Page - 884 - in THE FIRST WORLD WAR - and the End of the Habsburg Monarchy, 1914 – 1918

884 The Inner Front sink to the same level as Italy. […] [That is the] thanks of the House of Habsburg ! One more traitor !’2114 Wilhelm’s reaction can be explained in part from the fact that already since the beginning of the peace negotiations it had been repeatedly suggested that Austria-Hungary might break ranks with the alliance. The German ambassador had even asked Emperor Karl directly about this on 5 January 1918 and received the answer ‘that after the multiple declarations regarding the will to make peace, it would have been difficult for the Most Supreme to make it conceivable to his peoples to continue fighting, if need be, only so that Germany receives Lithuania and Courland as the vic- tory prize’, as Ambassador von Wedel reported so perfectly to Berlin.2115 Now the next instalment had begun. The Permanent Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Kühlmann, sought out the German Kaiser in order to explain the stance of Emperor Karl : ‘The idea that Germany wants to patronise and oppress him and his Empire is deliberately nurtured by opponents of the alliance near to Emperor Karl.’ It was precisely for this reason that Emperor Karl was to be treated with particular friendliness. This was only one aspect, however. The Austrian Emperor was also in favour of renouncing annexations because  – as he openly stated  – of ‘how the Monarchy will look after the war’.2116 Also in the case of Romania, the German Empire remained faithful to the exist- ing model of the peace negotiations. Since Romania did not appear amenable to the wishes and demands of the Quadruple Alliance, a resumption of military operations was threatened. Austria-Hungary could not oppose this, so it instead attempted to make the best of it. Arz talked on the telephone with Ludendorff in order to induce the latter to transfer the supreme command this time to Archduke Eugen, because he had been available since the dissolution of the Command of the South-Western Front.2117 In the event of a resumption of hostilities, Arz wanted to drastically increase demands towards Romania. ‘He will face a lot of resistance from the Emperor’, as the Chief of the Military Chancellery, Major General Marterer, laconically responded.2118 But Romania backed down. On 5 May 1918, the preliminary peace of Buftea was con- cluded, and two days later the Treaty of Bucharest. Now Bulgaria could also claim its prize in the war : the Dobruja region. Since the Ottoman Empire wanted to see such an enlargement of Bulgaria compensated for by means of Bulgaria renouncing territories on the Maritsa River in favour of Turkey, a further conflict between the Central Powers threatened. Ultimately, only Southern Dobruja was taken from Romania, as a result of which Bulgaria felt itself cheated of its reward in the war and very quickly lost any interest in continuing the war on the side of the Central Powers. In spite of Czernin’s long-term opposition, Hungary forced through its demands and eventually succeeded in forcing Romania to cede a territory of 5,000 km2, which was then allocated to the Hungarian half of the Empire, whilst Austria received 600 km2 of Romanian territory in Bukovina. Since Emperor Karl had not been unbending towards these aims, the protestations of a renunciation of annexations completely be-