Italian and Rumanian territories of Austria with Italy and Rumania
respectively. The aim of Serbia is to unite all the Yugoslavs. Deprived of
her Italian, Rumanian and Yugoslav provinces, Austria-Hungary would lose
some twelve million Slavs and Latins. The problem of Poland also cannot be
solved in a satisfactory way without the incorporation in Poland of the
Polish territories of Galicia. If the _status quo_ were re-established, the
Czecho-Slovaks, whom Great Britain has recognised as an Allied nation,
would be placed in a decisive minority and would be powerless in face of
the German-Magyar majority. This the Allies in their own interests cannot
allow. They must insist upon the restoration of Bohemia's full
independence.

_(e)_ The disappearance of Austria-Hungary therefore appears to be the only
solution if a permanent peace in Europe is to be achieved. Moreover, as we
have already pointed out, her dissolution is a political necessity for
Europe, and is to-day already an accomplished fact.

The dismemberment of Austria does not mean a destructive policy. On the
contrary, it means only the destruction of oppression and racial tyranny.
It is fundamentally different from the dismemberment of Poland, which was a
living nation, while Austria is not. The dismemberment of Austria will, on
the contrary, unite nations at present dismembered, and will reconstruct
Europe so as to prevent further German aggressive attempts towards the East
and South-East. A close alliance between Poland, Czecho-Slovak Bohemia,
Greater Rumania, Greater Serbia (or Yugoslavia) and Italy would assure a
stable peace in Central Europe.

The issue really at stake was: Central Europe either Pan-German or
anti-German. If Germany succeeded in preserving Austria-Hungary, the
Pan-German plans of Mitteleuropa would be a _fait accompli_, and Germany