Page - 241 - in THE FIRST WORLD WAR - and the End of the Habsburg Monarchy, 1914 – 1918

I t is difficult to say when the euphoria surrounding the outbreak and the first weeks of the war came to an end. The initial reports of victory preserved the confident, indeed exuberant mood. Setbacks were not concealed, but were still pushed to one side by the continued sense of excitement. Countless rumours built up hopes, only to have them dashed again. Then, a mood took hold that was characterised by a sense of perseverance and the need to hold out. However, it was not an Austrian, but a German, the representative of the German Supreme Army Command in the Imperial and Royal Army High Command General August von Cramon, who remarked that a fundamen- tal difference very quickly became evident in the way in which news of the war events was given : the Germans exaggerated their victory reports, while the Austro-Hungarian army reports were neutral and low-key, even when there were successes. According to Cramon, this was Conrad’s wish ; it was precisely in Vienna, however, that this restraint was interpreted in any number of different ways.580 When Cramon talked of ‘Vienna’, he was without doubt not referring to the Vienna of those two million people who had to learn to live in and with the war, and who were of necessity coming to terms with the sharp increase in prices. He meant the Vienna of the imperial court, the ministries and supreme authorities, who read the army report with a sense of scepticism. Their reticence resulted from the fact that they all had addi- tional information, and perhaps their distrust was a natural consequence of their being in office. For them, the army report was ultimately the basis of their policy. However, naturally, hopes were also held high ‘in Vienna’, the news of the first successes was emphasised, and Dankl, Auffenberg, Potiorek and above all Conrad were regarded as heroes, and yet at some point, something tangible was needed, and in particular more useful information. For this reason, Berchtold, Stürgkh, the Military Chancellery of the Emperor, but also Count Tisza urgently requested that the press supply the Monarchy with appro- priate news from the theatres of war. This would not involve divulging any secrets, since everything was to relate to events that had already happened. However, setbacks were not to be concealed.581 At the meeting of the Joint Council of Ministers, at which this issue was addressed for the first time in mid-August 1914, Stürgkh added that thought should be given to publicising the details of individual glorious deeds, since ‘the purpose is to satisfy the imagination of the people and thus to maintain the positive mood’.582 This was not an easy task, since Conrad would not be persuaded to relax the restric- tive information policy of the Army High Command. He was angry at the ‘snuffling