A World on Edge by Daniel Schönpflug

Author:Daniel Schönpflug
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Henry Holt and Co.

—Five—

A Deceptive Peace

The dreamland of the armistice period, where everyone … could conjure up his own fantastic, pessimistic or heroic vision of the future, is now closed.

—Ernst Troeltsch, Spectator-Briefe, June 26, 1919

Curt Herrmann, Flamingo, 1917

IN APRIL 1919, Milan Štefánik returns to Paris. It’s the moment Louise Weiss has been longing for. “Paler than a corpse,” the man she loves walks into her office and sinks into a chair, as stories of all he’s been through these last few months tumble from his lips. He was able to save himself and most of his men in Siberia. In temperatures of minus 35 degrees Celsius, the French commander of the Czechoslovakian Legion, General Maurice Janin, awarded him the cross of the Légion d’Honneur for his heroism. Afterward, Milan began making his way back to Europe via the Pacific. In Kobe, Japan, he learned that an armistice had been reached, and in Tokyo, he heard that he had been named the first minister of war of the new Czechoslovakian Republic. The news only intensified his desire to get back to Europe as quickly as possible, as he saw his new posting as an opportunity to play a major role in the international peace negotiations, which were scheduled to address the issue of international recognition of Czechoslovakian independence. But by the time Milan finally arrived in Paris, the conference was already well under way, and other leaders—most notably the new Czechoslovakian premier, Karel Kramá?, and the new foreign minister, Edvard Beneš—had taken their seats at the negotiating table with the world’s most powerful men. Milan cannot even persuade General Foch to launch a rescue mission for his comrades-in-arms still trapped in Siberia. After all the hardship and danger of the preceding years, this is not how Milan envisioned his return to Europe. He simply feels useless in Paris and hardly has he arrived than he plans to dash off again to Prague, where he can at least expect a welcome befitting a war hero. His fondest dream would be to fly to the Czech capital, descending directly from the heavens to his homeland.

Louise is captivated by every detail of Milan’s stories and thoughts. Her passion for the Czechoslovakian cause and for the man whom she sees as its embodiment has not diminished in the slightest. Perhaps she can now fight at his side and help bring about Czechoslovakian independence? While visiting Milan at his apartment on rue Leclerc, Louise cautiously steers the conversation toward what she hopes will be their joint political and personal future, but his expression darkens. He looks her straight in the eye, and Louise senses that he has something to confess. After some hesitation, he breaks the devastating news that in April 1918, at the Congress of Oppressed Nationalities in Rome, he met a young Italian noblewoman, Marchesa Giuliana Benzoni, and fell in love with her. A second meeting followed a short time later and now the couple is engaged.

Louise can’t believe her ears. “And what about me?” she asks the man whom she considered the love of her life.

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