The War That Ended Peace by Margaret MacMillan

The War That Ended Peace by Margaret MacMillan

Author:Margaret MacMillan [MacMillan, Margaret]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-8129-9470-4
Publisher: Random House Inc.
Published: 2013-10-28T16:00:00+00:00


GERMANY COULD MANAGE without Italy, and in the event did, but in the last decade before the Great War it badly needed to hang on to Austria-Hungary. In spite of periodic attempts to reach out to Russia or to Britain, it had few other possibilities for allies. The Ottoman Empire was too weak, and the smaller powers such as Rumania or Greece rightly tried to stay out of conflicts if they could. As the years went by and Germany faced a strengthening Triple Entente, its Dual Alliance with Austria-Hungary assumed greater and greater importance. That meant in turn that Germany had to back Austria-Hungary up when it got into confrontations in the Balkans or, more seriously still, with Russia.

Bismarck had always intended the alliance to be a defensive one and had resisted any attempts, such as binding military agreements, to make it something more. He had, though, allowed staff talks which gave Austria-Hungary to understand that Germany would send a substantial number of troops to the east for combined operations against Russia in the event of a Russian attack on Austria-Hungary. When Wilhelm II assumed the throne, he repeatedly signaled, at least rhetorically, enthusiasm for a closer relationship. After Schlieffen became the German chief of staff in 1891, however, the allies’ strategic goals diverged as the Germans increasingly saw France as their main enemy while the Austrians continued to focus on Russia. At their first meeting, General Friedrich von Beck, the Austrian chief of staff, found Schlieffen “taciturn and not very obliging.” Schlieffen for his part did not put much trust in the Austrians: “Those characters will only desert or run over to the enemy.” In 1895 he cut back sharply on Germany’s commitments in the eastern theater of war and made it clear that Germany would only carry out a small attack on Russian soil. Beck was furious, not least because the German decision nullified years of Austrian staff work.59 From that point on, relations between the two general staffs were correct but cool and there was no detailed joint military planning.

It was not until 1908–9, at a moment when it looked as though Austria-Hungary might go to war with Serbia over Bosnia, that the Dual Alliance shifted away from Bismarck’s limited and defensive conception and became something closer, more offensive, and more dangerous for the stability of Europe. Wilhelm II again took a hand, telling Austria-Hungary: “Emperor Francis Joseph is a Prussian field marshal and hence he has only to command and the entire Prussian Army will follow his command.”60 More importantly, the militaries from Austria-Hungary and Germany started to talk again and from that point on until the summer of 1914 they exchanged letters and visits which served to build up an expectation that they would consult and act together to support each other in moments of crisis.61 Schlieffen and Beck had by this time passed from the scene and their successors, Moltke and Conrad, established a warmer relationship. Conrad revered the elder Moltke and was to wear a medallion with the great German general’s image around his neck during the Great War.



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