Alexander Hoyos

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Alexander Graf von Hoyos (born May 13, 1876 in Fiume város , today Rijeka ; † October 20, 1937 in Schwertberg , Upper Austria ) was an Austro-Hungarian diplomat before and during the First World War , who played an important role in the July crisis . In particular, he carried out the Hoyos mission , the results of which initiated the war against Serbia .

Alexander Graf von Hoyos (around 1914)

Life

family

Hoyos came from the originally Spanish noble family Hoyos , who immigrated to Lower Austria around 1525 with the later Emperor Ferdinand I. His father Georg Graf Hoyos (1842-1904) managed the Whitehead shipyard in Fiume, which had been founded by Robert Whitehead , Alexander's maternal grandfather. His sister Marguerite Hoyos (1871-1945) was married to Herbert von Bismarck .

In 1911, Alexander Hoyos acquired Schwertberg Castle and the Windegg castle ruins , which are still owned by the family today. In 1913 he married Edmée de Loys-Chandieu (1892–1945) in Paris, with whom he had four children. His daughter Melanie (1916–1949) married her cousin Gottfried Graf von Bismarck-Schönhausen in 1937 .

diplomacy

Alexander embarked on a diplomatic career and from 1900 was embassy attaché in Beijing , Paris , Belgrade and Berlin . In 1905 he was counselor at the legation in Stuttgart , then at the embassy in London .

During the Bosnian annexation crisis in 1908 he succeeded in obtaining German support for the annexation in Berlin . He represented the "activist" policy of Foreign Minister Alois Lexa von Aehrenthal : An active foreign policy was intended to instill new life into the state body, which was immobilized by party political quarrels.

From 1912 to 1917 he was Legation Counselor in the Austro-Hungarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Head of Cabinet of Foreign Minister Count Leopold Berchtold . Before the war he was responsible in particular for Polish and Ukrainian affairs at Ballhausplatz .

July crisis and first world war

After the assassination attempt in Sarajevo , Hoyos, an absolute supporter of the idea of ​​"settling accounts" with Serbia , recommended , as the closest advisor to the foreign minister of the Habsburg monarchy, that "use this opportunity to secure a free hand against Serbia for the future". Hoyos was sent to Berlin on July 5, 1914, in order, as in 1908, to obtain the express support of the ally. In Potsdam , Ambassador Ladislaus de Szögyény-Marich and he received the famous " blank check " from Kaiser Wilhelm and Chancellor Theobald von Bethmann Hollweg the following day as the necessary backing for the ultimatum to Serbia. On July 6, 1914, in a conversation with Undersecretary Arthur Zimmermann and Bethmann Hollweg, Hoyos demanded the "complete division" of Serbia, which was later presented as the Count's personal opinion after the protest of Hungarian Prime Minister István Tisza von Berchtold. In "his eagerness to pave the way for a war of conquest", Hoyos thereby endangered the success of his mission.

Throughout the July crisis, Hoyos and Berchtold did not see Russia's intervention as critical. Hoyos was the secretary of the crucial Council of Ministers meetings in the July crisis and was instrumental in drafting the ultimatum to Serbia .

In a memorandum from 11./12. August 1914, Hoyos expressed concerns about a trialist solution to the Polish question. The addition of a third part of the state with equal rights would loosen the cohesion of the monarchy even more. A balance would be more difficult, especially in the area of ​​the customs and trade alliance, constitutional law and the defense system. In addition, the abolition of dualism would mean that then predominantly German Austria would “naturally gravitate towards Germany”. Therefore, Hoyos spoke out in favor of annexing Poland directly to Austria. Cisleithanien would consist of "the inner Austrian hereditary countries with Moravia and Silesia as mainly German areas", Bohemia with minority protection of the Germans and the Kingdom of Poland. Hungary should be left to Bosnia-Herzegovina and Dalmatia to compensate for the Austro-Polish solution .

From February 14, 1917 until the end of the First World War, Hoyos was the responsible envoy in Kristiania, Norway . After the fall of the Danube Monarchy, Hoyos asked for his retirement in December 1918, which took place the following year. In his later notes he viewed the success of the “Mission Hoyos” because of the collapse of Austria and Germany as “immeasurable calamity”.

Fonts

  • The German-English opposition and its influence on the Balkan policy of Austria-Hungary. Verlag de Gruyter, Berlin 1922.
  • Turning point. A proposal to solve the world crisis . Publishing house Jung Austria, Vienna 1931.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Entry on Schwertberg on Burgen-Austria and entry on Windegg on Burgen-Austria
  2. ^ Walter von Hueck, Hans Friedrich von Ehrenkrook: Genealogisches Handbuch des Adels. Volume 75, Starke, Limburg 1980, p. 366.
  3. ↑ a b c Hoyos Alexander Graf. In: Austrian Biographical Lexicon 1815–1950 (ÖBL). Volume 2, Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Vienna 1959, p. 435.
  4. ↑ Manfried Rauchsteiner : Unleashed in Vienna? Austria-Hungary's contribution to the outbreak of the First World War . In: Michael Gehler (Ed.): Unequal partners? Austria and Germany in their mutual perception. Historical analyzes and comparisons from the 19th and 20th centuries . Verlag Steiner, Stuttgart 1996, ISBN 3-515-06878-3 , pp. 355-374, here: p. 361.
  5. ↑ Fritz Fellner: The "Mission Hoyos" . In: Fritz Fellner, Heidrun Maschl (Ed.): From the Triple Alliance to the League of Nations. Studies on the History of International Relations 1882-1919 . Verlag für Geschichte u. Politics, Vienna 1994, ISBN 3-7028-0333-5 , pp. 112–141, here p. 115.
  6. ^ Hugo Hantsch : The history of Austria. Volume 2, Tyrolia, Innsbruck 1937, p. 535.
  7. ↑ Friedrich Kießling: Against the “great” war? Relaxation in international relations 1911–1914. Verlag Oldenbourg, Munich 2002, ISBN 3-486-56635-0 , pp. 259f.
  8. ↑ Imanuel Geiss (ed.): July crisis and outbreak of war. A collection of documents . Hannover 1963, Volume 1, No. 115; and József Galántai: Hungary in the First World War . Budapest 1989, ISBN 963-05-4878-X , p. 34.
  9. ↑ Günther Kronenbitter: "War in Peace". The leadership of the Austro-Hungarian army and the great power politics of Austria-Hungary 1906-1914. Verlag Oldenbourg, Munich 2003, ISBN 3-486-56700-4 , p. 468.
  10. ↑ William Jannen, Jr .: The Austro-Hungarian Decision For War in July 1914. In Samuel R. Williamson, Jr., Peter Pastor (Ed.): Essays on World War I: Origins and Prisoners of War. New York 1983, ISBN 0-8803-3015-5 , pp. 55-81, here: p. 56.
  11. ^ Heinz Lemke: Alliance and rivalry. The Central Powers and Poland in the First World War . Verlag Böhlau, Vienna / Cologne / Graz 1977, ISBN 3-205-00527-9 , p. 28f.
    Joachim Lilla : Domestic and foreign policy aspects of the Austro-Polish solution 1914–1916. In: Communications from the Austrian State Archives. 30: 221-250 (1977); here: p. 223ff.
  12. ^ Erwin Matsch: The Foreign Service of Austria (-Hungary). 1720-1920. Böhlau, Vienna 1986, ISBN 3-20507-269-3 , p. 157.
  13. ↑ ÖStA (= Austrian State Archives ), HHStA (= House, Court and State Archives), AR (= Administrative Registry), F 4, Personalia: Alexander Graf Hoyos, Kt. (= Karton) 141.
  14. ^ Erwin Matsch: The Foreign Service of Austria (-Hungary). 1720-1920. Böhlau, Vienna 1986, ISBN 3-20507-269-3 , p. 240.
personal data
SURNAME Hoyos, Alexander
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Hoyos von Sprinzenstein, Alexander Graf Freiherr von Stichsenstein,
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austro-Hungarian diplomat
DATE OF BIRTH May 13, 1876
PLACE OF BIRTH Fiume város
DATE OF DEATH October 20, 1937
Place of death Schwertberg