Lost Minutes from a Decisive Cabinet Meeting
“The choice between war and peace: the Austrian political crisis of August 1796,” in Mitteilungen des ?sterreichischen Staatsarchivs 42, 1992, pp. 229-263 This article publishes the previously unknown minutes of an Austrian Cabinet Meeting in August 1796, which reveals that the majority of the Cabinet, including Emperor Francis II, favored making peace at this time. The Foreign Minister and effective Prime Minister, Baron von Thugut, argued for delay, however, in order to consult with Austria's allies, England and Russia, before making peace. Due to military victories in Germany also in August 1796, peace was indeed delayed until Napoleon's advance on Austria from the South in 1797.
To read this article, which formed an important chapter in my PhD thesis, Austrian Policy during the French Revolutionary Wars, 1796-1799, just follow this link: