Mitteilungen des Österreichischen Staatsarchivs 46. (1998)

GODSEY, William D. Jr.: Officers vs. Diplomats: Bureaucracy and Foreign Policy in Austria-Hungary 1906–1914

OFFICERS VS. DIPLOMATS:

Bureaucracy and Foreign Policy in Austria-Hungary 1906-1914'

by William D. Godsey, Jr.

The close connection that existed in Wilhemine Germany between the diplomatic and military services had no counterpart in Austria-Hungary in the same period.1 2 Between 1648 and 1918, the Habsburgs sent approximately 100 career officers a- broad as heads of mission, but this tradition found only a faint echo during the second half of Francis Joseph’s reign.3 4 * Military envoys had customarily been employed at foreign courts in times of war, when the business of an embassy frequently required their expertise.'1 The wars of Francis Joseph, with the exception of the last one, ended in 1866 and the continent in general, apart from occasional Balkan scuffles, remained at peace up until the eve of the First World War. Despite his devotion to the army, the emperor further showed little inclination to allow military personnel a significant role in the making of foreign policy, a stance that seems to have become more rigid as his reign progressed.3 Unlike in Germany, where William II scarcely hid his preference for military diplomacy and where the foreign office consequently remained on the defensive, the career diplomats in Vienna could clearly rely on the support of the emperor. Francis Joseph’s stance notwithstanding, the Habsburg military nevertheless sought in the last years before the war to mount a challenge on a variety of fronts to the preeminence of civilian diplomacy. Though we are well- informed about the resulting conflicts over policy, almost nothing is known about those that concerned the bureaucracy. Here the army managed to achieve a few victories of limited significance that reflected less any triumph of the military in the policy-making process, than the gradual militarization of Austro-Hungarian foreign policy on the eve of the war.

Earlier in Francis Joseph’s long rule, years in which he resorted to arms with some regularity, officers appear more prominently among the personnel of the Ballhausplatz. Among them were several foreign ministers, including Prince Felix Schwarzenberg (1848-1852), Count Alexander Mensdorff-Pouilly (1864-1866) and Count

1 The author would particularly like to thank Lawrence Sondhaus for reading and commenting on an earlier draft of this article.

2 For Germany, see Cecil, Lamar: The German Diplomatic Service, 1871-1914. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1976, p. 104 f.

3 Regele, Oskar: Die Entwicklung der habsburgisch (-lothringischen) Militär-Diplomatie. In: Mitteilungen des Österreichischen Staatsarchivs 14 (1963), p. 300—316.

4 Ibidem, p. 302.

3 On this question, see Rothenburg, Gunther: The Army of Francis Joseph. West Lafayette, IN: Purdue University Press, 1976), p. 163.

Mitteilungen des Österreichischen Staatsarchivs 46/1998

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