The Guilt of William Hohenzollern - Karl Johann Kautsky

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affairs, foreign politics were also affected by it. In Austria home and foreign affairs were very closely related, from the fact that of the eight nationalities represented in the realm only two dwelt wholly within its borders—the rest were to a great extent outside it, and in some cases were organized in independent national States. The national movements of Rumanians, Ruthenes and Poles had their influence on Austrian foreign policy, and still more those of the Italian and Yugo-Slav Irredenta. ​

      To all this we must add that besides its Emperor, Austria obtained a second ruler in the person of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand, who in 1896 became heir to the throne, just about the time when Germany was embarking on her fatal naval policy. The imperialistic tendencies which at this period seized on all the Great Powers, began from that date to be felt in Austria too. Austria, however, could have no designs on oversea dominion. Austrian imperialism, like the Russian, sought to extend its territories on land. That was best to be attained in the south by conquering the road to Salonika, a policy which required that Albania and Serbia should be turned into an Austrian colony. What no State in Europe had dared to attempt since 1871, since the annexation of Alsace-Lorraine—the forcible incorporation against its will of a politically independent population—this was what the senile though extensive Power of Austria now undertook to accomplish through the systematic maltreatment of the small but youthfully vigorous State of Serbia.

      Franz Ferdinand, young, energetic and even reckless, who knew no need of repose, no vacillations between concession and suppression, but built on force alone, became the incorporation of these imperialist tendencies, which he was able to emphasize all the more since, as the Emperor grew older, the influence of his heir with the army and on foreign policy increased. Since 1906, when Goluchowski was superseded by Aehrenthal, foreign policy was directed by Franz Ferdinand.

      Ignorant braggarts, he and his tools did not shrinz from the grossest provocations, caring nothing that they were thus challenging Russia, the protector of Serbia, and endangering the peace of the world. Why ​should they care, so long as the big German brother with his mighty, mailed fist stood behind them! And he stood behind them because his own position in the world was threatened, if the only military Power of any consequence on whose support he could reckon were to suffer loss in power or prestige.

      ​

      THE BALKAN CRISES

       Table of Contents

      The first of the frivolous acts by which Austria endangered the peace of the world took place in the autumn of 1908, when, without any necessity, the regions administered by her for the Turks, Bosnia and Herzegovina, were annexed; a shameless breach of treaty with Turkey, and a deep injury to the national feeling of the Yugo-Slavs, who were necessarily most embittered by this treatment of the Bosnians as chattels who could at will be exchanged or carried off. The danger of a world-war became imminent, for Russia saw herself forced back in her Balkan policy without receiving any compensation. But the other European States, and especially England, also uttered the most vigorous protests against this insolent tearing-up of the Treaty of 1878. Austria must have withdrawn had not the German Empire come to her side.

      This attitude of Germany's laid the foundation for the later world-war. Yet German politicians have, even during this war (though before the collapse), defended it. Prince Bülow, in his previously quoted work, “The Policy of Germany,” takes credit for his action at this crisis:

      “In my speeches in the Reichstag, as well as in my instructions to our representatives abroad, I ​allowed no doubt to prevail that Germany was determined under all circumstances to hold with Nibelung-faith to her alliance with Austria. The German sword was flung into the scales of European judgment, directly for the sake of our Austro-Hungarian ally, indirectly for the maintenance of European peace, and first of all and above all for the prestige of Germany and her position in the world.” (Page 60.)

      So these were the methods by which the old régime sought to preserve peace: it never thought of restraining its ally from frivolous provocations, but only of throwing its sword into the scales. And by this, as well as by its sanction of a breach of treaty, it believed itself to be working for the prestige of Germany before the world!

      Hashagen, in his little book “Outlines of World-Policy,” which appeared in the same year as Bülow's, writes in even more enthusiastic language:

      “For the confirmation of the alliance on both sides it is an inestimable advantage that the annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina soon gave rise to so intense an international resentment, not only against Austria, but against Germany too. It was precisely this resentment which made the bond of relation of the two allies wholly indissoluble.” (II., p. 6.)

      Truly an ingenious policy, which saw, in the kindling of an intense international resentment against oneself, an inestimable advantage, for the precise reason that it bound Germany fast to the inwardly bankrupt State of Austria! ​

      The “German sword” in 1908 and 1909 kept the peace of the world, because Russia at that time had to swallow quietly the insult levelled at Serbia, and through Serbia at itself. It was still bleeding from the wounds inflicted by the war with Japan and by the Revolution.

      Serbia was on March 31st, 1909, obliged, in a humble Note, to promise better behaviour, and to abandon its protest against the annexation.

      But Russia naturally did not accept final defeat in the Balkans. Serbia, in her isolation, had to retreat before Austria. Russian statecraft now succeeded in forming an alliance among the Balkan States. A federation of the Balkan peoples in one common Republic had been for years the demand of the Yugo-Slav socialists. It offered to the Balkan peoples the best conditions for maintaining their independence, both as against Turkey and Austria, as well as Russia.

      Such a formation was not, of course, acceptable to Russian policy. Quite the contrary. As often before, however, Russia knew how to use for her own ends the force springing from an idea that worked along the inevitable lines of development. She formed an association not among the Balkan peoples, but among the Balkan princes, with the object of putting an end to the dominion of the Turks in Europe.

      In October, 1912, war broke out between the allied States of Serbia, Bulgaria, Greece and Montenegro against Turkey. The latter was easily defeated, and the European Powers accepted the situation with the watchword: The Balkans for the Balkan peoples.

      And so, in spite of the storm brewing in the south-eastern corner, the peace of the world seemed to be maintained. But Austria now comes on the scene again and endangers it by giving the hated Serbia another ​kick. Serbia is obliged to relinquish the outlet on the Adriatic which it had fought for and had won.

      This time it is more serious than in 1908.

      Austria, like Russia, mobilizes in February, 1913. But mobilization means preparation for war, not war itself. England mediates, and Russia yields once more. Mobilization is annulled in March. Peace is preserved, but at the cost of Serbia, and, through Serbia, of her protector, Russia. Serbia must surrender her outlet on the Adriatic.

      And thus a new and dangerous tension is created. Serbia endeavours to obtain compensation at the expense of Bulgaria in Macedonia. She finds allies in Greece and Rumania. Their combined forces overthrow Bulgaria and reduce her territory.

      Yet this time also the peace of the world is preserved. Europe holds aloof from intervention. So it comes on August 10th, 1913, to the Peace of Bucharest. It is hoped that the Balkans will now be at peace, and that the peace of the world may be ensured for a long period—just one year before the outbreak of the world-war.

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