Mitteilungen des Österreichischen Staatsarchivs 35. (1982)

WILSON, Keith: Isolating the Isolator. Cartwright, Grey and the seduction of Austria-Hungary 1908–1912

Isolating the Isolator

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this is for Baron von Aehrenthal, according to his friends, a miserable prospect, against which he will struggle to the utmost of his ability. For these reasons I feel sure that he will try to maintain the best relations with Russia, France, and England, while at the same time he will endeavour to keep on good terms with Berlin. He has for the present to turn in the latter direction from necessity, but I do not think from inclination.

No. 4: Sir Fairfax L. Cartwright to Sir Edward Grey, Vienna, 4 June 1910.

PRO FO 371/827/20925.

Very confidential.

While I was in London to attend the funeral of King Edward, I had the opportunity of having a conversation with M. Cambon, the French ambassador, on the subject of Count Aehrenthal’s policy, and as it throws some light on the views which are probably held by the French government with regard to it, it may be worth while reporting it to you. The impression left upon my mind by the conversation which I had with M. Cambon was that he entertained a rooted antipathy for Count Aehrenthal, and that he entirely mistrusted that statesman. I may mention here that M. Cambon does not know Count Aehrenthal personally, and that he has consequently formed his opinion with regard to him from second-hand information and from the reports furnished by certain French officials.

M. Cambon began by arguing that jews are greatly influenced in their actions by personal vanity; Count Aehrenthal was of jewish descent; therefore, M. Cambon said, we must expect that his policy will be based on and governed to a great extent by personal motives and by petty vanity, which will cause it to be spasmodic, haphazard, and uncertain in its aims. According to M. Cambon, Count Aehrenthal was never inspired by grand motives, and never had Te beau geste’, and he added that those who trusted his fine phrases would, sooner or later, find that they were of no value, and were meant to deceive. As far as I could gather, M. Cambon’s chief cause of irritation just now against Count Aehrenthal was the practical failure of the negotiations for a rapprochement between Austria-Hungary and Russia; this rapprochement was ardently desired by the French government, and because it was not achieved entirely as they had hoped, they appear to be inclined to lay the whole blame for this failure upon Count Aehrenthal. M. Cambon asked: “What reasons could Count Aehrenthal have for refusing to accede to M. Isvolsky’s proposal that the results of the negotiations should be communicated to the powers”? In his opinion there seemed to be no excuse for Count Aehrenthal’s action in this matter, and he could only explain Austria’s refusal by ascribing it to the desire of Count Aehrenthal to create difficulties for M. Isvolsky for the mere satisfaction of his own personal vanity; in fact, added the French ambassador, ‘Aehrenthal voulait de nouveau rouler son rival’. That the French government should have been annoyed by what seemed to be an ungracious act on the part of Count Aehrenthal at that moment is not astonishing, but I think M. Cambon is deceiving himself in believing that Count Aehrenthal acted on this occasion out of vanity, and that he had no concrete and real grounds to justify his action.

At the beginning of the year Count Aehrenthal was most desirous of bettering the relations between Austria-Hungary and Russia. It was part of his general policy to mend the breach between his country and her neighbour, for so long as that breach existed it made the Dual Monarchy very dependent on the good-will of the German government. Count Aehrenthal made the first advances to M. Isvolsky through M. Vesselitz- ky, the London correspondent of the ‘Novoe Vremya’. These were apparently accepted in a friendly spirit at St Petersburg, and the negotiations for an understanding were proceeding on the most favourable lines, when it was suddenly announced that the King of Bulgaria had been invited to come to St Petersburg, and this was followed a