Page - 210 - in THE FIRST WORLD WAR - and the End of the Habsburg Monarchy, 1914 – 1918

210 Adjusting to a Longer War by some firms. The Imperial-Royal Ministry of Trade, which had responded to the out- break of war by applying merely ad hoc measures, only gradually obtained an overview and thus could only intervene in controlling the economy with some delay. By the time it was ready, however, the measures deemed necessary by the Ministry of Trade could be applied only to a small extent. In those places where the economy was already under the direct control of the Army High Command, the Ministry of Trade could no longer exert any authority.496 It should be noted, however, that War Minister Baron Krobatin gave precedence to the civilian organisations in the establishment of central authorities, since he was of the opinion that industry would more easily and more willingly work with a civilian than with a military department. Nevertheless, the central authorities had to coordinate everything with the relevant departments of the War Ministry. In Department 7, a controlling body was set up for the inspection and surveillance of metalworking firms. Again, this control could only be exerted in the Austrian half of the Empire. As a result of the Law on War Contributions and the emergency regulations, a min- ing inspectorate was also established within the War Ministry. It regularly monitored those mining operations not under the control of the military authorities. Furthermore, mining operations that had been abandoned for a long time were reactivated, since they had suddenly become more attractive. The War Ministry even decided on the allocation of labourers and funds.497 By and large, these measures consistently proved their worth and were ultimately retained in principle in 1917, when a radical de-militarisation and a reduction of military control took place. As could be expected, the main efforts of industry were devoted to retaining the fight- ing power of the Imperial and Royal troops. In 1914 they had not been sent to war with the weapons and the equipment that they might have had. It makes no sense, however, to compare Austro-Hungarian troops with French, since the Austrians were not con- fronted with the French but rather with the Russians, Serbs and Montenegrins. And here the differences were not so great. A Russian infantry division had 59 guns, whilst a Serbian had 40. In contrast, the Imperial and Royal divisions in the northern theatre of war had between 40 and 50 and in the Balkans around 30 guns. More important was the circumstance that the material used for the guns was in some cases outdated, generally because the question of whether to introduce new guns was debated for so long. Once the decision had been made, the guns could be processed very quickly, and here the Škoda firm had the edge. It was of doubtless importance that the Russians had almost 50 per cent more guns than the Austro-Hungarian formations. They were sufficiently equipped with ammunition and at the beginning in fact very well. Many of the shortages that arose in the following weeks could be traced back to the fact that a chain reaction had set in. At the beginning of the war, the mining and the iron and steel industries were in a state of stagnation. Therefore, there had not been any exemptions from military service