that all resources at our disposal had to be concentrated for the protection of the Hungarian frontier against the danger that threatened us from Roumania and the Balkans, but the actual declaration that was given divided the army into its various elements. The Hungarian troops were destined for special purposes without regard to the fact that their removal violated military honour because this action endangered to a serious extent their brothers in arms and the whole front. And if the Hungarians did no longer consider it their duty to protect the positions they had occupied hitherto and to endure by the side of their comrades, would not the rest imitate them? Would the whole front not begin to waver and dissolve before it was possible to negotiate for peace? There was no doubt whatever that the confession of defeat destroyed the last rags of self-confidence, that a fearful panic was created, especially at a time when this confession brought about the Italian offensive which had been contemplated. How would it be possible for the internally corrupt army to resist? Would she not be faced by a catastrophe that would entail the sacrifice of thousands upon thousands?
As the negotiations which had been begun in conjunction with the Central Powers appeared to make the slowest progress, and as it was certain that as long as we negotiated together we could expect the most severe treatment, I returned home from Switzerland with the proposal that our late Ambassador in London, Count Mensdorff, should be sent to Berne with the mission
