Arch-critic of austro-Hungarian foreign policy

pp. 129-146

in: Harald G. Skilling, T. G. Masaryk, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan, 1994

Abstract

Prior to 1914 Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk was a persistent and severe critic of the foreign policy pursued by the Monarchy, and of the system for conducting it. He criticized the Austro-German alliance and the behaviour of Austria-Hungary in the Balkans.¹ He ruthlessly condemned the handling of the South Slav question by the Foreign Minister, Count Aerenthal, and severely censured the series of trials held in this connection. His duel with Aerenthal in the Reichsrat and in the Delegations made him hated by the authorities but famous throughout Europe as a man of courage and integrity, as well as wide knowledge.² This helped to put Bohemia on the map of Europe and to publicize the Czech question and Czech aspirations towards greater equality and autonomy. By his crusade against Vienna's international policies Masaryk unwittingly prepared the ground for his struggle for independence during the First World War.