The game remained the same.  The last war period in Germany was controlled by one will only, and that was Ludendorff’s.  His thoughts were centred on fighting, his soul on victory.

FOOTNOTES: 

[4] This is a literal rendering of the famous text from the German.

CHAPTER IV

ROUMANIA

1

My appointment as ambassador to Bucharest in the autumn of 1913 came as a complete surprise to me, and was much against my wishes.  The initiative in the matter came from the Archduke Franz Ferdinand.  I had never had any doubt that sooner or later the Archduke would take part in politics, but it took me by surprise that he should do so in the Emperor Francis Joseph’s lifetime.

A great difference of opinion prevailed then in Vienna on the Roumanian question, a pro-Roumanian spirit fighting against an anti-Roumanian one.  The head of the former party was the Archduke Franz, and with him, though in less marked degree, was Berchtold.  Tisza was the leader on the other side, and carried with him almost the entire Hungarian Parliament.  The pro-Roumanians wished Roumania to be more closely linked to the Monarchy; the others, to replace that alliance by one with Bulgaria; but both were unanimous in seeking for a clear knowledge of how matters stood with the alliance, and whether we had a friend or a foe on the other side of the Carpathians.  My predecessor, Karl Fuerstenberg, had sent in a very clear and correct report on the subject, but he shared the fate of so many ambassadors:  his word was not believed.

The actual task assigned to me was, first of all to find out whether this alliance was of any practical value, and if I thought not to suggest ways and means of justifying its existence.

I must mention in this connection that my appointment as ambassador to Bucharest had raised a perfect storm in the Hungarian Parliament.  The reason for this widely spread indignation in Hungary at my selection for the post was owing to a pamphlet I had written some years previously, in which I certainly had attacked the Magyar policy somewhat vehemently.  I maintained the standpoint that a policy of suppression of the nations was not tenable in the long run, and that no future was in store for Hungary unless she definitely abolished that policy and allowed the nations equal rights.  This pamphlet gave serious displeasure in Budapest, and representatives in the Hungarian Parliament were afraid I should introduce that policy in Roumania, which, following the spirit of the pamphlet, was directed against the official policy of Vienna and Budapest.  It was at this period that I made Tisza’s acquaintance.  I had a long and very frank conversation with him on the whole subject, and explained to him that I must uphold the standpoint I put forward in my pamphlet, as it tallied with my convictions, but that I clearly saw that from the moment