Count Ottokar Czernin

In the World War (Illustrated Edition) (Dodo Press) Count Ottokar Czernin Illustrated edition

Count Ottokar Theobald Otto Maria Czernin von und zu Chudenitz (1872-1932) 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. 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. After the assassination at Sarajevo, which resulted in World War I, Karl I., the nephew of Franz Ferdinand, ascended the throne, and appointed Czernin as his minister for foreign affairs. 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. He withdrew from his office in 1918 because of the Sixtus Affair. In 1919, 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); a look at the inside machinations of an ancient empire being pulled apart by war.