Germany's Blank Cheque to Austria-Hungary

By William Mulligan

1914-1918 Online

Internal Encyclopedia of the First World War

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Table of Contents

- 1 Assurance of Support

- 2 Germany’s Faulty Assumptions

- 3 Attempted Withdrawal

- Selected Bibliography

- Citation

1 Assurance of Support

On 5 July 1914, Alexander Hoyos (1876-1937), a leading hawk in the Austrian Foreign Ministry, and Count Ladislaus von Szögyény (1841-1916), the Habsburg ambassador to Berlin, met Wilhelm II, German Emperor (1859-1941) and Theobald von Bethmann Hollweg (1856-1921), the German chancellor. Later that day, Bethmann Hollweg assured Szögyény that Germany would support her ally, whatever measures the Austro-Hungarian leaders decided to take against Serbia.

2 Germany’s Faulty Assumptions

In issuing the blank cheque, German leaders made a number of faulty assumptions. They believed that Austria-Hungary was ready to initiate war against Serbia immediately and that a rapid strike would present Europe with a fait accompli. They reckoned that the Tsarist regime was not militarily ready to risk a general European war. Moreover, they thought that monarchical solidarity would trump pan-Slav sentiment, that the Tsar would not support a state that had allegedly harboured the assassins of the heir to the Habsburg throne. In other words, the "blank cheque" was designed first and foremost to secure a triumph, either political or military, for the Central Powers in the Balkans. The "blank cheque" was vital in bolstering Austro-Hungarian leaders in their decision to embark on war against Serbia.

3 Attempted Withdrawal

Bethmann Hollweg had also built into his calculations the risk of a general European war and in supporting Austria-Hungary he believed that were a European war to happen, better that it happen in 1914 than several years later. This scenario, however, was not considered a probability on 5 July. When that prospect became a probability in late July, Bethmann Hollweg and Wilhelm II sought, but failed, to amend the cheque.

William Mulligan, University College Dublin

Section Editor : Christoph Nübel

Notes

Citation

Mulligan, William: Germany's Blank Cheque to Austria-Hungary , in: 1914-1918-online. International Encyclopedia of the First World War, ed. by Ute Daniel, Peter Gatrell, Oliver Janz, Heather Jones, Jennifer Keene, Alan Kramer, and Bill Nasson, issued by Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin 2014-10-08. DOI: 10.15463/ie1418.10677.

License

You are free to copy, distribute, display, and perform the work. You must give the original author credit. You may not use this work for commercial purposes. You may not alter, transform, or build upon this work.

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

Assurance of Support

Germany’s Faulty Assumptions

Attempted Withdrawal

Selected Bibliography

Citation

Content