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Count Ottokar Czernin

Ottokar Theobald Otto Maria Graf Czernin von und zu Chudenitz (Czech: Otakar Theobald Otto Maria hrabě Černín z Chudenic; September 26, 1872 – April 4, 1932) was a son of the Bohemian high aristocracy, in the diplomatic service of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and a politician during the time of World War I. He was born in Dymokury, Bohemia.

Career

In 1895, after Czernin studied law, he decided to serve in the foreign service of Austria-Hungary and was sent to the embassy in Paris. Two years later married the countess Marie Kinsky of Wchinitz and Tettau (hraběnka Marie Kinská z Vchynic a Tetova) in Heřmanův Městec. In 1899 he was sent to The Hague. Three years later, in 1902, he had to terminate his career due to an illness of the lungs.

In the years 1903 to 1913 he represented the Deutsche Volkspartei in the Bohemian state parliament and became a close advisor of archduke Franz Ferdinand, the successor to the throne of the Dual Monarchy, and returned to the diplomatic service in 1912 as the ambassador to Bucharest.

World War I

After Karl I ascended the throne in 1916, he appointed Czernin as his minister for foreign affairs. At the outbreak of the war two years earlier Czernin had said "We are bound to die. We were at liberty to choose the manner of our death, and we chose the most terrible."

As foreign minister Czernin participated in a conference held in March 1917 at which Germany and Austria-Hungary discussed the goals of the war. Speaking for Karl I, he suggested, among other things, the cession of territory of the Central Powers to arrange a fast peace with the Entente. In his view, the declaration of war by the United States was a disaster and a victory for the Central Powers became improbable. He failed, however, because of the resistance of Italy and gave way to the urge of the OHL of Germany, which wanted to begin an unrestricted submarine war. By the end of the war in 1918 he was involved as a representative of Austria in the peace negotiations with Romania, Russia and Ukraine (Treaty of Brest-Litovsk (February 9, 1918)).

Czernin withdrew from his office in April 1918 because of the Sixtus Affair, when his French counterpart Georges Clemenceau published documents in which the secret peace negotiation efforts of Austria-Hungary with the governments of the Entente were revealed.

Republic of Austria

Count Czernin at Laxenburg, 1918

With the end of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy and the founding of independent states in its former territories, Czernin returned as a delegate to the national council of the Republic of Austria for the Democratic Party in 1920.

On April 4, 1932 Ottokar Graf Czernin von und zu Chudenitz died in Vienna.

In Television

In 1992 Czernin was portrayed by actor Christopher Lee in an episode of The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles. The episode was entitled "Austria, March 1917" and premiered on the ABC television network on September 21, 1992.

External links

• Works by Ottokar Graf Czernin at Project Gutenberg
• Österreichisches Lexikon|Czernin, Ottokar Graf
• Deutsches Historisches Museum, Berlin

Notes

Regarding personal names: Graf is a title, translated as Count, not a first or middle name. The female form is Gräfin.

• In the 1920s, Czernin wrote a book of memoirs of his days as an insider in the Austro-Hungarian political and diplomatic arenas during World War I, called "Im Weltkrieg" ("In The World War") an extremely interesting look at the inside machinations of an ancient empire being pulled apart by war.