could only be prevented by the offer of a separate peace. The main source of the revolutionary feeling in Hungary was the desire for peace and the conviction that we would never obtain peace in conjunction with Germany, and that we, moreover, were conscious of this fact and yet were prepared to sacrifice our country rather than secede from Germany.
To continue resistance until some sort of an honourable peace could be arrived at was impossible for this reason, namely, that the revolution would have prevented it, in Germany as well as in our own country.
As soon as I had convinced myself that there was no hope of victory, that every further sacrifice was in vain, that the conditions could not be improved upon, and that all further bloodshed could only lead to revolution, my conscience did not permit me to accept the responsibility for continuing the murder. Surely enough people had been destroyed already! Never again would I have found a second's peace if I had not opposed the continuation of this war of destruction.
Anyone who asserts that I have sacrificed the honour of the nation when I violated our duty as an ally gives a one-sided judgment. It was a question of a conflict between two duties of honour. Honour does not permit a nation to sacrifice her sons without prospect of gain. I valued this duty more highly than the duty of adhering to a contract which could not be upheld any longer, and whose purposes could no longer be achieved and which was unable to prove of advantage to either party.
