Leopold Anton Johann Sigismund Josef Korsinus Ferdinand Graf Berchtold von und zu Ungarschitz, Frättling und Püllütz (, ) (18 April 1863 – 21 November 1942) In December 1906, Count Berchtold was appointed as the successor of Count Alois 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. In September 1908, he hosted a secret meeting between Aehrenthal and the Russian Foreign Minister Alexander Izvolsky at his estate at Buchlau in Moravia. This meeting produced the so-called Buchlau bargain and led to the Austro-Hungarian annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

At the death of Aehrenthal in February 1912, Count Berchtold was appointed as his successor and thus became, at the age of 49, the youngest foreign minister in Europe. His appointment reportedly came against his own will and despite lack of experience in domestic affairs, as well as in military matters.

Balkan Wars

thumb|right|Portrait by [[Philip de László, 1906]]

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. It meant diplomatic defeat for Austria-Hungary and also a reputation of being weak and indecisive for Count Berchtold.

July Crisis

Following the Balkan Wars, the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand at Sarajevo on 28 June 1914 was therefore a culmination of the heightened tension between Austria-Hungary and Serbia. The Serbian government accepted all points of the ultimatum but the one that permitted Austro-Hungarian authorities to participate in the investigation of the assassination on Serbian territory, which would have been a severe violation of Serbian sovereignty and the country's constitution. As the acceptance of all 10 demands listed in the ultimatum was required, the Austro-Hungarian government made a decision to enter a state of war with Serbia on 28 July, for which Berchtold is described as being largely to blame.

World War I

thumb|Berchtold in uniform. Photograph by Carl Pietzner

Once war had started, Count Berchtold focused his efforts on the question of Italy's participation, the outcome of which would lead to his downfall. The main problem was Italy's demands for territorial compensation in exchange for remaining within the Triple Alliance. When Rome presented the Ballhausplatz with demands for control over territories in southern Austria-Hungary, Berchtold demurred and refused to offer any Habsburg concessions, especially not in the Trentino. Under mounting German pressure, Count Berchtold, however, indicated that he was ready to cede the Trentino and parts of the Albanian coastline. When he informed Tisza and Conrad of the concessions he was ready to give, they forced him to resign on 13 January 1915. At Count Tisza's insistence he was replaced by the more pugnacious Count Burián.

Berchtold played no further public role during the war, although he was appointed Lord High Steward to Archduke Charles, the heir apparent, in March 1916, and became Lord Chamberlain following the latter's accession to the throne in November. and bestowed with the Grand Cross of the Order of Saint Stephen in 1914.

After his resignation as foreign minister in 1917, he served as Grand Chamberlain (Oberstkammerer) of Emperor Charles I. Thus he was responsible for inspecting the ancestral tree and other documents submitted from those nobles who wished to be considered for the honorary post of chamberlain. These would be laid before the emperor for approval or rejection, or whether an exception would be made.

After the war, he retired as a grand seigneur on his estate at Peresznye near Csepreg in Hungary.

Personal life

thumb|right|Berchtold with his family, 1904.

On 25 January 1893 in Budapest, he married Countess Ferdinanda Károlyi de Nagykároly (1868–1955), the daughter of Countess Franciska "Fanni" Erdödy and Count Alajos Károlyi, one of the richest aristocrats in Hungary who served as the Austrian ambassador to the German Empire, as well as to the United Kingdom. Her maternal aunt, Countess Hanna Erdödy, was the wife of Count Béla Széchenyi von Sárvár-Felsövidék, a "personal friend" of King Edward VII. Together, they were the parents of two sons:

  • Count Aloys "Louis" Berchtold von und zu Ungarschitz (1894–1977), who never married.
  • Count Adalbert "Bela" Berchtold von und zu Ungarschitz (1895–1906), who died young.
  • Count Sigismund "Sziga" Berchtold von und zu Ungarschitz (1900–1979), who married Countess Maria Anna "Etti" Esterházy ( von Wurmbrand-Stuppach), the former wife of Clendenin J. Ryan, Count Paul Pálffy ab Erdöd, and Count Tamás Esterházy, in 1944. They divorced in 1949 and she married William Deering Davis and then Árpád Plesch. Sziga then married Emilia de Gosztonyi (former wife of Michael Bankier and Robin Alexander Lyle) in 1953. After their divorce in 1956, she married Prince Vsevolod Ivanovich of Russia. Sziga then married Eva Machan, the former wife of Count Leopold zu Hardegg auf Glatz und im Machlande, in 1967.

Once, in Karlsbad, he was asked what nationality he identified as, German, Hungarian, or Czech. Berchtold replied he was Viennese. He was pressed to answer and asked what side he would take in the event of conflict between the nationalities. Berchtold confidently replied, “the side of the emperor.” His responsibility for the outbreak of the First World War has been much debated by historians. Without a doubt, he played a leading role in the intransigent formulation in the ultimatum of 23 July, the declaration of war on 28 July, and the rebuttal of Grey's mediation proposal on 29 July. He believed that only the defeat of Serbia could preserve the Dual Monarchy. Despite that, he was not thought of as a warmonger by, for example, General Conrad von Hötzendorf. Holger Herwig similarly maintains that Berchtold acted in a calculated manner during the July Crisis; for example, on July 26 he informed Franz Joseph that Serbian troops were confirmed to have fired on Habsburg forces at Temes Kubin (present-day Kovin) from Danubian steamers, in an attempt to convince the Emperor that Vienna would be fighting a defensive war. The Temes Kubin incident, however, never happened— a fact of which Herwig believes Berchtold was fully aware.

In film and television

Count Berchtold was portrayed by English actor John Gielgud in the 1969 film Oh! What a Lovely War.

Awards

;National orders and decorations

  • Jubilee Court Medal (1898)
  • Bronze Jubilee Medal for the Armed Forces (1898)
  • Jubilee Cross for Civil Officials (1908)
  • Grand Cross of the Imperial Order of Leopold, 1908; in Diamonds, 1911
  • Knight of the Golden Fleece, 1912
  • Holy See: Grand Cross of the Order of Pope Pius IX
  • : Bailiff Grand Cross of Honour and Devotion
  • : Grand Cross of St. Charles
  • : Grand Cross of the Order of Prince Danilo I
  • :
  • Order of Osmanieh, 1st Class in Diamonds
  • Gallipoli Star
  • : Grand Cross of the Crown of Romania
  • :
  • Knight of St. Alexander Nevsky
  • Knight of St. Stanislaus, 2nd Class
  • Siam: Grand Cross of the White Elephant
  • :
  • Knight of the Black Eagle
  • Iron Cross (1914), 2nd Class
  • Hohenzollern: Cross of Honour of the Princely House Order of Hohenzollern, 1st Class
  • :
  • Knight of St. Hubert
  • Knight of the Military Merit Order, 4th Class with Crown
  • : Knight of the Rue Crown
  • : Cross of Honour of the House Order of Schaumburg-Lippe, 1st Class

See also

  • Austro-Hungarian entry into World War I

Notes

References

Further reading

  • Austro-Hungarian Monarchy. Austro-Hungarian red book. (1915) English translations of official documents to justify the war. online
  • Godsey, William D., and William D. Godsey Jr. Aristocratic redoubt: The Austro-Hungarian foreign office on the eve of the First World War (Purdue University Press, 1999).
  • Gooch, G. P. Before The War Vol II (1939) pp 373–447 on Berchtold online free, scholarly biography
  • Hantsch, Hugo. Leopold Graf Berchtold: Grandseigneur und Staatsmann, Graz, Verlag Styria, 1963, in German.
  • Wank, Solomon. "The Appointment of Count Berchtold as Austro-Hungarian Foreign Minister" Journal of Central European Affairs 23 (July 1963): 143–51.
  • Williamson Jr., Samuel. "Leopold Count Berchtold: The Man Who Could Have Prevented the Great War," in Günther Bischof, Fritz Plasser and Peter Berger, eds., From Empire to Republic: Post-World War I Austria, Contemporary Austrian Studies, Vol. 19 (2010), p. 24-51.
  • 'Berchtold, Leopold Anton Johann Sigismund Joseph Korsinus Ferdinand Graf', Neue Deutsche Biographie
  • 'Berchtold, Leopold Graf', AEIOU
  • 'Graf Leopold Berchtold von und zu Ungarschütz, Frättling, und Püllütz', Solving Problems Through Force
  • 'Count Leopold von Berchtold', firstworldwar.com
  • Count Leopold von Berchtold in Ludwig Thallóczy's diary
  • Primary Sources on Berchtold during the July Crisis
  • Samuel R. Williamson Jr.: Berchtold, Leopold Graf, in: 1914-1918-online. International Encyclopedia of the First World War.