Page - 649 - in THE FIRST WORLD WAR - and the End of the Habsburg Monarchy, 1914 – 1918

The Master’s New Servants 649 ership of the Imperial and Royal armed forces and compelled the Army High Com- mand to submit. In order to put a complete end to this independence, it was to relocate, and by virtue of its geographical proximity to Vienna and the Emperor’s favourite residence, Laxenburg Castle, enable the Emperor to exercise supreme command. This was associated with a claim to power that the new Emperor wanted to assert not only towards his own Army High Command but also vis-à-vis his most important ally. Upon his accession to power, Emperor Karl had discovered the existence not only of the Joint Supreme War Command but also the resulting dependencies and pro- grammes. As early as 22 November, on the day after the death of the old Emperor, Karl had indicated that he was not prepared to simply accept German dominance. On this occasion, another characteristic became clear that went beyond simple inexperience : Karl was rash and imprudent. The Neue Freie Presse paid tribute on 22 November to the deceased Monarch in a moving and very balanced lead article. The article described as the highest achievement of the old Emperor the conclusion of the alliance with the German Empire, ‘which is one of the greatest facts of European politics and a guarantee of victory at a time that is full of sacrifices’. This had been written entirely in line with the policies pursued until November 1916. The young Emperor, however, was annoyed about the emphasis on Germany and immediately ordered that in the future officers be forbidden to write for the Neue Freie Presse. When confronted about the article, the responsible official in the censorship department vindicated himself by saying that he had not found anything offensive in this formulation, and even if there had been something to criticise about this lead article, he would have let it pass, since in such a matter one should not leave any embarrassing blank spots on the title page of a newspaper. Ultimately, War Minister Baron Krobatin succeeded in persuading the Emperor to retract the order, which was directed at a single newspaper, and to replace it with another one that forbade officers  – aside from those who were inactive  – from writing for periodicals in general.1475 But this was not only an indication of the im- pulsive and, in this case, also impulsively wrong things that Karl occasionally did, but even more of how Emperor Karl wanted to handle the German problem from the first moment of his rule on. More was in play here than brotherhood in arms and the frequently invoked community of the trenches. The trauma of 1866 and personal issues also played their part. On 23 November, when Karl informed Conrad of the intended takeover of the Army High Command, the new ruler also demanded changes to the agreement on the Joint Supreme War Command.1476 Conrad had initially said that only Article 4 should be changed, which had stipulated that the army supreme commanders of the allies were at the disposal of the German Kaiser. Since this would have meant the subordination of the young Monarch to the orders of the German Kaiser, the passage was to be altered in the case of Austria-Hungary to the Deputy Army Supreme Commander, i.e. Arch-