Spa Conference (12 May 1918)
During World War I, a conference took place between the German emperor Wilhelm II and the Austro-Hungarian monarch Charles I in Spa on 12 May 1918.[1] At his meeting, Charles I and his minister Stephan Burián von Rajecz were forced to accept the political and economic subjection of Austria-Hungary to the German Empire in the form of a treaty. Formally concluded on an equal footing between the signatory powers, the agreements reached at Spa in fact endorsed the pre-eminence of Germany and guaranteed its supremacy,[2] while the Austro-Hungarians were forced into a situation of political, economic and military dependence.[3] However, the Spa agreement, which made the dual monarchy subject to an "Austro-German Zollverein" (customs union),[3] failed to put an end to rivalries in the Balkans and Eastern Europe, or to political disagreements over the end of the conflict or the future of occupied Poland.[4] At the meeting on May 12, German and Austro-Hungarian negotiators agreed to set up technical commissions to put into practice the economic and commercial provisions of the agreement in principle between the emperors.[2] The subsequent Salzburg negotiations, however, fell apart in October with the imminent defeat of Germany and Austria-Hungary.
Notes[edit]
- ^ Bled (2014), p. 464.
- ^ a b Fischer (1970), p. 528
- ^ a b Lacroix-Riz (1996), p. 35
- ^ Soutou (1989), p. 709
Bibliography[edit]
- Bled, Jean-Paul (2014). Taillandier (ed.). L'Agonie d'une monarchie: Autriche-Hongrie 1914-1920 [The Agony of a Monarchy: Austria-Hungary 1914-1920] (in French). Paris. ISBN 979-10-210-0440-5.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - Fischer, Fritz (1970). Trévise (ed.). Les Buts de guerre de l'Allemagne impériale (1914-1918) [Imperial Germany's war aims (1914-1918)] (in French). Paris.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - Lacroix-Riz, Annie (1996). Colin, Armand (ed.). Le Vatican, l'Europe et le Reich : De la Première Guerre mondiale à la guerre froide [The Vatican, Europe and the Reich: From the First World War to the Cold War] (in French). Paris. ISBN 978-2-200-21641-2.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - Soutou, Georges-Henri (1989). Fayard (ed.). L'Or et le sang : les buts de guerre économiques de la Première Guerre mondiale [Gold and blood: the economic aims of the First World War] (in French). Paris. ISBN 2-213-02215-1.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
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