BURIAN VON RAJECZ, STEPHEN, COUNT (1851 Austro-Hungarian statesman, was born at Stampfen, near Presburg (Bratislava), Jan. 16 1851, of a Hungarian noble family. He entered the diplomatic service, spending many years in Moscow and in Sofia. From 1903 to 1912 he was finance minister and as such administered the provinces of Bosnia and Hercegovina. In June 1913 he was appointed Hungarian minister to the court of Vienna, and on Jan. 13 1915 he succeeded Count Berchtold at the Foreign Office. Burian was unable to prevent the secession of Italy into the ranks of the Entente, but he suc ceeded in arranging the alliances with Bulgaria and Turkey. With regard to Poland he advocated the creation of an independent state coequal with Austria-Hungary. In general, he maintained that in military, political and economic matters Austria-Hungary must be treated as an equal partner with Germany, her ally.
On the question of peace, too, there was a sharp antithesis between the views of Burian and those of German statesmen. He proposed, as early as Nov. 1915, that Germany should make a public declaration of her willingness to guarantee the national independence of Belgium, and during 1916 repeatedly urged that the way should be paved for negotiation with the enemy on the basis of the renouncing of conquests in the west. The peace note of Dec. 12 1916, which put an end to this quarrel, was the last important official act of Burian as foreign minister. A few days later he laid down his office, but was recalled after the resigna tion of his successor, Count Czernin, on April 15 1918. Burian now worked energetically for peace. On Sept. 14 1918, he addressed to all the belligerent nations an invitation to end the war by diplomatic negotiations. The invitation had no success; he therefore resigned, and from this time onwards ceased to take an active part in politics. He died at Vienna Oct. 20 1922. See S. Burian von Rajecz, Drei Jahre aus der Zeit meiner Amts fuhrung im Kriege (1923), Eng. tran. Austria in Dissolution (1925).