Page - 476 - in THE FIRST WORLD WAR - and the End of the Habsburg Monarchy, 1914 – 1918

476 War Aims and Central Europe can content himself with that.’1123 He had witnessed how Friedrich had cut a pathetic figure in his meeting with the German Kaiser and the military heads of the German Empire. Nothing in this respect had changed over the course of the year that had since passed. The Archduke barely spoke, and he appeared confused and  – which was much more unpleasant  – uninformed. It was the same in December 1915, when it came to a meeting with the German Kaiser in Pszczyna. ‘After the meal’, Herberstein noted, ‘we stayed for approximately half an hour, the Archduke could not be held there any longer, since he  – not unreasonably  – was always afraid of conversations at which he had to express an independent opinion. Not only his shyness plays a role here but also the cir- cumstance that as a result of his mental inertia he is never orientated towards the current state of affairs and is afraid that someone notices this.’1124 As a result of this, Friedrich’s reputation suffered both in his own Army High Command as well as vis-à-vis the German ally. Now Herberstein returned to headquarters and the actual power centre of the Danube Monarchy and had a mind, if not to resurrect the battered prestige of the Archduke, then at least to strengthen the status of the Army High Command. His Imperial Majesty did not make it easy for him. On the contrary, the Archduke had just at this moment earned the nickname that would remain with him and ulti- mately find its way into Karl Kraus’ Die letzten Tage der Menschheit (The Last Days of Mankind). During a visit to Cieszyn from the Bulgarian Tsar Ferdinand, a war film was screened in which, among other things, the impact of an Austrian 30.5 cm mortar was shown. As Herberstein described it : ‘Everyone was under the impression of the splendid depiction of this moment, but His Imperial Majesty, who wanted to show that it had made no impression whatsoever on him and that he had often seen and experienced ( ?) such things, loudly called out “Bumsti” into the hall during the impact of the projectiles, which naturally made a very bad impression.’1125 It could not be avoided that Archduke Friedrich was from then on named ‘Bumsti’ within the Army High Command and soon also beyond it. The visit of Tsar Ferdinand of Bulgaria to the Army High Command of course had another reason than merely to satisfy courtesy and to give rise to witticisms : Ferdinand attempted in this way to win sympathy and the agreement of the Army High Command to the occupation of Prizren and Pristina by Bulgaria. But it was in vain. Herberstein thus decided to show the status of the Army High Command to its best advantage. In doing so, he unexpectedly intervened in the already difficult constellation between Conrad and Friedrich, though even more in the relationship between the Army High Command and the German Supreme Army Command. For if Friedrich were to be strengthened or if only the status of Conrad were shaken from within, this most have repercussions for the joint conduct of the war. This was also part of the traversal of the culmination point of this war. For the time being, however, the balance sheet of the second year of the war was addressed.