Page - 876 - in THE FIRST WORLD WAR - and the End of the Habsburg Monarchy, 1914 – 1918

876 The Inner Front of belonging to Russia and sought separate peace talks. The right to self-determination proved to be a huge stumbling block. Russia demanded the consultation of represent- atives from Courland and Lithuania, if Germany claimed that these provinces on the periphery wanted to free themselves from Russia. The Chief of the General Staff of the German Supreme Army Command and ‘host’ of the negotiations, General Hoffmann, whose role was to take the radical view of the Army Command within the German delegation, put on the airs and graces of a victor. It was not the Russians who should be setting conditions : ‘The victorious German Army is on your territory’, as he pointed out to Trotsky.2084 But Trotsky attempted repeatedly to avoid adopting a clear position with dialectical manoeuvres and was already prepared to break off the negotiations. But Lenin wanted them to be continued. Czernin’s position at the talks was markedly complicated by the January strikes and the looming famine catastrophe. His repeated declarations that he would rather con- clude a separate peace than see peace founder on German demands, no longer had any effect. Emperor Karl had now resorted to only making appeals. Growing aversion towards the Germans and the widespread belief that Austria-Hungary was now only fighting for German conquests, but was for its part to be fobbed off with mere crumbs, and that Germany would ultimately conclude peace on the back of Austria, made his decisions conceivably difficult. The conflict could hardly be greater : Czernin openly threated with a ‘reorientation in alliance policy’ after the war. Germany returned the aversion. ‘The wider public here naturally does not speak well of Austria-Hungary’, wrote the German diplomat Albert Bernstorff in January 1918 to the editor of the Ös- terreichischer Volkswirt, Gustav Stolper. He even had to cancel a planned presentation in Dresden, since the mood had turned so much against the Habsburg Monarchy.2085 The Central Powers, however, were evidently condemned to unity. It was Austria-Hungary that had to come begging. Since Czernin was assailed by the Austrian government, the head of the Joint Food Committee and, ultimately, the Emperor to obtain deliveries of cereal crops from Germany and Bulgaria, he could not do anything other than act ac- commodatingly. The German Empire granted a loan of 45,000 tons of wheat flour, and eventually there was also a veritable accord on additional German deliveries. Czernin’s room for manoeuvre, however, had again been constricted.2086 The Minister reproached Seidler for not having suppressed the press reports. Czernin criticised the Hungarian Prime Minister Wekerle strongly and openly advocated the establishment of a military dictatorship.2087 But this could not give him back his scope of action. Czernin became increasingly bound to German policies. First of all, he had to indulge Ukraine, which claimed the Chełm Governorate from the Russian part of Poland for its emerging state.2088 Czernin had to concede, even if unforeseeable difficulties were to result with the Poles, who regarded Chełm as an integral part of Poland. The Ukrainians further- more succeeded with the demand for the creation of Ruthenia as a separate crown land