Page - 553 - in THE FIRST WORLD WAR - and the End of the Habsburg Monarchy, 1914 – 1918

The ‘Joint Supreme War Command’ 553 able-bodied men were to be sent straight away from the hinterland and the base area to the front, and the potential of the less able-bodied and the women should be radically exploited in order to increase the performance in particular of industry. The industrial sector was to drastically increase its output of heavy-calibre ammunition, guns, mortars and also materials for the construction of entrenchments ; then victory would be certain for the Central Powers.1301 General Cramon summed up what had been achieved by saying : ‘Truly, no-one could demand more, since all measures of the Central Powers had actually now more or less been placed in the hands of the German General Staff and with that, thank God, a new era began.’1302 The German ambassador in Vienna, Baron von Tschirschky, was perhaps even more drastic in his assessment and gave even more expression to the increasingly pervasive mood in Berlin to the effect that Austria-Hungary should be taken firmly in hand. On 28 September 1916, he wrote ‘in complete confidentiality’ to the German Imperial Chancellor : ‘The longer the war lasts, the more an uneasy question thrusts itself on one as to how long the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy will be able to continue the fight, both in a military and an economic respect.’ Deplorable conditions reigned in Cieszyn. ‘The deviousness and dishonesty of the leading authorities there’ had shown themselves repeatedly. That naturally rubbed off, he said. The lack of seriousness was contagious ; there was dissatisfaction across broad strata and resignation among the ‘conscientious elements’. But the human material in the Army was  – ‘aside from certain Czech and other exceptions’  – good. The leadership had failed, however. If the production of guns and ammunition were not cranked up under German leadership, then at the beginning of 1917 Austria-Hungary would be finished. Pessimism and oppression found plenty of sustenance, whilst the customary sloppiness, protectionist economy and lack of ex- pert knowledge predominated. People were already starving in Vienna’s suburbs. ‘As far as Austria is concerned, one must attribute the main share of the blame for these grave conditions to Prime Minister Count Stürgkh. […] With such a head, one cannot expect anything good from the limbs.’ The personality was missing ‘who dictates from above the preservation of common interests. Baron Burián, who is destined to be in first place here, would give a look of incomprehension if something like this were ex- pected of him.’ Now the agrarian state of Austria-Hungary had turned to the German Empire for help with cereal crops. There was chaos in the Imperial and Royal finances, although Germany was paying 100 million a month to its ally and ‘furthermore regu- larly [advancing it] the aid to be paid to Bulgaria and Turkey’. The bottom line was that von Tschirschky proposed that the heir to the throne be invited to Berlin. ‘It is only in a change in the leading positions of the Monarchy that I can see the possibility of revitalising the will to hold on among the broad strata.’ The German ambassador thus called on the German guardianship court, as it were, to incapacitate the old Emperor in Vienna. A specific suggestion should be made to the young gentleman regarding who