Nicholas Hartwig - Ambassador To Serbia

Ambassador To Serbia

In 1909 Izvolski was forced to resign following the humiliation of Russia after Austria-Hungary annexed Bosnia-Herzegovina. Izvolski had engaged in private discussions prior to the annexation with Count Aehrenthal, the Austrian foreign minister, and was therefore implicated. It was thought that Izvolski's nebulous promises of Russian support gave Austria the courage to proceed with the annexation. Izvolski therefore served as a perfect scapegoat for the failure of Russian diplomacy, and he was forcibly ousted. The court of Nicholas II pressed for a more pro-Slavic foreign policy. Hartwig was once again considered for the post of foreign minister, but was thwarted by the intervention of Pyotr Stolypin, the chairman of the Tsar's council of ministers. Stolypin wanted someone more controllable than the ambitious Hartwig, and it therefore represented a great success for him to have his son-in-law Sergei Sazonov appointed to the post.

Reflecting the more militant pro-Serbian element at court, Hartwig was assigned to the vacant Russian ministry in Belgrade. He quickly followed the same pattern as he had in Persia, pursuing a course at many times independent of the direction of Sazonov. Hartwig felt that in addition to representing 'official' Russia, he also represented 'unofficial' Russia—the Pan-Slavists and more militantly pro-Serbian court party. The result of this was that he often gave the Serbian government the impression that they would get more support from Russia than the official line dictated. Unless given direct instructions by Sazonov to the contrary, Hartwig would frequently embellish or exaggerate the extent of Russian sympathy for Serbia in his communications to the Serbian government. Hartwig was also on excellent terms with the prime minister of Serbia, Nikola Pašić.

Hartwig was a key figure in the formation of the system of alliances formed in 1912 between Serbia and Bulgaria, Greece, and Montenegro (the Balkan League). He was a violent opponent of Austria and, along with Sazonov, thought of the alliance system as being primarily oriented against Austria. As a Pan-Slavist, however, he was not opposed to territorial gains at the expense of Turkey after the conclusion of the Balkan Wars, and was one of the first to reject the territorial status quo line then pursued both by Sazonov and Count Berchtold, the new Austrian foreign minister.

Hartwig backed the Serbian government's demands for a revision of the military agreement with Bulgaria, which were to include additional pieces of Macedonian territory. This was to compensate Serbia for the loss of territory, and particularly an outlet on the Aegean Sea, to the newly-created state of Albania. Hartwig encouraged the resolution of the settlement through a direct meeting of the prime ministers of each of the four Balkan countries (Serbia, Bulgaria, Greece, and Montenegro). Suspicions about Bulgarian territorial aspirations in Macedonia had already driven Greece and Serbia closer together, and Montenegro had followed the Serbian line from the start. Hartwig was aware that any conference between the four prime ministers would thus favor the Serbian territorial demands. By advocating this line with Sazonov, who was more ignorant of the complexities of Balkan politics, Hartwig appeared to be pressing for peace in the Balkans while in actuality directly contributing to the start of the Second Balkan War and its resultant increases in Serbian territory and prestige.