Page - 15 - in THE FIRST WORLD WAR - and the End of the Habsburg Monarchy, 1914 – 1918
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On the Eve 15
to use war as a political means – until it did finally join in with the European mood.
Perhaps, in the view of those who were willing to mobilise their armies far more quickly,
this hesitation in waging war was the reason why Austria-Hungary had no prospect of
survival. Yet the death of the double-headed eagle was a gradual process.
In 1908, the world still appeared to be more or less in order, at least from a Viennese
perspective. The 78-year-old Emperor Franz Joseph celebrated his 60th jubilee. It had
not been his wish to hold large-scale celebrations, but after some hesitation, the mon-
arch had succumbed to the arguments of his energetic staff committee. Here, one aspect
was consciously emphasised. The celebrations and above all the parade to pay tribute to
the Emperor, which ran from the Viennese Prater Park and along the Ringstrasse, were
designed to demonstrate comity in diversity, and to provide an occasion for the peoples
of the Habsburg Monarchy to show their shared respect and loyalty to their ruler.8 The
festivities were intended, therefore, as a demonstration of support for the concept of the
transnational empire. The parade was held on Friday, 12 June 1908. The spectacle, dis-
plays and the paying of tributes all went according to plan. 12,000 people participated
in the seven-kilometre long parade, while hundreds of thousands gathered to watch.
The nationalities parade was headed by representatives from the Kingdom of Bohemia,
followed by the Kingdoms of Dalmatia and Galicia divided into an east and west Gali-
cian delegation, then groups from the Archduchies of Lower Austria and Upper Aus-
tria, and the Archduchies of Salzburg, Styria, Carinthia, Carniola, Silesia and Bukovina,
including groups of Romanians, Ruthenians and Lipovans. One of the most magnifi-
cent groups were from the Margraviate of Moravia, which was followed by groups from
the Margraviate of Istria and Trieste (Triest), the Princely Counties of Gorizia (Görz)
and Gradisca and towards the end, groups from the Princely Counties of Tyrol and
the state of Vorarlberg. All the bells of Vienna rang out, speeches were held, and the
national anthem was played. The sun shone, and the Emperor was satisfied with events.
However, on closer inspection, what stood out were not only the groups and delegations
that were present but also those that had failed to attend. The peoples of the Hungarian
half of the Empire, predominantly Hungarians, Slovaks, Croats and Serbs, had not seen
fit to attend the Viennese spectacle, and while they were represented in the historic
scenes, they did not take part in the parade of nationalities. The same applied to repre-
sentatives of the occupied territories of Bosnia-Herzegovina. This could be explained
by the fact that while the peoples of Austria chose to celebrate their allegiance, those
of the Kingdom of Hungary did not. The Czechs of Bohemia and Moravia, however,
gave a hollow pretext as grounds for not attending and refused to participate in the
parade side by side with Germans from the same crown lands. The Italians were also
missing from the South Tyrol and Trentino delegations. The matter was disregarded,
and foreign diplomats commented that : ‘In the whole world there is no country where
the dynasty is as stable as it is here and where such a spectacle could be accomplished’.
THE FIRST WORLD WAR
and the End of the Habsburg Monarchy, 1914 – 1918
- Title
- THE FIRST WORLD WAR
- Subtitle
- and the End of the Habsburg Monarchy, 1914 – 1918
- Author
- Manfried Rauchensteiner
- Publisher
- Böhlau Verlag
- Location
- Wien
- Date
- 2014
- Language
- English
- License
- CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
- ISBN
- 978-3-205-79588-9
- Size
- 17.0 x 24.0 cm
- Pages
- 1192
- Categories
- Geschichte Vor 1918
Table of contents
- 1 On the Eve 11
- 2 Two Million Men for the War 49
- 3 Bloody Sundays 81
- 4 Unleashing the War 117
- 5 ‘Thank God, this is the Great War!’ 157
- 6 Adjusting to a Longer War 197
- 7 The End of the Euphoria 239
- 8 The First Winter of the War 283
- 9 Under Surveillance 317
- 10 ‘The King of Italy has declared war on Me’ 355
- 11 The Third Front 383
- 12 Factory War and Domestic Front, 1915 413
- 13 Summer Battle and ‘Autumn Swine’ 441
- 14 War Aims and Central Europe 469
- 15 South Tyrol : The End of an Illusion (I) 497
- 16 Lutsk :The End of an Illusion (II) 521
- 17 How is a War Financed ? 555
- 18 The Nameless 583
- 19 The Death of the Old Emperor 607
- 20 Emperor Karl 641
- 21 The Writing on the Wall 657
- 22 The Consequences of the Russian February Revolution 691
- 23 Summer 1917 713
- 24 Kerensky Offensive and Peace Efforts 743
- 25 The Pyrrhic Victory : The Breakthrough Battle of Flitsch-Tolmein 769
- 26 Camps 803
- 27 Peace Feelers in the Shadow of Brest-Litovsk 845
- 28 The Inner Front 869
- 29 The June Battle in Veneto 895
- 30 An Empire Resigns 927
- 31 The Twilight Empire 955
- 32 The War becomes History 983
- Epilogue 1011
- Afterword 1013
- Acknowledgements and Dedication 1019
- Notes 1023
- Selected Printed Sources and Literature 1115
- Index of People and Places 1155