Britain and the Policy of Reconciliation

Abstract

Despite the clear recognition of Vienna’s strategic importance for Britain, Anglo–Austrian relations improved very slowly. There were two major obstacles to any British ventures in Austria: the legal problem of the Monarchy’s liquidation and the open hostility between Austria and the successor states. Soon after the Treaty of St. Germain had been signed in September 1919, the pro-Austrian strategy gained support in London. Despite the harsh terms of the treaty, the Austrian Chancellor encouraged British overtures and expressed his gratitude to the Anglo– Saxon powers for their efforts in mitigating the draconian terms of the French and Italian drafts. At the end of a two-year-long process of negotiations, the political and economic relations between Czechoslovakia and Austria were finally normalized on 16 December 1921, at the Treaty of Lany. However, the first failures of reunifying Central Europe under British domination made the Foreign Office guarded and reluctant to take the initiative.