Page - 626 - in THE FIRST WORLD WAR - and the End of the Habsburg Monarchy, 1914 – 1918

626 The Death of the Old Emperor The Emperor rose at 3 a.m., or half an hour later at most.1434 During the morning, start- ing at 7 a.m., the Lord Chamberlain Count Montenuovo and the Directors of the Cab- inets of the Austrian and Hungarian Court Chancellery arrived, who were to attend their appointments. Here, the issues discussed were primarily administrative ones, or requests, promotions and accolades. Everyday matters. The almost daily appointments included reports presented by the 77-year-old Adjutant General Count Eduard Paar, and in particular, the Chief of the Imperial and Royal Military Chancellery, General Bolfras. The latter was granted the only longer appointments on an almost daily basis  – and their length also increased, and they lasted up to two hours. During the afternoon, there was time for archdukes, and in particular for his favourite daughter, Marie Valerie. In some cases, he would see ministers, the Chief of the General Staff, Conrad, who visited Vienna at longer intervals, and official personages. The high aristocracy played no part in the audiences. Only if someone had a function or had been newly appointed were they given an appointment. However, the paladins of the Empire would only again see their monarch in his coffin. No wonder that they withdrew and in some cases hardly felt bound to the House of Habsburg any longer. During the daily appointments, which continued regardless on Sundays and public holidays, the Emperor and King received reports, expressed opinions, and gave com- mands and orders. He showed interest and communicated to the Foreign Minister and Minister of the Imperial Household, Count Burián, that he was not only interested in foreign policy, but was also minded to determine the direction taken. The Minister noted in retrospect that ‘It was a joy to work with Emperor Franz Joseph’,1435 while deliberately ignoring the fact that with regard to foreign policy, the powers of the Monarchy had decreased significantly since August 1914, and that the relationship with the German Empire had hardly ever fallen within the remit of the Foreign Min- istry and was to a far greater extent the responsibility of the Army High Command, the War Ministry and later, in particular the Ministry of Food. In particular, what was not expressed with this ‘joy’ was that during Burián’s period in office, there was in fact only one issue that was of particular importance, namely the question of whether or not Italy’s entry into the war could be prevented by ceding territories. And here, for a long time, the Emperor did nothing other than to consistently refuse all demands, and had to be pressured by his minister during numerous audiences into taking a more flexible stance, until it was too late. If, and this occurred relatively frequently, changes in personnel were made, for example when a change of minister needed to be discussed, this was conducted with ‘unsentimental matter-of-factness’.1436 From the moment someone lost his of- fice, he was waved aside. This had so insulted Ernest von Koerber, the Austrian Prime Minister who had served between 1900 and 1904, that for years, he no longer visited the court or the upper house of the Reichsrat.1437 Even so, by October 1916,