Count Leopold Berchtold

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Count Leopold Berchtold : biography

18 April 1863 – 21 November 1942

Leopold (Anton Johann Sigismund Josef Korsinus Ferdinand) Graf Berchtold von und zu Ungarschitz, Frättling und Püllütz ( ) (18 April 1863 – 21 November 1942), was an Austro-HungarianBerchtold’s nationality has sometimes been subject of attention by historians as his aristocratic bloodlines made him part German, part Czech, part Slovak and part Hungarian. An anecdote of this identity dilemma can be found on politician, diplomat and statesman who served as Imperial Foreign Minister at the outbreak of World War I.

Life

Career

Born in Vienna on 18 April 1863 into a wealthy noble family that owned lands in Moravia and Hungary, he was reputed to be one of Austria-Hungary’s richest men. Tutored at home, he later studied law and joined the Austro-Hungarian foreign service in 1893. In the same year, he married Ferdinandine (Nandine) Gräfin Károlyi von Nagykároly (1868–1955), the daughter of one of the richest aristocrats in Hungary, in Budapest. He subsequently served at the embassies in Paris (1894), London (1899) and St. Petersburg (1903).’Berchtold, Leopold Anton Johann Sigismund Joseph Korsinus Ferdinand Graf’, Neue Deutsche Biographie, vol. 2, Berlin, Duncker & Humblot, 1955, p. 65.

In December 1906, Count Berchtold was appointed as the successor of Count Lexa von Aehrenthal as Ambassador to Russia upon the latter’s appointment as Imperial Foreign Minister. He served with distinction for five years in St. Petersburg and experienced Russia’s distrust and fear of Vienna.Holger H. Herwig & Neil M. Heyman, Biographical Dictionary of World War I, London, Greenwood Press, 1982, p. 84. In September 1908, he hosted a secret meeting between Count Lexa von Aehrenthal and the Russian Foreign Minister Izvolsky at his estate at Buchlovice in Moravia. This meeting produced the so-called Buchlau bargain and led to the Austro-Hungarian annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina.’Berchtold Leopold Graf’, Österreichisches Biographisches Lexikon 1815-1950, vol. 1, Vienna, Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 1957, p. 71.

At the death of Count Lexa von Aehrenthal in February 1912, Count Berchtold was appointed as his successor and thus became at the age of forty-nine the youngest foreign minister in Europe. His appointment came against his own will and despite lack of experience in domestic affairs as well as in military matters.Graydon A. Tunstall, Jr, ‘Austria-Hungary’, in Richard F. Hamilton & Holger H. Herwig (eds.), The Origins of World War I, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2003, p. 117.

Balkan Wars

As Imperial Foreign Minister, Count Berchtold focused almost exclusively on the Balkans where his foreign policy aims were to maintain peace, stick to the principle of non-intervention and preserve the territorial status quo. The Balkan Wars in 1912/1913, however, quickly made such a policy illusory.’Berchtold Leopold Graf’, op. cit..

At the outset of the Balkan Wars, Count Berchtold pursued a hard-line policy and flirted with the idea of war against Serbia, but vacillated and pulled back from intervention at the last moment.Herwig & Heyman, op. cit. Although he managed to prevent Serbia from securing an outlet to the Adriatic Sea with the creation of Albania, the Balkan Wars resulted in a failure to contain the rising Russian influence in the Balkans and thwart Serbian ambitions for a South Slav state.George P. Blum, ‘Berchtold von und zu Ungarschitz, Fratting und Pullitz, Leopold Count von (1863–1942)’, in Spencer C. Tucker (ed.), The European Powers in the First World War: An Encyclopedia, New York, Garland, 1996, p. 123f. It meant diplomatic defeat for Austria-Hungary and also a reputation of being weak and indecisive for Count Berchtold. Herwig & Heyman, op. cit.

Count Berchtold’s focus on Serbia was grown out of a fear of Serbian territorial expansion in the Balkans and also a complication of matters within the multinational Dual Monarchy and eventually result in the dissolution of the empire itself.Karl Roider, ‘Berchtold, Leopold, Count von (1863–1942)’, Spencer C. Tucker & Priscilla Mary Roberts (eds.), Encyclopedia of World War I: A Political, Social, and Military History, Santa Barbara, ABC-CLIO, 2005, p. 200f.