Page - 432 - in THE FIRST WORLD WAR - and the End of the Habsburg Monarchy, 1914 – 1918

432 Factory War and Domestic Front, 1915 to the Reichsrat in Vienna by Polish deputies and submitted a complaint against arbi- trary executions in the army areas, above all in the area of the 4th Army under Arch- duke Joseph Ferdinand. The Army High Command dismissed this grievance. The cause of the treasonous events in Galicia, according to the Army High Command, could be found in the years-long national and party political discord, which had been stoked from abroad, as well as the economic depression of Galicia and the low level of edu- cation of broad sections of the populace. ‘Those circles that lodge complaints with the army might realise this and keep in mind that it was not the army that brought about this sad circumstance but instead had to suffer its bitter consequences first hand.’1030 In the Bohemian as well as the Polish and Ruthenian questions, the Command of the South-Western Front had understandably refrained from intervening. When, however, in July 1915 it came to granting an amnesty to members of the southern Slav nationalities, above all for Slovenes and Croats, for which Stürgkh campaigned, he met with united resistance from the Army High Command and the Command of the South-Western Front. In the case of Dalmatia, initial considerations for the appoint- ment of a military governor also began in July 1915. They emanated from the Com- mand of the South-Western Front, but were initially not pursued any further, since two trials of strength were in any case in progress with Galicia and Bohemia and the leadership in Cieszyn did not want to tackle a third problem with which it could only forfeit prestige. In other matters, the Army High Command was very inclined, however, to seize upon ideas that emerged in the decentralised power centre on the south-western front. In May 1915, for example, the Command of the South-Western Front had taken up the problem of the confiscation of the assets of those guilty of treason and of national subjects abroad working against the Dual Monarchy, and proposed that this group of people also be punished with the loss of its citizenship. The Army High Command immediately seized on this proposal. The deprivation of assets and the loss of citi- zenship became a complex of issues that was the subject of lengthy negotiations and was ultimately not settled only because Hungary assumed a stance that diverged from that of Austria. The confiscated goods would have been used to supply war invalids, in accordance with an idea of the Commander of the Imperial and Royal 2nd Army, General Böhm-Errmolli.1031 Cieszyn willingly involved itself in a conflict that took place in the rear of the Tyro- lean front. The Reichsrat deputy and municipal chief Karl Niedrist was accused by the Command of the South-Western Front of impeding the raising of livestock by claim- ing that considerably higher prices would later be obtained for the cattle. Since the Ty- rolean Governor Count Toggenburg and the Austrian Prime Minister Count Stürgkh, but also other Reichsrat deputies, supported Niedrist and defended him against the accusations, Archduke Friedrich felt forced to write to Stürgkh that the Tyrolean rep-