Page - 576 - in THE FIRST WORLD WAR - and the End of the Habsburg Monarchy, 1914 – 1918

576 How is a War Financed ? the newspapers printed reports about major investors who had subscribed significant sums. It goes without saying that wherever possible, it was emphasised that Emperor Franz Joseph had subscribed 44 million kronen overall to the first three war bonds in Austria and Hungary. The entry of Italy into the war led him to increase the sub- scription amounts once again, so that the money would not run out when it came to fighting the ‘hereditary enemy’.1343 Emperor Karl then ordered posters to be printed for the campaigns for both the Austrian seventh and eighth bonds with the message that His Majesty had in each case subscribed 12 million kronen. In the publications relating to the subscription results, entitled Monumente des Patriotismus (‘Monuments of Patriotism’), the members of the ruling dynasty were however usually listed without any specific figures. As was the case with the children of the heir to the throne and his wife who had been murdered in Sarajevo, the only information provided was that they had subscribed ‘a significant sum’. Doubtless such signs of patriotism were also expected of them. Counts Johann II von und zu Liechtenstein and Johann Nepomuk Schwarzenberg were not far behind the monarch, however. When it came to the others, greater efforts had to be made in order to then be able to document their patriotism. War suppliers were obliged to accept war bonds instead of payment ; public servants received part of their wages in the form of war bonds, and were unable to buy anything with them. Although at least at the beginning, there had theoretically been the option of pledging the bond securities, with the exception of the Czech banks until 1917, al- most no-one made use of it. Ultimately, the aim most certainly was to be able to monitor precisely who had subscribed which sums. This raised a question that has been left unanswered even until now, and which at the end of the day is impossible to answer : why did such and such a person subscribe nothing, only a little, or a great deal ? And if someone perhaps escaped the attention of the newspapers, or did not want to see their contribution publicised, they were still listed in the honorary works of the fatherland. There, it was written for all to see how much had been subscribed in the crown lands, or in the district of Oberhollabrunn or in the parish of Prägarten, what sums had been subscribed in the savings banks in Drohobycz in Galicia and Rădăuți (Radautz) in Bukovina, and how much subscription money had been collected by the parish offices in Ried im Innkreis. Readers could begin to ponder on why the pupils in Upper Austria, with a subscription of around a million kronen, were far behind those in Lower Austria (without Vienna), where around 7.5 million were raised. And this was exactly what was intended, in order to spur people on by setting an example, but also to be able to point the finger at anyone who was missing from the list. The bond results were distributed over the Austrian and Hungarian halves of the Empire as follows :