Page - 362 - in THE FIRST WORLD WAR - and the End of the Habsburg Monarchy, 1914 – 1918

362 ‘The King of Italy has declared war on Me wishes of Italy would of course be considered. This was the almost unvarying tone of Austro-Hungarian statements on the subject.842 But they were only at the start of a lesson in Machiavellian foreign policy. Austria-Hungary did not limit itself, however, to obliging expressions. There were also other things that indicated more clearly that the attitude of Italy and Aus- tria-Hungary included military factors. As mentioned earlier, at the commencement of mobilisation in the case of a Balkan war scenario, Conrad von Hötzendorf had also set about mobilising the III Corps in Graz, not least because he was not certain about Italy’s stance. Even after Italy’s declaration of neutrality and after Austria-Hungary was entirely committed both in the Balkans and against Russia, the Italian border was not allowed out of sight. Both states heightened their safeguarding measures, which were not yet very exten- sive, however. A mobilisation of the Italian Army, as the Chief of the Italian General Staff Cadorna had demanded, was rejected by the Italian government. The politicians and diplomats still had the last word, even if there was complete confusion for a time and the neutralists and interventionists were at loggerheads with each other. On 19 August 1914, at the next session of the Joint Council of Ministers in Vienna, which was in fact chaired by the Emperor, the resolution was passed to continue the dialogue with Italy and to put off the breach for as long as possible, though in the meantime to take the necessary measures on the border with Italy. For its part, Italy also began military preparations, which the Italian ambassador in Vienna, Duke Giuseppe von Avarna, an advocate of the Triple Alliance who was ultimately degraded to the status of letter carrier for the politicians, had to justify by making it known that these measures served to reassure the Italian public and maintain order. This argument, as superficial as it perhaps sounds, had a genuine background, since in Italy an anti-Austrian mood was emerging, which could not be ignored by the govern- ment. Austria did everything to counteract this. Prominent Austrian socialists travelled to Italy and attempted to convince Italian social democrats to take a more moderate and pro-Triple Alliance line. Money flowed to the south in order to induce newspapers such as Mattino, Popolo Romano, Il Giorno and others to use a writing style that was be- holden at least to the ideal of Italian neutrality.843 The Imperial and Royal War Ministry made ten million kronen available to the Foreign Ministry for this purpose. On the Austrian side, but also in Italian circles, stress was laid on the Catholic power of Austria. Other groups were stronger and more influential. The Corriere della Sera, whose impor- tance and circulation far exceeded those of the aforementioned newspapers, questioned Italy’s neutrality in a series of articles as early as August 1914 and achieved a much more far-reaching effect with this than more radical newspapers from the cut of an Il Popolo d’Italia, which was edited by a certain Benito Mussolini.844 More effective was that which Mussolini wrote in the socialist Avanti, where he made the case for Italy’s