Joseph, and to develop the “historical friendship” between Austria-Hungary and England. This “historical friendship” had invariably consisted in the fact that Austrian and Hungarian statesmen were weak and shortsighted enough to allow their countries to be misused by England for her own purposes. King Edward’s aim, at the time of which we are treating, was to induce Austria-Hungary to let herself be taken in tow by England in the Balkans. If he had succeeded in this, it was inevitable that dissension should break out between Vienna and Berlin. This was what King Edward intended; for in this way, not only would Germany’s Oriental policy have been undermined, but the position of the German Empire in Europe
would have been weakened. And it should be remembered that Great Britain thus changed
