Alfred Francis Pribram

“ Czernin did not indeed contemplate the conclusion of a separate peace with the enemy, but as against German statesmen he insisted that Germany also, especially in the questions of Belgium and Alsace-Lorraine, would have to reconcile herself to concessions. By gloomily painted pictures of the military, political and economic situation of Austria-Hungary he sought to influence the German Emperor and the German higher command, and succeeded in awakening sympathy with his peace ideas among the members of the German Reichstag. ”

“ Czernin at that time was regarded as Francis Ferdinand's candidate for the office of Foreign Minister. In Oct. he went as Austro-Hungarian minister to Bucharest. His dispatches published in the "Red Book" show that even at that time he was of opinion that the secret treaty signed by King Charles with the Triple Alliance was nothing but a "scrap of paper," and that in an international war Rumania would only be induced to take part on the side of the Central Powers by far-reaching concessions at the expense of the Habsburg Monarchy. ”

“ But he himself was simultaneously engaged in trying to influence German statesmen in the same sense, promising in the event of their making sacrifices in the west to compensate them in the east, chiefly by the acquisition of Polish territory. But his efforts, then and later, broke down on the determination of the German army leaders to obtain a military decision. These men saw in Czernin a danger to the political and military interests of the Alliance, and attacked him violently. ”