Századok – 2019
2019 / 1. szám - TANULMÁNYOK - Jeszenszky Géza: A brit külpolitika útja Ausztria–Magyarország felbomlasztásához
A BRIT KÜLPOLITIKA ÚTJA AUSZTRIA–MAGYARORSZÁG FELBOMLASZTÁSÁHOZ 40 THE ROLE OF BRITISH FOREIGN POLICY IN THE DISSOLUTION OF THE AUSTRO-HUNGARIAN MONARCHY by Géza Jeszenszky SUMMARY It is widely assumed, and particularly in Hungary, that in World War I the Entente Powers, prompted by Great Britain, strove for the dissolution of Austria-Hungary from the very beginning of the conflict. Based on the author’s research, mainly in Britain, as well as on numerous publications relating to wartime British foreign policy, the conclusion of the article is that the decision to endorse the campaign for the break-up of the Monarchy into nation states, was arrived at only in the late spring and summer of 1918. British policy was inspired and carried out strenuously by the political writer (and, later, renowned historian) R. W. Seton-Watson and H. W. Steed, the foreign editor of The Times, supported by exiled politicians from the Monarchy such as the Czech Tomáš Masaryk and the Croat Frano Supilo. Warnings about the perils of replacing the Central European great power with small and weak nation states with large and discontented national minorities went unheeded.
