BERCHTESGADEN, bern-ts-ga'din, Bavaria, village situated in a most picturesque and much-visited region, about 12 miles south of Salzburg, on the Achen, or Alm, a stream which issues from the beautiful lake called the Konigssee. It lies on a mountain slope sur rounded by meadows and trees, consists of well-built houses, and has a fine old abbey, now a royal residence; the abbey church, with fine Romanesque transepts of the 12th century; a royal villa, etc. Wood-carving is extensively earned on and there is an important salt mine. It is the principal settlement in the district of the same name. It has a reputation as a tourist resort. Pop. about 3,000.
Count, Austro-Hunga rian Foreign Minister 1912-15: b. 18 April 1863. Anton Johann Sigismund Josef Kor sinus, Graf Berchtold, is one of the largest landed proprietors in the Dual Monarchy; he married, 1893, the Countess Fernandinc Karol yi von Nagy-Karoly. Whatever may be the verdict of history upon the great European War that broke out in 1914, to Count Berth told belongs the distinction of having applied the actual match that set the world ablaze, namely, the declaration of war against Serbia. It would be unjust, however, to lay more than a theoretical responsibility for that act upon his own shoulders: he was the instrument rather than the cause. He began his official career in a minor administrative capacity at Briinn and afterward became a secretary in the foreign office in Vienna. In 1895 he was appointed secretary at the embassy in Paris: councillor of embassy in London 1899; at Saint Petersburg (Petrograd) in 1903, and Ambassador to Russia in 1906. On the death of Count Aehrenthal (q.v.) he became For eign Minister of the Dual Monarchy, 19 Feb. 1912, thus inheriting the aggressive and not over-scrupulous foreign policy of his prede cessors. Before accepting the office Count Berchtold gave up his Austrian in favor of his Hungarian nationality. It cannot be truly said of him that he practised the Aehrenthal method of tortuous policy; a simple country gentleman — although a diplomat — he brought the instincts of a gentleman into a department organized on a highly efficient but thoroughly unscrupulous basis. He held no pronounced political tendencies, but he was surrounded by a number of subordinates in whom the worst traditions of Austrian diplomacy seemed to have been incorporated. They soon became his masters and obliged him to pursue a policy over which he had practically no control. Dur ing his earlier tenure of office the best augury of peace, it was thought, lay in his personal friendship for M. Sazonoff, the Russian for eign minister. He also cultivated friendly re lations with Italy, and succeeded at Rome in removing the unfavorable impressions created by Aehrenthal's policy. His own efforts not
withstanding, he became a respectable figure head for the aggressive and dishonest policy which his government pursued throughout the Balkan Wars (q.v.) of 1912-13, down to the outbreak of the European War. The tool of the military and clerical sections of the state, he prepared for an attack on Serbia in con formity with their designs. At the instigation of Count Tisza, the Hungarian premier, Count Berchtold prompted the Bulgarian attack on Serbia after the end of the first Balkan War and the signing of the Treaty of London. It was expected that the Bulgarians would van quish the Serbs and that the latter would there by become an easy prey to Austria-Hungary and open the road to Salonica. But the scheme was defeated by the Serbian victories over the Bulgarians in June 1913. No sooner was the second Balkan War closed by the Treaty of Bucharest than Austria-Hungary demanded a revision of the treaty and Count Berchtold proposed to Italy to undertake an offensive war against Serbia on the pretext that it would be in reality a defensive war against the danger of a Greater Scrbia to Austria-Hungary. The Italian government, however, declined to recognize the proposal as entering within the terms .of the alliance, the undertalcing being aggressive, and not de fensive. The action of Italy thus postponed the attack on Serbia for a year, when an ex cellent opportunity presented itself.
The assassination of the Austrian heir and. his wife gave the military and clerical parties the pretext they had long sought. In agreement with Berlin it was decided to use the occasion for an attack on Serbia, an act which precipitated the great conflict. It must be asserted that the charge of duplicity has never been leveled at Count Berchtold. Up right and conscientious, weak and vacillating, he was unfitted to guide the affairs of the state in stormy and critical times. The pub lished correspondence of the British Ambassa dor and others clearly indicates that in his personal relations with his colleagues Count Berchtold pursued direct and simple courses, and that the blame for the devious Austrian policy with regard to Serbia and Russia rests rather upon Berlin and the German Ambassa dor in Vienna, the late Herr von Tschirscky (q.v.), than upon the Count himself. He tendered his resignation more than once, but it was not accepted by the Emperor Francis Joseph till January 1915, when Baron Burian succeeded him as Foreign Minister. In Feb ruary 1917, Count Berchtold was appointed Chief Chamberlain of the Austro-Hungarian Court. He comes of an old Moravian familY, one that has intermarried in the most exclu sive ranks of the nobility. See WAR, EUROPEAN.