Page - 421 - in THE FIRST WORLD WAR - and the End of the Habsburg Monarchy, 1914 – 1918

Factory War and Domestic Front, 1915 421 populace or on plans for Central Europe during the World War. Criticism was not limited, however, to Hungary pursuing isolationist policies in the industrial and com- mercial spheres, but extended instead above all to Hungary knowing how to defend its own interests in the food question with immense consistency and rigour, and also to Hungary ultimately turning out to be unapproachable in all matters relating to dualism, or assessing questions of war aims and post-war policy very differently from the Aus- trian half of the Empire. This then contributed to Austria seeking the union with the German Empire beyond national components, for Germany appeared in many respects to be a giver, whereas Hungary was a taker. In monetary policy, the German Empire provided an example for raising additional funds that Austria-Hungary then emulated. It assumed the German system of war bonds and could, in this way, raise the main part of the financial means required for waging war from its own coffers. By use of bonds, an absorption of the money in circulation was made possible, and above all with bonds a more popular path could be trodden than that of tax increases (see Chapter 17). The first war bond of autumn 1914 was already a great success. It had been prepared well on a propaganda level, and the appeal to patriotism succeeded. The Lord Chamberlain’s Office, for example, did not hesitate to demand a communication from members of the archducal house as to which sums the archdukes and archduchesses intended to pledge. Archduke Friedrich readily resolved to contribute a war bond to the amount of four million kronen each in the Austrian and the Hungarian halves of the Empire.998 (He could afford it.) In May 1915, the second bond was issued, for which 2.6 billion kronen were pledged. And it was intended that this should continue.999 Added to sums raised in this way was direct German financial assistance in the form of bonds that could be issued on the Ger- man financial market. The German government granted a limit of 100 million marks a month for this, whilst bank consortia made additional financial means available in a continually expanding credit limit. Nonetheless, German financial assistance constituted a constant cause for com- plaint.1000 Count Tisza criticised the fact that the German Empire did not provide its ally with sufficient financial support. By contrast, Germany was anything but pleased that part of the capital it invested in Austro-Hungarian war bonds was used by the Prague-based Živnostenska Banka to establish firms in Bohemia that could be ex- pected to compete with German firms after the war.1001 With the explicit agreement of the German Empire, Austria-Hungary passed on the monthly loans to Turkey and later also to Bulgaria, and presented itself to these as a lender. In the case of the Ottoman Empire, the financial means were not just trans- ferred, however, but also served, among other things, to pay for armaments deliveries to Turkey. In 1915, the Ottoman Empire submitted an order to the largest Austro-Hun- garian armaments manufacturer, the Škoda firm in Pilsen, for 30 batteries of mountain