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Kajetan Mérey von Kapos-Mére was born in Vienna on 16 January 1861. He was the Ambassador in Rome from 4 March 1910 until 23 May 1915. Unfortunately, Merey suffered a nervous breakdown in June 1914, upon hearing of the assasination of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo. This left communication between Austria and Italy in dire straights at a most critical moment. (This was nearly as tragic as the fact that the Russian Ambassador to Serbia had died amidst the July crisis, right when St. Petersburg needed communication with Belgrade the most!) Mérey was quite ill and the critical situation between Austria-Hungary and Italy could not be risked. Macchio was considered the best man to continue Mérey's good work.
On 11 August 1914, Karl Freiherr von Macchio arrived in Rome and assumed the duties of Ambassador in Merey’s stead. But he was not Merey’s replacement; rather, he was a fill-in until Merey’s health was restored. Macchio carried on in this capacity until 23 May 1915, when Italy declared war on the Empire. Macchio had previously been the undersecretary for Foreign Minister Leopold Berchtold.
In 1918, Mérey served as part of Vienna's delegation to the peace negotiations at Brest-Litovsk. These were led by Foreign Minister Ottokar Czernin.
Kajetan Mérey von Kapos-Mére died in his home city Vienna on the 2 February 1931.
GWS, 11/01 [rev. 4/03] |
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