Page - 852 - in THE FIRST WORLD WAR - and the End of the Habsburg Monarchy, 1914 – 1918

852 Peace Feelers in the Shadow of Brest-Litovsk mula, which was also applicable to all those already living in an imperial federation, it had now become all too clear that the Bolsheviks were also aiming to revolutionise the nationalities in Austria-Hungary. And this could only lead to an exacerbation of the already precarious domestic political situation. According to the proclamation, the peace negotiations were to be conducted in pub- lic. The new government also wished to publicise all secret agreements that had been concluded and approved by the Provisional Government since the February Revolution. This could only be beneficial to the Central Powers. However, the initiation of peace negotiations did create several problems. First, it was necessary to take general stock of the peace efforts. For over a year, at- tempts had been made to create contacts with the western Allies. Here, Austria-Hun- gary had developed far more initiatives and, for its part, had far more frequently been the target of western efforts to initiate talks than the German Empire. However, in fact, these had more or less come to nothing. The Habsburg Monarchy had repeatedly waited for a sign as to whether hopes for a general peace might not surface. However, at the moment when from inner necessity and in order to guarantee the continued ex- istence of the Monarchy, the German course had begun to be steered, the impossibility of a separate peace, and even more so of a general one, had become increasingly evident. It makes no sense to simply attempt to reduce all this simply to blind loyalty (Niebe- lungentreue). The Habsburg Monarchy had no further possibility of concluding a peace without the agreement of the German Empire. The Allied hints that Austria-Hungary could under certain conditions even become the dominant power in German once again were nothing less than a mirage. Finally, even Lady Walburga Paget had joined the ranks of the initiators of peace contacts, a Saxon by birth, who sometimes directly, and sometimes via the Spanish court, had sent messages from Britain with proposals for mediation. However, her keen efforts probably stemmed more from a hatred of Prussia than from an authorised mediator function. She was also unable to offer any new recommendations and, for her part, suggested that Slav, Romanian and other parts of the Habsburg Monarchy should be swapped for Silesia. She also envisaged a feder- ation of the new Austria with the southern and central German states. Lady Walburga generously also added Saxony as members of such a Habsburg-German confederation with Silesia and Bavaria. However, the Foreign Office rigorously rejected peace at- tempts of this nature, since in London, as well as in Vienna, the view was that such talks should not be conducted by amateurs.2023 If contacts were to be made, then not through unauthorised, marginal figures. Only in November 1917, following the breakthrough by the Central Powers in the Twelfth Battle of the Isonzo, did the British show a certain willingness to compromise. Foreign Secretary Lord Balfour authorised the British envoy in The Hague, Sir Walter Townley, to again obtain specific information on the Austrian proposals for a negoti-