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Deployment in Echelons and
Packets 165
enance, three armies, the 5th, 6th and 2nd Armies, were formed.382 They were also
intended to suffice if Montenegro were to declare war on the Habsburg Monarchy, as
was anticipated. However, with these large army units, a disproportionately high num-
ber of troops had already been provided for the theatre of war in the Balkans. What
would happen, though, in the event of war with Russia ? Now it became all too clear
that the Imperial and Royal Army, as with many other areas of the state, had stagnated.
In terms of absolute figures, the resources available, namely around 1.8 to 2 million
men, looked highly impressive. However, the number of Russians, Serbs and Mon-
tenegrins amounted to double that of the Imperial and Royal forces.383 Furthermore,
clearly neither the Germans nor the Austrians had correctly estimated the mobilisation
capability and strength of Russia. At any rate, they had failed to detect no less than 16
Russian divisions, with hundreds of thousands of men. In 1914, Austria-Hungary had
fewer battalions than in 1866, and this despite the fact that the population had grown
by around 20 million. As a result, it lagged way behind the German Empire, France
and Russia in comparison. And even when the conscripts for the Landsturm aged be-
tween 32 and 42 were added to the regular troops of the Imperial and Royal Army, the
Landwehr (Austrian) and the Honvéd (Hungarian) standing armies, in the event of a
war on two fronts, the Imperial and Royal Army was inferior in number to its enemies.
However, the absolute figures were still no reflection of the strength, potential im-
pact and, above all, the morale of the troops. And it was precisely with regard to the
latter that there were hardly any complaints during mobilisation and departure. From
a vast number of reports, there are only a few that describe demonstrations flaring up.
The mass of reports sent to the Ministry of the Interior described calm, patriotic behav-
iour and enthusiasm. When complaints were believed to be heard, or inscriptions were
found against the war, responsibility was laid at the door of southern Slav and a few
Czech troops. However, the incidents remained without any significant consequences,
and occurred primarily while troops were being loaded on to trains and during trans-
portation to the front, which often lasted many days. The Imperial and Royal Ministry
of the Interior knew of only nine cases of desertion in Bohemia, 124 in South Tyrol,
133 in the Austrian Littoral and, noticeably, 600 to 700 cases in Croatia and Slovenia.384
These incidents in August 1914 are relativised when one compares the number of such
cases with the hundreds of thousands of soldiers about whom there was nothing to
report. For this reason it was of no consequence to the transportation of the battalions
and squadrons to their de-training areas close to the front when perhaps ‘Long live
Prague’ was inscribed on a carriage. On most of the carriages rolling southwards, in-
scriptions such as ‘Serbia must die’ (‘Serbien muss sterbien’) or a similar phrase taken
from the traditional auto-suggestive rhymes commonly used by the Austro-Hungarian
military. In other armies, other phrases were written, and the purpose was the same –
only the target varied.
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