Heinrich von Tschirschky

Heinrich Leonhard von Tschirschky and Bögendorff (born August 15, 1858 in Dresden - Hosterwitz , † November 15, 1916 in Vienna ) was a German diplomat and State Secretary in the Foreign Office of the German Empire .

Heinrich von Tschirschky

State Secretary von Tschirschky

Life

Heinrich was the son of Otto von Tschirschky and Bögendorff , general director of the Royal Saxon State Railways and thus a member of the aristocratic Tschirschky family . In 1881 he entered the justice service in Saxony and in 1883 the diplomatic service of the Reich . In 1885/86 Tschirschky worked in the Foreign Office as secretary to State Secretary Herbert von Bismarck . Then he was legation secretary at the embassy in Vienna, the embassies in Athens and Bern and in 1893 he was legation counselor at the embassy in Constantinople , and in 1895 in Saint Petersburg . In 1900 he became Minister-Resident in Luxembourg , in 1902 the Prussian envoy in Mecklenburg and the Hanseatic cities . In addition, since 1900 he accompanied Kaiser Wilhelm II on trips as a representative of the Foreign Office.

State Secretary of the Foreign Office

On January 17, 1906, he succeeded the late Oswald von Richthofen as State Secretary of the Foreign Office. He held this office until October 7, 1907. His successor as State Secretary was Wilhelm von Schoen .

Shortly before the beginning of his term in office, the Algeciras Conference took place on January 16, 1906 , at which the resolution of the First Morocco Crisis was decided. When, contrary to the original agreements, French - Spanish naval actions took place off Morocco at the end of 1906 , he declared in the Reichstag in Berlin on December 7, 1906 that the Reich government saw no reason to intervene because of the naval actions. On the same day, the French National Assembly also passed the Algeciras Act.

As Foreign Minister, he also signed on January 11, 1907 with his Danish counterpart Johan Henrik von Hegermann-Lindencrone (1838-1918) the so-called Optantenvertrag . He eliminated the tensions that had existed in the northern Schleswig border area since the German-Danish war of 1864. The agreement gave a small group of Danes in North Schleswig the option to choose between German and Danish citizenship .

Ambassador in Vienna

He then became ambassador in Vienna. In this function he discussed on December 13, 1913 with representatives of the Triple Alliance ( German Empire , Austria-Hungary , Italy ) about a war against France and Russia . He and the Austro-Hungarian Chief of Staff, Franz Conrad von Hötzendorf , took the view that the situation of the Triple Alliance in Europe would worsen. On the other side is the Triple Entente , in which Great Britain , France and Russia have come together.

In the July crisis, Tschirschky urged the Austro-Hungarian Foreign Minister Leopold Berchtold to take action against Serbia on July 8th . Kaiser Wilhelm would have instructed him

"To explain here with all emphasis that one expects an action against Serbia in Berlin and that it would not be understood in Germany if we let the given opportunity pass without taking a blow."

Berchtold understood from this that another “transigation” with Serbia would have been interpreted in Germany as a declaration of weakness.

On March 1, 1915, Tschirschky submitted to Berchtold's successor Burián the proposal to cede the Trentino and small border areas on the Isonzo to Italy. Italy should commit to benevolent neutrality and give the monarchy a free hand in the Balkans and possibly towards Russia. The transfer of the territories would of course only take place after the end of the war, when Austria has compensated for the small losses by other, larger acquisitions. The Polish Sosnowitz was initially offered as a German service . Burián accepted the proposal positively, but demanded secrecy.

In a detailed statement to Gottlieb von Jagow on October 29, 1915, which was also presented to Chancellor Bethmann Hollweg , the ambassador spoke out against the trialist Austropolian solution to the Polish question. Such a solution would lay the foundation for the collapse of the monarchy . During the discussions with Burián, one should point out the great danger that too great an influence of the Poles, especially in the Austrian Imperial Council , would entail for Austria and the monarchy through the weakening of Austrian “Germanness”. These objections impressed Bethmann Hollweg, because he no longer advocated trialism. Tschirschky warned against leaving Poland definitely to Austria before the necessary guarantees were received. Jagow agreed that Poland should not be surrendered until we have received guarantees from the Austro-Hungarian government in the military and economic fields in order to keep the monarchy by our side in the future .

He held the office of ambassador to Austria-Hungary until his death in the First World War .

family

Heinrich von Tschirschky and Bögendorff married his wife Maria Josephine Karoline Alexandrine Freiin Stummer von Tavarnok on November 20, 1888 in Felsö Bodok (born May 17, 1868 in Vienna , † October 29, 1948 in Mayrhofen ). The couple had three daughters:

• Maria Elisabeth Hedwig Josefa Auguste (born November 3, 1889 in Vienna, † June 19, 1975 in Cologne ), who married the German embassy counselor Hermann Prince von Hatzfeldt zu Trachenberg (1874–1959) in 1912 , the eldest son of Hermann Friedrich Anton Fürst von Hatzfeldt and Duke zu Trachenberg , a Prussian politician.
• Alexandra Auguste (born November 1, 1890 in Vienna),
• Marie Henriette Johanna Hedwig Augusta (born August 10, 1897 in Tsarskoje Selo (Pushkin) near St. Petersburg ).

literature

• Johannes Hürter (Red.): Biographical Handbook of the German Foreign Service 1871 - 1945. 5. T - Z, supplements. Published by the Foreign Office, Historical Service. Volume 5: Bernd Isphording, Gerhard Keiper, Martin Kröger: Schöningh, Paderborn et al. 2014, ISBN 978-3-506-71844-0 .

Web links

Commons : Heinrich von Tschirschky  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Newspaper article about Heinrich von Tschirschky in the 20th century press kit of the ZBW - Leibniz Information Center for Economics .

Individual evidence

1. ^ Entry at Meyers
2. ↑ Wissen.de: What happened on December 7th, 1906
3. ↑ www.hschumacher.de
4. ↑ www.oppisworld.de
5. ↑ Imanuel Geiss (ed.): July crisis and outbreak of war. A collection of documents . Hannover 1963, Volume 1, p. 128 (No. 50); and Ludwig Bittner , Hans Uebersberger (ed.): Austria-Hungary's foreign policy from the Bosnian crisis in 1908 to the outbreak of war in 1914. Diplomatic files from the Austro-Hungarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs . Vienna / Leipzig 1930, Volume 8, pp. 370f. (No. 10145).
6. ^ Alberto Monticone: Germany and the neutrality of Italy 1914–1915 . Verlag Steiner, Stuttgart 1982, ISBN 3-515-03603-2 , p. 103f.
7. ^ André Scherer, Jacques Grunewald: L'Allemagne et les problemèmes de la paix pendant la première guerre mondiale. Documents extraits des archives de l'Office allemand des Affaires étrangères. (German original documents). Volume 1, Paris 1962. ISBN 2-85944-010-0 , pp. 192ff. (No. 150).
8. ^ Heinz Lemke: Alliance and rivalry. The Central Powers and Poland in the First World War . Verlag Böhlau, Vienna / Cologne / Graz 1977, p. 249.
9. ^ Fritz Fischer : Reach for world power . Düsseldorf 1964, new edition 2000, ISBN 3-7700-0902-9 , p. 256.
10. ^ Gothaisches Genealogisches Taschenbuch der Nobeligen houses. German nobility. 21st year, Justus Perthes, Gotha 1920.

predecessor	Office	successor
Karl von Wedel	German ambassador to Austria 1907–1916	Botho von Wedel