note. On May 21 the Associated Press sent out from Washington “by authority” a long statement published in all the leading dailies of the country, stating the real war aims of Germany and approving by implication the peace terms of the Allies. About Austria the article has this to say: “Austria-Hungary’s submission now is declared to be complete, both in a military and economic sense. The German officers commanding her armies, abetted by political and industrial agents scattered throughout the country by Germany, evidently are holding the Austrian and Hungarian populations in a union which the hardships of war, the death of the Emperor and the inspiration of outside influences such as the Russian revolution cannot break.” After summing up the program of the Allies, which consists principally in the disruption of the Hapsburg and Turkish empires, this authoritative Washington statement goes on to say in conclusion: “American officials have made it clear that in co-operating with the Allies the United States was not entering into a binding alliance to accomplish definite and detailed territorial aims, but there is every evidence that the government understands in concrete form the crucial southeastern element of the situation and realizes the enormousness of the struggle that must be won before the world is made safe for democracy.”
To create a barrier of independent Slav republics from the Baltic to the Adriatic—free Poland, free Bohemia, free Jugoslavia—out of the ruins of the present tyrannic, medieval Hapsburg empire, is the peace program of the Allies. The United States is trying to avoid the mistakes made by the Allies in the early, days of the war; the benevolent attitude toward Austria is one of those mistakes which should not be repeated by this country. It seems that as a result of the visit of the French and English missions our leaders now understand “the crucial southeastern element of the situation”, in others words the necessity of doing away with Austria-Hungary. What is needed now is that the American people as a whole should realize that war will be won and the high aims in pursuit of which the United States entered the war will be attained only, when races now subject to the sceptre of the Hapsburgs are set free.
The Real Enemy.
(From a lecture delivered by Charles Pergler at the University of Texas, May 10th, 1917)
The methods by which Bohemia was subjugated during the Thirty Year War characterize well the utter unscrupulousness and even the barbarity of the Hapsburgs. Prior to that war, Bohemia was a prosperous country, with more than three millions of inhabitants. The ruthless policy of extermination of the best element in Bohemian national life is best indicated by the fact that when the peace of Westphalia was concluded, the prosperous kingdom was little better than a desert, with about eight hundred thousand impoverished inhabitants. Indeed, at one time, in the middle of the eighteenth century, it seemed that Bohemian national life had come to its end. The policy of Germanization seemed to be successful. And this is not an isolated example of the methods adopted by the Hapsburgs against small nationalities.
Austria-Hungary not only always opposed the legitimate ambitions of its own peoples, but its whole foreign policy was ever dictated by a desire to smother the tendencies aiming at the liberation of various nationalities and their unity in national states.
When in the third decade of the nineteenth century the Greeks rose against the Turks, they found one of their worst enemies in the Austrian government, and Greek independence was recognized only as a result of the insistence of the Allies of today: Russia, France and England. It is an interesting fact that President Monroe, in his historic message formulating the doctrine which now bears his name, also advocated the recognition of Greek independence, so that when we speak of the Allies of today we can properly add the United States of America.
When, in the thirties of the nineteenth century, the Belgians rose against Dutch domination, it was again Austria, assisted by Prussia, which was ready to put down their movement with the sword, and the freedom of Belgium then, as now, was defended by the Allies of today: England and France. The whole history of the movement for the liberation and unity of Italy is a history of wars against Austria. Italy owes its liberation not only to the heroism of its own sons, but to armed support of France, and the diplomatic assistance of England. It is an interesting fact that for a long time Austria was the enemy of German unity, which was made possible only after the defeat of Austria by Prussia in 1866.
