Page - 137 - in THE FIRST WORLD WAR - and the End of the Habsburg Monarchy, 1914 – 1918

Salvation through War 137 the earlier it came, the better. The remarks only differed regarding the timing, for Russia, for example, wanted to finish arming only in 1917, whilst Austria-Hungary regarded the war as long overdue. Likewise, remarks can be found that assumed the war could be prevented and painted a picture of catastrophe. In terms of what happened at the end of July and the beginning of August 1914, it was of considerable importance that not only the socialisation of violence, described above, occurred, but also that the war played a substantial role in school lessons and that military leaders, above all the senior generals, overall enjoyed considerable esteem. The war appeared to be the ideal way of engaging in politics, less in the sense of a continu- ation and more as a possibility for a new beginning. The statesmen of Austria-Hungary had kept a very low profile during the July Crisis. This resulted all the more in people writing in newspapers, debating in presentations and discussing on the streets. The most respected newspapers of the Dual Monarchy, the Neue Freie Presse and the Pester Lloyd adopted from the outset very harsh positions and demanded a ‘clarification of relations to Serbia’. Other newspapers, the liberal Zeit, the Neues Politisches Volksblatt and the Arbeiter-Zeitung initially adopted a ‘wait and see’ attitude or partially disapproved. The démarche containing the ultimatum to Serbia, however, forced clear opinions to be expressed, and the newspaper publishers certainly knew the mood of their readers very well and took account of this. Now, it was a ques- tion of exhibiting a uniform and clear stance. ‘The day of the great event has come’, were the first words on the front page of the Neue Freie Presse on the morning of 25 July. Then came the imperial manifesto and, on 29 July, the feature writer of the same newspaper waxed lyrical about a people who walked, singing, through the streets of Vienna. ‘Who did not or did not want to know each other, now open their arms wide, barely know the meaning of the word ‘controversy’ and fraternise with each another.’312 A metamorphosis had taken place, as one American historian put it many years ago, from passivity via pacifism to patriotism.313 Once the war had arrived, victory was in- voked. Duty, inevitability, defensive war, unity and God were the slogans, which even the Hungarian opposition, for example, could not avoid using.314 The Arbeiter-Zeitung wrote of the Tsar’s world war and of the ‘holy cause of the German nation’.315 The beginning of the war was above all something that presented a challenge for the intellectuals and that ultimately became an intellectual event of the first order. Nothing would be more wrong than to assume that the people were pummelled with main- stream opinions, a manipulation of the collective mood and, above all, propaganda. Most things fell into place without any help. ‘When it actually came, the war found us inwardly, so to speak, already poised to march’, said the Viennese doctor Erwin Stran- sky.316 All classes, professions and social strata were stirred up to the same extent by this event. Developments here were quickly recognised as the most important event in the lives of these generations and accordingly classified as such. And no-one wanted to be