Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1917-03-11
TWO BIG MISTAKES
MADE BY ENTENTE
Austrian Chief of Staff So De-
cIares in Discussing Euro
pean Conditions.
CALLS WAR BAD BUSINESS
BY the Associated Press.

BY the Associated Press.
| USTRO-HUNGARIAN GREAT HEAD
QUARTERS. February II. via Vienna and
Berlin. by wireless to the Associated
| Press via Tuckerton, N. J., March 10
"Our enemies have made two cardinal
mistakes in this war" said Field Marshal
Baron Conrad Won Hoetzendorf. chief OF
general staff of the Austro- Hungarian
army, to the Associa ted Press today. 1.-The
| first mistake was that they believed that
the races forming the Austro-Hungaria
monarchy would fall asunder at the wars
outbreak The second was when, few
weeks ago, they failed to accept our peace
offer, interpreting this evidently as
| sign that the water was well up to our
| chins-in other words, that military and
economically we were on the verge of col
lapse.
Cause of Peace Offer.
NO greater mistakes were ever
made. That the central powers made
peace offer was due alone to the joint
desire to end the senseless butchering
and the destruction of everything that
centuries of civilization have given to
Europe / will say here that to end
| this war was, and is, the keenest de-
sire of our emperor. our commander-in-
chief, who, in some thirty-two months
| of experience at our fronts, knows
every side of the war"
Field Marshal Won Hoetzendorf Is a
man past sixty years. to whose decided
! ly youthful and strong face rich crop
of gray hair and a gray mustache give
a striking appearance. He is of medium
height and of somewhat slender build.
| When the field marshal received the
correspondent Of the Associated Press he
was dressed in the plainest manner. car
rying no decorations of any sort, and
| seemed to fit admirably into his work.
shop-a plain, large room. the center of
| which was occupied by a large table COW
| cred with maps.
| Forced to Continue War.
1.-THE ententes reply to our peace Offer"
said the field marshal, left no other
course open for US but to continue the
| war We had no interest in continuing
! the war; we were willing to stop. but
what could we, do in view Of the ententes
answer to our note? 1t is the duty Of the
central powers group to prevent their
| own ACKNOWLEDGMENT by their enemies.
| So the war goes on.
ITO the false hope that Hun
| of the war the entente governments
added the false hope that militarily
we would be unable to Withstand them
! longer In that they erred. Far be it
from me to indulge in prophecies, but
| this much is certain-we did not make
| our peace offer because of weakness,
| but because we wished to end this ca
| lamity which has spread over Europe
| and which the entente has decided
| shall continue spreading.
Facts Not Understood.
1.-THE facts concerning the Austro-
Hungarian monarchy are not under
stood. We are not a heterogeneous
conglomerate, pulling away from one
another, but the keystone state of Eu-
rope, a state in which the various Eu-
ropean races meet and mingle not only
socially, economically and politically
but in the very family. Austria-H Hun
gary Is not the home of any particular
| dominant race. but the fatherland of
all the races nhabiting it. The war
has shown this. and a sensible man
full satisfaction of all impartial OBJ
| servers.
| Differences Due to Politics.
| Austria Hungary Is a fact and a ne
cessity for Europe, and those now
fighting for 1t will continue to demon
strate this in the future. Some of the
races who have been charged with be-
ing ignorant enough to entertain the
wish to pass under the Russian knout
have proved to be the best defenders of
Austro- Hungarian integrity. 1t is true
| that in times of peace we had quarrels,
but these were differences arising from
politics, of the same nature as occur
| in other countries under the auspices
| of some political party. These happen
also in Austria occasionally
between the racial groups and they
| amount merely to political words From
| such occurrences the world in general
\ has gained the mistaken idea that we
| are ready to part from one another.
| There could be no greater fallacy.
Defends Submarine War.
| The conversation then drifted to SUBJ
marine warfare.
The case reduces itself to this" said
the field marshal "Supposing you were
alone in a deep forest, with five rufians
approaching who had previously an
| nounced their intention of killing you.
What would you do? Defend yourself.
of course, and in defending yourself you
would be justified in using whatever
| means was at hand. This is right
which you would not deny any man. So
why deny it to the central powers, who
are nothing but an aggregation of men?
| THE submarine is a perfectly legiti-
! mate means in our struggle for eX-
| istence, and had we taken to 1t before
the war now would be ended. We did
not want to use it before giving our
| enemies a chance to come to their
senses. This chance they rejected dis
painfully They can blame nobody but
themselves
/ Discussing the manner in which the
| central power troops had operated
everywhere together. without hitch or
friction, the field marshal said:
Offering Of Armies.
"a great deal of nonsense has been
spread about that. The fact is the CEN
trail powers armies are one body under
administrations which are in consist
emit understanding (Hinvernehmen) SO
far as the constituent parts are con-
/ cerned-that is to say, there are Aus
tro- Hungarian troops under Ger
man officers and command. and