THE POLICY OF AUSTRO-HUNGARY AND THE POLISH AND UKRAINIAN QUESTIONS IN THE OPINION OF GERMAN DIPLOMACY IN 1917-1918 (Polityka Austro-Wegier wobec sprawy polskiej i ukrainskiej w opinii dyplomacji niemieckiej 1917-1918)

The February Revolution in Russia and the convention of the Austrian Council State increased the interest of German diplomacy in the stand represented by Polish and Ukrainian politicians in Galicia. This turn about was expressed in copious reports by Botho von Wedel, the German ambassador to Vienna, who devoted considerable attention to the pro-independence strivings of the Polish politicians and the accompanying moods. Despite the protest voiced by the authorities in Berlin he also supported the realisation of the Austro-Polish solution, relying on the fact that Austro-Hungary would express its consent for tightening the alliance and the establishment of a customs union with Germany, to be followed by a reinforcement of the position held by the Austrian Germans. At the same time, the summer of 1917 initiated a period of growing interest on the part of the authorities in Berlin and German diplomacy in the Ukrainian question in Galicia. Such a development was the outcome of the activisation of the Ukrainian national movement in Russia, which produced hopes for using this question against the eastern neighbours. It was assumed that the fulfilment of Ukrainian national aspirations in Galicia would attain this objective. Wedel, who expected that the rank held by the Poles in the monarchy would grow weaker, upheld this conviction among the authorities in Berlin.