Page - 456 - in THE FIRST WORLD WAR - and the End of the Habsburg Monarchy, 1914 – 1918

456 Factory War and Domestic Front, 1915 the Austro-Hungarian front, the decision was nevertheless taken to defend the line that had been reached, since a retreat would potentially have a negative impact on the morale of the Imperial and Royal troops. In order to reinforce the troops, a further corps that had been assigned to Serbia was deployed in the north-east. Instead, Ger- many sent its replacement force to Syrmia. The emerging rout of the Imperial and Royal troops had direct consequences, and led to a further worsening of Austria-Hungary’s position in relation to the German Empire. The German Supreme Army Command declared itself willing to offset the absence of the Imperial and Royal troops in the Balkans. This threatened to make the Balkans a ‘German’ theatre of war, a prospect that made Emperor Franz Joseph uneasy. However, in light of the situation that had arisen in the Russian theatre of war, it was clear to both the German Supreme Army Command and the Austro-Hungarian Army High Command that, in turn, only the insertion of German formations and a partial takeover of the command by German generals would be able to limit the defeat to a bearable scale. Once again, the harsh accusations hailed down on both sides. The fact that Conrad attempted to air his dissatisfaction and sought to blame oth- ers is understandable to a certain extent. Baron Andrian from the Foreign Ministry, who was present at the Army High Command on 15 September, noticed several things that until then had tended to be whispered behind closed doors. Andrian wrote of this to Foreign Minister Burián : ‘[…] I believe I should not omit to mention how strikingly and passionately Baron Conrad, when I visited him at the request of Your Excellency, voiced his resentment against the Supreme German factors and, in particular, against General Falkenhayn. The times when our Chief of the General Staff described his relations with his German colleague as pleasant in comparison with those with Marshal von Hindenburg and General von Ludendorff appear to have long gone. With bitter words, Baron Conrad vented his feelings about the pet- tiness, self-aggrandisement and mala fides of the leading German military elements and about the shameless way with which they use our scarce military resources and the resulting fact of our dependence on them for the purpose of blackmailing us. He spoke at length about a point regarding which I have already heard other officers complain, namely the abuse by the German leaders of the Austro-Hungarian troops under their command. […] I had the impression that not without thinking of the coming operations in the south-east, he vented his feelings so bitterly with regard to our allies, towards whom, on top of everything else, as he said, one must show “love and gratitude”.’1086 Conrad had come to realise that the Imperial and Royal Army would no longer be able to change course using its own strength, and decided to ask the German allies for help once again. Conrad’s state of mind can easily be imagined. Falkenhayn rapidly agreed to send him two divisions, on condition that the German troops and two Im-