Blessed Charles of Austria by Charles Coulombe

Author:Charles Coulombe
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: TAN Books

But one cannot help but wonder if these two views were really contradictory or simply the witness of a neutral party observing and loving each on their own merits.

Tired of Soviet delaying tactics, the Germans declared that they would simply begin occupying as much as they could until the Soviets were willing to sign a treaty. The Germans marched eastward virtually unopposed until Lenin sent an emissary to sign the treaty on March 3. The Soviets recognized the independence of Finland, the Baltic States, Poland, Belarus, Ukraine, Georgia, and Armenia. Although an occupation force was maintained in the liberated areas, half a million men were freed for service on the western front and elsewhere. This “peace dividend” was unleashed upon the armies of the entente on March 21 in the famous “Spring Offensive”—one of the most massive such assaults in history. Initially, the enemy fell back in disorder.

At such a time, when victory seemed within reach, no one—except Charles—wanted to speak of ending the war peacefully. When the efforts through Prince Sixtus failed in 1917, Charles immediately looked for another outlet, and this time he was not concerned about Germany’s views. On January 18, 1918, in a speech to Congress, Woodrow Wilson set forth his famous fourteen points as the formula by which heaven would be brought down to earth. They were these:

I. Open covenants of peace, openly arrived at, after which there shall be no private international understandings of any kind but diplomacy shall proceed always frankly and in the public view.

II. Absolute freedom of navigation upon the seas, outside territorial waters, alike in peace and in war, except as the seas may be closed in whole or in part by international action for the enforcement of international covenants.

III. The removal, so far as possible, of all economic barriers and the establishment of an equality of trade conditions among all the nations consenting to the peace and associating themselves for its maintenance.

IV. Adequate guarantees given and taken that national armaments will be reduced to the lowest point consistent with domestic safety.

V. A free, open-minded, and absolutely impartial adjustment of all colonial claims, based upon a strict observance of the principle that in determining all such questions of sovereignty the interests of the populations concerned must have equal weight with the equitable government whose title is to be determined.

VI. The evacuation of all Russian territory and such a settlement of all questions affecting Russia as will secure the best and freest cooperation of the other nations of the world in obtaining for her an unhampered and unembarrassed opportunity for the independent determination of her own political development and national policy and assure her of a sincere welcome into the society of free nations under institutions of her own choosing; and, more than a welcome, assistance also of every kind that she may need and may herself desire. The treatment accorded Russia by her sister nations in the months to come will be the acid test of their good will, of

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