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Bethmann-Hollweg, Austria-Hungary and Mitteleuropa, 1914–1915

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 February 2009

Richard W. Kapp
Richard W. Kapp
Affiliation:
Ryerson Polytechnical Institute, Toronto, Ontario
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Extract

In Berlin on November 10 and 11, 1915, the German Chancellor, Bethmann-Hollweg, raised with the visiting Austro-Hungarian foreign minister, Baron Burián, the subject of strengthening the diplomatic alliance between their governments during the current world conflict. In order to make this alliance “a permanent factor of international politics vis-á-vis our foes,” Bethmann-Hollweg suggested “an extension of the contractual obligations in political, economic and military respects.…” Speaking from a political standpoint, he noted that the treaty of 1879 between Germany and Austria-Hungary “was based on … the idea of the predominance of the Magyars in Hungary and the Germans in Austria.” Since then the Magyars had maintained their position, but the “influence of the Germans in the other half of the empire has been continuously reduced.” Therefore, the chancellor explained, “in connection with the extension and strengthening of the alliance, it is a matter of life or death for Germany that the German element regains its old deserved position and that a stop be put to any further Slavicization.” Bethmann-Hollweg went on to tell Burián about Germany's plans for a thirty year customs alliance based on preferential tariffs, which would be lower than those granted to other lands in most-favored-nation agreements. He expected that these internal duties would be reduced every ten years, and that other European states would join this commercial league. This meeting led to a series of official negotiations about a more comprehensive treaty of alliance, which were still in process when the Central Powers collapsed late in 1918.

Type
Foreign Policy in the Twentieth Century
Information
Austrian History Yearbook , Volume 19 , Issue 1 , January 1983 , pp. 215 - 236
Copyright
Copyright © Center for Austrian Studies, University of Minnesota 1983

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References

1 The German record has been published in Scherer, André and Grunewald, Jacques, eds., L'Allemagne et les problèmes de la paix pendant la première guerre mondiale, 4 vols. (Paris: Presses universitaires de France, 1962–1978), I, no. 167Google Scholar, Jagow Aufzeichnung, November 14, 1915. For the slightly different Austrian record see Haus- Hof- und Staatsarchiv, Vienna (HStA), Politisches Archiv (PA) I, carton 501, Burián Aufzeichnung, November 14, 1915, no. XLVII Geheim.

2 Ibid

3 Ritter, Gerhard, Staatskunst und Kriegshandwerk. Das Problem des “Militarismus” in Deutschland, 4 vols. (Munich: R. Oldenbourg, 1954–1968), III, 123Google Scholar; von Vietsch, Eberhard, Bethmann-Hollweg. Staatsmann zwischen Macht und Ethos (Boppard: Boldt, 1969), pp. 238–239.Google Scholar

4 Fischer, Fritz, Griff nach der Weltmacht. Die Kriegszielpolitik des kaiserlichen Deutschlands 1914–1918, 3rd ed. (Düsseldorf: Droste, 1964), pp. 119, 247 and 257.Google Scholar See also the contributions of Gutsche, Willibald, “Erst Europa—und dann die Welt. Probleme der Kriegszielpolitik des deutschen Imperialismus im ersten Weltkrieg,” Zeitschrift für Geschichtswissenschaft, XII (1964), 745–767Google Scholar; and “Mitteleuropaplanungen in der Außenpolitik des deutschen Imperialismus vor 1918,” Zeitschrift für Geschichtswissenschaft, XX (1972), 533–549.Google Scholar

5 Ritter, , Staatskunst und Kriegshandwerk, III, 116–118Google Scholar; Meyer, Henry Cord, Mitteleuropa in German Thought and Action 1815–1945 (The Hague: Nijhoff, 1955), pp. 150, 217CrossRefGoogle Scholar and passim; May, Arthur J., The Passing of the Hapsburg Monarchy 1914–1918, 2 vols. (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1966–1967), I, 146–151Google Scholar; Sweet, Paul R., “Germany, Austria-Hungary and Mitteleuropa: August 1915–April 1916,” in Festschrift für Heinrich Benedikt, Hantsch, Hugo and Novotny, Alexander, eds. (Vienna: Verlag Notring der Wissenschaftlichen Verbände, 1957), pp. 191–192Google Scholar; and Jarausch, Konrad, The Enigmatic Chancellor. Bethmann-Hollweg and the Hubris of Imperial Germany (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1973), pp. 214–215Google Scholar and passim.

6 Ramhardter, Günther, Geschichtswissenschaft und Patriotismus. Österreichische Historiker im Weltkrieg 1914–1918 (Vienna: Verlag für Geschichte und Politik, 1973), pp. 86–93Google Scholar; Gratz, Gustav and Schueller, Richard, Die äuβere Wirtschaftspolitik Österreich-Ungarns. Mitteleuropäische Pläne (Vienna: Hölder Pichler-Temsky; New Haven: Yale University Press, 1925), p. 7Google Scholar; Sweet, , “Germany and Mitteleuropa,” p. 188Google Scholar; and Ritter, , Staatskunst und Kriegshandwerk, III, 132–133.Google Scholar

7 This is a controversial point. A number of historians have emphasized that Germany carefully considered closer relations with Austria-Hungary in the years before 1914. See Fischer, Fritz, Krieg der Illusionen. Die deutsche Politik von 1911 bis 1914 (Düsseldorf: Droste, 1969), pp. 36 and 645Google Scholar; Stegmann, Dirk, Die Erben Bismarcks. Parteien und Verbände in der Spätphase des wilhelminischen Deutschlands. Sammlungspolitik 1897–1914 (Köln and Berlin: Kiepenheuer und Witsch, 1970) pp. 54–58Google Scholar; Gordon, Michael R., “Domestic Conflict and the Origins of the First World War: The British and German Cases,” Journal of Modern History, XXXXIV (06 1974), 191–226CrossRefGoogle Scholar; and Gutsche, , “Mitteleuropaplanungen,” pp. 533–549Google Scholar. Nevertheless, as will be shown below, German officials only began to investigate this possibility after the outbreak of the war. For this view see also Hayes, Barry Bascom, “The German Reich and the Austrian Question 1871–1914” (unpublished doctoral dissertation, Yale University, 1963), p. 546Google Scholar; and Kapp, Richard Ward, “The Failure of the Diplomatic Negotiations between Germany and Austria-Hungary for a Customs Union, 1915–1916” (unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Toronto, 1977), pp. 23–30.Google Scholar

8 The memorandum, which focused on Austria-Hungary alone, has been lost, but it is known to us through the analyses of Delbrück and Johannes discussed below. See also Rathenau, Walther, Tagebücher 1907–1922, Strandmann, H. Pogge-von, ed. (Düsseldorf: Droste, 1967), p. 185Google Scholar, for Rathenau's reference to a second memorandum for a customs union among Germany, Austria-Hungary, France and Belgium. This study has survived in Zentrales Staatsarchiv, Potsdam (25A Po), Rkz III, vol. 2476, Rathenau, to Hollweg, Bethmann, 08 28, 1914Google Scholar, no. RK122.

9 ZSA Po, Reichskanzlei (Rkz) I, vol. 403, Delbrück to Bethmann-Hollweg, September 3, 1914, no. RK489.

10 Ibid.

11 Ibid., Auswärtiges Amt (AA), Handelspolitische Abteilung (HpA), No. 580 Österreich, vol. 3986, “Gutachtliche Äußerung über die Frage eines Zollbündnisses mit Österreich-Ungarn,” September 1914.

12 This view has been disputed by Stern, Fritz, The Failure of Illiberalism (New York: Knopf, 1972), p. 98Google Scholar; and Fischer, Krieg der Illusionen, pp. 760–761. But the memoranda of Johannes and Delbriick make clear the priority of economic considerations. Furthermore see ZSA Po, Rkz I, vol. 404, Delbriick to Bethmann, April 12, 1915, no. RK2906, for Delbrück's recollection that the discussions of 1914 revolved around the need to acquire new trade outlets until peacetime commerce could be resumed.

13 Rathenau to Bethmann-Hollweg, ZSA Po, Rkz III, vol. 2476, August 28, 1914, no. RK122.

14 Ibid.

15 ZSA Po, Rkz III, vol. 2476, Rathenau to Bethmann-Hollweg, September 7, 1914, no. RK606. It has been published in von Eynern, Margarete, ed., Walther Rathenau in Brief und Bild (Frankfurt am Main: A. Leber, 1967), pp. 118–123.Google Scholar

16 Riezler, Kurt, Tagebücher, Aufsätze, Dokumente, Erdmann, Karl Dietrich, ed. (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1972), p. 198Google Scholar, August 19, 1914.

17 Ibid., p. 204, September 1, 1914.

18 ZSA Po, Rkz III, vol. 2476, Rechenberg to Wahnschaffe, August 15, 1914, no. RK85.

19 Ibid., Rechenberg to Wahnschaffe, August 27, 1914, no. RK370.

20 PA Bonn, Österreich 83, vol. 2, Tschirschky to Bethmann-Hollweg, September 1, 1914, no. 20240.

21 Ibid.

22 Ibid., Botschaft Wien, Ganz Geheime Sachen, Geheim III, 47, Tschirschky to Undersecretary, September 14, 1914, Geh. Jour. Nr. 47.

23 ZSA Po, Rkz III, vol. 2476, Schiemann to Delbrück, undated, received September 21, no. RK250.

24 HStA, Nachlaß (NL) Baernreither, carton 6, vol. 13, October 9, 1914; carton 49, Zedtwitz to Baernreither, October 24, 1914.

25 Molisch, Paul, Geschichte der deutschnationalen Bewegung in Österreich (Jena: G. Fischer, 1926), p. 239Google Scholar. The leaders were Gustav Gross, Otto Steinwenderand Joseph Dobernig. Molisch obtained this information from Gross.

26 Thyssen's plan has been published by Basler, Werner, Deutschlands Annexionspolitik in Polen und im Baltikum 1914–1918 (East Berlin: Rütten & Loening, 1962), pp. 359–362Google Scholar. Fischer, Krieg der Illusionen, p. 743, provides the date.

27 ZSA Po, Rkz III, vol. 2476, Erzberger to Bethmann-Hollweg, no. RK497.

28 These were the words of Albert Gwinner, head of the Deutsche Bank, cited in Fischer, Griff nach der Weltmacht, p. 115.

29 The program is discussed in Fischer, Griff nach der Weltmacht, pp. 120–121 and Krieg der Illusionen, p. 740; and Class, Heinrich, Wider den Strom. Vom Werden und Wachsen der Opposition im alten Reich (Leipzig: K. F. Koehler, 1932), pp. 320–325Google Scholar. The quotation is from Jarausch, The Enigmatic Chancellor, p. 192.

30 ZSA Po, NL Hammann, no. 34, cited in Fischer, Krieg der Illusionen, pp. 762–763.

31 Cited in Jarausch, The Enigmatic Chancellor, p. 188.

32 ZSA Po, Rkz III, vol. 2476, Bethmann-Hollweg to Delbrück, September 9, 1914, no. RK160. It has been published in Basler, Annexionspolitik, pp. 381–383. For a recent appraisal of the September Program's significance, see Thompson, Wayne C., “The September Program: Reflections on the Evidence,” Central European History, XI (12 1978), 348–354.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

33 ZSA Po, Rkz III, vol. 2476, ibid.

34 Ibid., Delbrück to Bethmann-Hollweg, September 13, 1914, no. RK222.

35 Ibid., Bethmann-Hollweg to Delbrück, September 19, 1914, no. Zu RK222.

36 Ibid., Bethmann-Hollweg to Delbrück, September 16, 1914, no. Zu RK3959.

37 Ibid., Bethmann-Hollweg to Delbrück, September 19, 1914, no. Zu RK222.

38 von Delbrück, Clemens, Die wirtschaftliche Mobilmachung in Deutschland 1914 (Munich: Verlag für Kulturpolitik, 1924), p. 127.Google Scholar

39 ZSA Po, AA HpA, no. 580 Österreich, vol. 3986, Delbrück to Jagow, October 27, 1914, No. SIVA541.

40 Ibid., Rkz II, vol. 2398, Delbrück to Bethmann-Hollweg, October 20, 1914, cited in Zechlin, Egmont, “Deutschland zwischen Kabinettskrieg und Wirtschaftskrieg 1914,” Historische Zeitschrift, CIC (1964), 434–435.Google Scholar

41 Ibid., Rkz III, vol. 2476, Bethmann-Hollweg to Delbrück, October 22, 1914, no number.

42 Scherer-Grunewald, L'Allemagne, I, no. 13, Bethmann-Hollweg to Zimmermann, November 19, 1914.

43 PA Bonn, NL Stresemann, cited in Sweet, Paul R., “Leaders and Policies: Germany in the Winter of 1914–15,” Journal of Central European Affairs, XVI (1956), 244–247.Google Scholar

44 Parrar, Lancelot L. Jr., The Short-War Illusion. German Policy Strategy and Domestic Affairs, August-December 1914 (Santa Barbara, California: ABC-Clio, 1973), pp. 83–88Google Scholar; Sweet, “Leaders and Policies,” p. 249.

45 See the documents in Scherer-Grunewald, L'Allemagne, I, 10 ff.

46 ZSA Po, AA HpA, no. 580 Österreich, vol. 3987, records of meetings of November 3–4, November 5–6, November 14, November 19, November 24, December 15, 1914, January Sand February 4, 1915; Nos. S IV 712, S IV 593 II Ang., S IV A5935 Ang., S IV 5934 Ang., S IV A3815, S IV A58 and SIV A68, respectively.

47 Ibid.

48 Ibid.

49 Ibid., Rkz I, vol. 404, Delbrück to Bethmann-Hollweg, April 12, 1915, no. RK2906.

50 Ibid.

51 Farrar, Short-War Illusion, pp. 87–88; Ritter, Staatskunst, III, 55–72; Silberstein, Gerald, The Troubled Alliance. German-Austrian Relations 1914–1917 (Lexington, Kentucky: University of Kentucky Press, 1970), pp. 129–225Google Scholar; and von Rajecz, Stephan Burián, Austria in Dissolution (London: E. Benn, 1925), pp. 19–63Google Scholar, for the views of the Austin-Hungarian foreign ministerin 1915.

52 May, Passing of the Hapsburg Monarchy, I, 99; Zechlin, Egmont, “Ludendorf im Jahre 1915. UnverÖffentlichte Briefe” Historische Zeitschrift, CCXI (1970), 336–337.Google Scholar

53 PA Bonn, Österreich 70 Geheim, vol. 1, Tschirschky to Foreign Office, April 13, 1915, no. AS 1795.

54 May, Passing of the Hapsburg Monarchy, I, 145; on foodstuffs; PA Bonn, Österreich 72 Geheim, vol. 1, for materials on financial negotiations.

55 Kruck, Alfred, Geschichte des Alldeutschen Verbandes 1890–1939 (Wiesbaden: F. Steiner, 1954), pp. 72–79, 113–114Google Scholar; Fischer, Griff nach der Weltmacht, pp. 120–121, 198–206; Sweet, “Leaders and Policies,” pp. 249–250; and Schwabe, Klaus, “Ursprung und Verbreitung des Alldeutschen Annexionismus in der deutschen Professorenschaft im ersten Weltkrieg. Zur Entstehung der Intellektuellen Eingaben vom Sommer 1915,” Vierteljahreshefte für Zeitgeschichte, XVI (04 1966), 105–138.Google Scholar

56 PA Bonn, Österreich 83, vol. 1, Tschirschky to Bethmann-Hollweg, 04 1, 1915, no. 116.

57 ZSA Po, Rkz I, vol. 405, Delbrück to Bethmann-Hollweg, April 23, 1915, no. RK3116.

58 Das Fremdenblatt, July 20, 1915, p. 1.

59 HStA, NL Baernreither, carton 6, vol. 14, February 27, 1915.

60 ZSA Po, Rkz I, vol. 405, Delbrück to Wahnschaffe, April 28, 1915, no. Zu RK3231

61 Riezler, Tagebücher, p. 265, April 4, 1915.

62 Ibid., p. 272, May 16, 1915.

63 HStA, NL Baernreither, carton 49, Zedtwitz to Baernreither, April 26, 1915. Richard Schüller and Richard Riedl were the officials involved.

64 ZSA Po, Rkz I, vol. 405, Delbrück to Bethmann-Hollweg, May 25, 1915, no. RK3056 Kj.

65 Ibid., June 5, 1915 Conference, no. RK3646 Kj. For a different interpretation of the meeting, see Fischer, Griff nach der Weltmacht, pp. 238–239; Fischer argues that a decision in favor of a customs union was reached.

66 Ibid.

67 PA Bonn, Österreich 72 Geheim, vol. 1, Helfferich to Bethmann-Hollweg, June 18, 1915, no. CB389.

68 Zentrales Staatsarchiv, Merseburg (ZSA Me), Rep. 77. tit 93, no. 22 “Beiakten I,” Reichsamt des Innern, Geheim no. 82, “Bericht über die Sitzung des wirtschaftlichen Ausschusses am 30. Juni und 1. Juli 1915.” Bayrisches Hauptstaatsarchiv, Munich (BHStA), Abt I, Allgemeines Staatsarchiv, MH 13473, “Bericht über die Sitzung des wirtschaftlichen Ausschusses am 14. 15. und 16. September 1915,” no. 77.

69 HStA, NL Baenreither, carton 6, vol. 15, Baernreither to Fürstenberg, November 20, 1915, describes the bad impression which this warning created in Berlin.

70 Scherer-Grunewald, L'Allemagne, I, No. 137, Bethmann-Hollweg to Falkenhayn, September 5, 1915.

71 Ibid., No. 141, Bethmann-Hollweg to Falkenhayn, September 16, 1915.

72 Ibid.

73 This is the view of Sweet, “Germany and Mitteleuropa,” pp. 181–182. On the other hand Janssen, Karl-Heinz, Der Kanzler und der General (Göttingen: Musterschmidt, 1967), pp. 166–169Google Scholar, doubts that Falkenhayn harbored any such ambitions, and thinks that he forwarded the Mitteleuropa idea out of strategic considerations.

74 Scherer-Grunewald, Allemagne, vol. I, no. 121, Bethmann-Hollweg to Treutler, August 4, 1915.

75 Ibid., No. 131, Note of Bethmann-Hollweg, August 13, 1915; HStA, PA I, canon 503, Burián's Aufzeichnung, August 14, 1915, no. PD4182 Geheim.

76 Ibid.

77 Ibid., No. 140, Jagow's Denkschrift, September 2, 1915.

78 Ibid.

79 Ibid.

80 Ibid., no. 140, Bethmann-Hollweg to Falkenhayn, September 11, 1915.

81 Ibid.

82 Riezler, Tagebücher, p. 301, September 27, 1915.

83 ZSA Me, Rep. 77, tit. 93, no. 122, Beiakten 2, Delbrück to Löbell, September 29, 1915, no. S IV 216.

84 Scherer-Grunewald, L'Allemagne, vol. I, no. 147, Bethmann-Hollweg to Jagow, October 13, 1915.

85 Riezler, Tagebücher, p. 272, May 16, 1915.

86 PA Bonn, Österreich 83, vol. 2, Tschirschky to Bethmann-Hollweg, July 22, 1915, no. 223.

87 Scherer-Grunwald, L'Allemagne, vol. I, no. 150, Tschirschky to Bethmann-Hollweg, October 29, 1915.

88 Kapp, “Failure of Negotiations,” pp. 111–174.

89 For the conference of the German-Austrian-Hungarian Economic Union, see the reports of the Neue Freie Presse, June 28, 1915, p. 9; June 29, 1915, pp. 12–13; June 30, 1915, pp. 8–9. For the meeting of the Mid-European Economic Society, see HStA, Administrative Registratur, Fach 34, carton 67, Hohenlohe to Ballhausplatz, July 27, 1915, no. Z34.451/A; to be sure the Austro-German delegates were prohibited from attending the gathering, but they had previously played an important role in getting the Society to promote Mitteleuropa.

90 PA Bonn, Österreich 83, vol. 2, Erzberger to Foreign Office, September 10, 1915, no. A26666.

91 Ibid., Österreich 70, vol. 50, Tschirschky to Bethmann-Hollweg, October 6, 1915, no. A29431.

92 ZSA Po, AA HpA, no. 580 Österreich, vols. 3988 and 3989, for these materials.

93 PA Bonn, Deutschland 180 Geheim, vol. 1, Tschirschky to Bethmann-Hollweg, September 8, 1915, no. AS4764.

94 Scherer-Grunewald, L'Allemagne, vol. I, no. 148, Bethmann-Hollweg to Falkenhayn, September 11, 1915.

95 PA Bonn, Deutschland 180 Geheim, vol. 1, Bethmann-Hollweg to Treutier, September 11, 1915, no. AS 4793.

96 BHStA, Abt. II, Geheimes Staatsarchiv, Ges. Berlin, vol. 1089, Hertling to Lerchenfeld, October 19, 1915, No. 26591.

97 PA Bonn, Deutschland 180 Geheim, vol. 1, Bethmann-Hollweg to Friedjung, September 25, 1915, no. zu AS4764/4764a, draft. The original is in Stadtbibliothek, Vienna, NL Friedjung, File: “Briefe an Friedjung.”

98 See, for example, the discussion of it by Sweet, “Germany and Mitteleuropa,” p. 188; and by Ritter, Staatskunst und Kriegshandwerk, III, 132–133.

99 PA Bonn, Deutschland 180 Geheim, vol. 1, “Denkschrift aus Deutsch-Österreich,” no. AS 5839.

100 Ibid.

101 HStA, PA I, carton 501, Hohenlohe to Burián, October 21, 1915, no. Z95A–C/P.

102 Ibid., NL Baernreither, carton 6, vol. 15, “Inhalt des Gesprächs Friedjung mit Bethmann Anfang November 1915.”

103 Ritter, Staatskunst und Kriegshandwerk, III, 113–119; Jarausch, The Enigmatic Chancellor, pp. 210–212.

104 Bethmann-Hollweg to Erich Mareks, March 16, 1916, cited in Jarausch, The Enigmatic Chancellor, pp. 214–215.

105 Ibid.

106 In October he informed the moderate Socialist David about his plans for a “practical union of the Germanic states”; see David, Eduard, Das Kriegstagebuch des Reichstagabgeordneten Eduard David 1914 bis 1918, Miller, Susanne, ed. (Düsseldorf: Droste, 1966), p. 144Google Scholar. In November he outlined his desire for a close economic union with Austria-Hungary for National Liberal and Progressive Party leaders; Redlich, Joseph, Schicksalsjahre Österreichs 1908–1919. Das politische Tagebuch Joseph Redlichs, Fellner, Fritz, ed., 2 vols. (Graz: H. Böhlaus Nachf., 1953–1954), II, 97, 02, 1916Google Scholar; PA Bonn, Deutschland 180 Geheim, vol. 3, Neumann to Bethmann-Hollweg, June 21, 1916, no. AS2007.

107 ZSA Po, Rkz III, vol. 2476, Delbrück to Bethmann-Hollweg, September 13, 1914, RK222.

108 HStA, Ad Reg, Fach 34, carton 67, Hohenlohe to Ballhausplatz, April 19, June 8, June 23, July 27 and August 9, 1915; nos. ZK 20277/A, ZK28359/A, ZK30184/A, Z34451/A and ZK35872/A respectively.

109 Redlich, Tagebuch, vol. II, no. 71, October 30, 1915.

110 On Naumann, 's Mitteleuropa (Berlin: Druck und Verlag von Georg Reimer, 1915)Google Scholar, see Meyer, , Mitteleuropa, pp. 194–217Google Scholar; and Heuss, Theodor, Friedrich Naumann, der Mann, das Werk, die Zeit (Stuttgart: R. Wunderlich, 1937), pp. 439–491.Google Scholar

111 Fischer, Griff nach der Weltmacht, p. 256, aptly describes Naumann's book as “a noteworthy but still rather unrealistic cluster of ideas.”