Vol. XXXIII · 2002 · pp. 77-104 (28)

Solomon Wank

Download full article (160 KB) [subscribers only]

Abstract

Archduke Francis Ferdinand's aversion to Foreign Minister Baron (after 1909 Count) Alois Lexa von Aehrenthal is well known. The heir to the throne's biographers cite policy differences with regard to Hungary and Italy, and the worsening of relations with Russia after the annexation of Bosnia-Herzegovina in October 1908 as the reasons for this antipathy.1 These policy differences certainly existed. However, the recently published private correspondence between the two men from the time when Aehrenthal was foreign minister (1906–12) provides clues to other causes of their estrangement. While private, the letters are not personal in the sense of letters to family members and friends, and are therefore not as psychologically revealing. For the most part, they are about diplomatic, domestic, and ceremonial matters. They differ, however, from strictly official letters in that they allow for a more informal exchange of ideas. Consequently, the letters of Francis Ferdinand and Aehrenthal provide insight into the political attitudes and personality traits that underlay their estrangement. The archduke's letters are richer in that regard. Aehrenthal's letters to Francis Ferdinand are more guarded and restrained as one would expect of a Habsburg imperial official writing to such an august personage as the heir to the throne.