ABSTRACT
In Paris, Jozef Hieronim Retinger made the rounds of the Polish emigre leadership and implored them to undertake no action which would associate the Poles with support of France in the war, but rather to adopt an entirely neutral disposition. His 1917 activities regarding the nascent Polish army in France were motivated by his desire to keep alive the prospect for a separate peace for Austria, a separate peace which would be linked to the re-establishment of Poland as a main element in a reconstituted Habsburg Empire. Poland was historically a major power which restrained Germans and held Russia at bay; it was the embodiment of civilization. In World War I Retinger worked for some international settlement which would preserve order, avoid either Russian or German domination of Europe, and prevent the passions of the modern world from creating chaos. Notably, he posited the same goals during and after World War II.
