Page - 623 - in THE FIRST WORLD WAR - and the End of the Habsburg Monarchy, 1914 – 1918

The Geriatric Circle 623 a practice that would remain unchanged during the final years of the Emperor’s life : Artur Bolfras spent far more time with him than of all other members of the imperial household, and even more so than the length of time allotted to the prime ministers, ministers, dignitaries and top-ranking military. The nervousness lasted until 15 Au- gust. The Chief of the General Staff, Conrad, Archduke Friedrich and War Minister Krobatin came repeatedly. On 31 July, Tisza and Stürgkh had an audience and in each case remained somewhat longer. Stürgkh was granted several audiences by mid-Au- gust, before in his case, also, a kind of typical pattern emerged. The Austrian Prime Minister came to the Monarch at intervals of between one and one-and-a-half weeks, the Hungarian Prime Minister somewhat less frequently. The Foreign Minister and Minister of the Imperial Household, Count Berchtold, and after him, Count Burián, were frequently granted audiences, particularly in August and September 1914, and then again from January 1915, when the subject of Italy came to the fore. As a rule, the frequency of the audiences depended on military and political developments, however. The appointments were also very much dependent on the individual in question, since Berchtold’s successor, Count Burián, came far less frequently to Franz Joseph. Either he felt that it was not necessary to offer a succession of appointments to his foreign minister, or  – and this is more likely  – Burián only sought audiences occasionally, and was also aware of the fact that after his insistence that extensive concessions should be made to Italy, he was no longer held in much esteem by the Emperor. Again, it is appropriate to ask which elements of control the Austrian Emperor used in order to exert influence and to fulfil his function. After all, there was no doubt that until the creation of the Joint Supreme War Command, the person ultimately respon- sible for the major political and military decisions was Franz Joseph. To a certain degree, the Joint Council of Ministers was able to function as the in- termediary body that, together with the Monarch, was responsible for making the im- portant decisions. However, the Joint Council of Ministers, as had been known since July 1914 at the latest, was not the committee to which the Monarch also added his voice and over whose decisions he exerted influence. Only twice, on 19 August 1914, when the fortification of Vienna and Budapest and the crossing points on the Danube, as well as war reporting, were at issue, and again on 8 March 1915, when Franz Joseph decided to agree to concede territory in Tyrol to Italy, albeit not on the Isonzo River, did the Joint Council of Ministers mutate into the Privy Council chaired by the Em- peror. From that point on, Franz Joseph never again attended a meeting of this nature, and clearly also made no requests for certain items to be discussed. And yet there would have been so much that needed to be agreed on : the great issues of the war, in particular the question of a premature termination of the fighting and the initiation of peace talks, for example. However, quite clearly, it did not occur to Franz Joseph to encumber the Joint Council of Ministers with such matters. War was his field of expertise, and since