The Sixtus Affair

Several political, social, and economic realities impacted the home fronts in the nations engaged in World War I. For Austria-Hungary, perhaps the most substantive political event was the death of Emperor Franz Josef on November 21, 1916, after a reign of almost 68 years. The Emperor was quite old by the time the world broke out. Michael Howard writes, "His successor, the young Emperor Karl, at once established 'back channels' with France to discuss peace terms,"[1] but his summary of Karl's efforts is a true understatement.

By the time Franz Josef died, the Austro-Hungarian military had proved itself essentially worthless, losing hundreds of thousands of soldiers but gained nothing in the process. Moreover, the responsibility of the Reichswehr to the Austrians under their treaty obligations had the Germans commented that, in their alliance, they described themselves as an eine Leiche gekettet (shackled to a corpse). Given these conditions, it was only reasonable that Karl would pursue a peace settlement, although perhaps not a separate peace that would not involve Germany.

Early in 1917, Emperor Karl sent letters to the French government via Prince Sixtus of Bourbon-Parma, his brother-in-law, to determine whether the French would be agreeable to pursuing a separate peace. The negotiations failed but came to light the following year when French Prime Minister Clemenceau leaked the details to the press. Rather than admit the attempt was true and risk seeming to have betrayed his German allies, Karl instead denied the contacts and prevented any further negotiations with the Triple Entente from occurring.

The Austrian historian Martin Mutschlechner writes, "The Sixtus Affair was a diplomatic débacle of the first order for Austria and deprived the Habsburg Monarchy of the little freedom of movement in foreign affairs it still possessed. Emperor Karl now had no option but to fall in step with Germany’s intensified war effort."[2] The subsequent dismantling of the Austro-Hungarian Empire upon its loss to the Entente demonstrates the extent to which Karl's shift in goals in war contributed to his own eventual downfall.

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     [1] Michael Howard, The First World War: A Very Short Introduction (New York, Oxford UP, 2007), 1206.

     [2] Martin Mutschlechner, "The Sixtus Affair: A Major Diplomatic Débacle," trans. by Peter John Nicholson, The World of the Habsburgs, Accessed September 4, 2016, http://ww1.habsburger.net/en/chapters/sixtus-affair-major-diplomatic-debacle, para. 8.