Page - 159 - in THE FIRST WORLD WAR - and the End of the Habsburg Monarchy, 1914 – 1918

Until mid-August 1914, the Marienbad Spa Orchestra still played the Italian na-tional anthem, alongside the obligatory Austrian ‘Emperor’s Hymn’, the melody of which was the same as that of the German patriotic tune, the ‘Deutschlandlied’. It was therefore an audible reply to the declaration of neutrality by Italy that its na- tional anthem was removed from the repertoire. Instead, the political German song ‘Die Wacht am Rhein’ (The Watch on the Rhine) was played. There were also noticeable changes among the spa guests. Since from one day to the next, the Habsburg Monarchy now suddenly found itself at war with a number of countries, the citizens of those coun- tries were no longer able to leave. The Serbs, Russians, French and above all English, who were particularly frequent visitors to Mariánské Lázně (Marienbad), were exam- ined by the foreign nationals office and were finally divided into categories, depending on whether they were young and healthy, over forty years old, or ill. The latter category was permitted to leave after a brief delay, while the others were confined in and around Cheb (Eger).368 In the meantime, feverish work was being conducted in the offices of the general staffs. Although at the climax of the July Crisis, those in high office in the military had been told that they could take leave with an easy conscience since everything had been thoroughly prepared, this meant nothing in practice. At first, the order was to initiate mobilisation and to inspect the feasibility of deployment plans once more. Then from 28 July onwards, work had to begin with regard to relocation and provisioning, and an untried mechanism made to function. Now it was time to activate one or more of the war scenarios. Deployment in Echelons and Packets Knowledge of its own military situation and information gathered by the Evidenzbüro (military intelligence service) of the Imperial and Royal General Staff regarding the anticipated hostile powers had been a prerequisite for ensuring, year on year, that the Operations Division of the General Staff had been in a position to implement the deployment plans on a more or less realistic basis. Whenever its own informants failed to pass on the necessary news, the German General Staff delivered what was needed.369 However, the aim was not only to calculate the strength of its own troops and those of its enemies. The object was also to make time estimations and, above all, to initiate the