominant power in Germany. For the Foreign Minister, the moment had come at the beginning of September to declare for himself ‘that following the emphasis already amply placed on our willing- ness for peace, it is now advantageous to speak in a tone that leaves no doubt among our enemies that we can and shall hold out as loyal allies until the end’.1807 He informed those diplomatic missions still intact in the non-belligerent countries that he was con- sidering adopting a ‘very severe tone’ with the enemy powers. Some ambassadors voiced their concern, since this would of necessity burn the bridges. However, they were un- successful in dissuading Czernin from his idea. The Entente merely replied to the ten- tative steps towards peace by Austria-Hungary that it wished to split the Dual Alliance, and had set conditions for the Danube Monarchy which, according to Czernin, ‘one could not meet and still remain alive’.1808 The slogan of an Austria-Hungary that would have to be destroyed, which the former Croat representative Hinković had made his guiding principle, the ‘Detruisséz l’Autriche-Hongrie’ of Tomáš Masaryk, the agitation by Ante Trumbić and Frano Šupilo, who in the Corfu Declaration envisaged the con- joining of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes to form a single state, and the agitation by the Czechs and Slovaks, which was supported by the Allies, were all leading in a similar direction.1809 Now, it was to be made clear to the enemy powers that Austria-Hungary was not minded to conclude a peace with sacrifices and, on top of that, would not con- sider a break with the German Empire, which might furthermore lead to a war with its former ally. This was, after all, the hypothetical outcome when it was thought through to its logical conclusion.