Page - 650 - in THE FIRST WORLD WAR - and the End of the Habsburg Monarchy, 1914 – 1918

650 Emperor Karl duke Friedrich. But this was too little for Karl and it furthermore contradicted his in- tention of establishing a personal command and the end of the independent existence of the Army High Command up to that point. The Emperor then sent Conrad his own draft, which the Chief of the General Staff was supposed to push through vis-à-vis the Germans. In accordance with Karl’s wishes, the German Supreme Army Command should only lead the negotiations between the allies but not be permitted to issue any orders. Conrad travelled with this draft to Pszczyna (Pleß), but the mission ended in complete failure. It can be assumed that Conrad espoused the wishes of his Emperor, since he had been an opponent of the Joint Supreme War Command. Ultimately, how- ever, he had to ask himself whether he was only doing something for his successor, since he himself did not even believe in his further use. Hindenburg and Ludendorff insisted on the present agreement and were only pre- pared to make minor modifications to Article 4. They argued that Bulgaria and Turkey would otherwise revoke the agreement. Kaiser Wilhelm was also unamenable. There was nothing left for Karl to do but submit to this ‘blackmail’. He had to comply with the ultimate authority of the German Kaiser ; indeed, the new secret supplementary article did not even contain the German obligation to maintain the integrity of the Habsburg Monarchy. This was a slap in the face for Emperor Karl, and he reacted with defiance : he forbade further negotiations on a military convention with the Ger- man Empire and no longer wanted to conclude a trade treaty. In his judgement, the German Empire had become a military dictatorship.1477 This observation, which was made towards Minster Burián, was both interesting and accurate because it elucidated a peculiar contrast : until autumn 1916, authority had been exercised in large parts of Austria via the direct influence of the Army High Command, whether by means of large territories being designated rear army areas, military governors being appointed, the War Surveillance Office being entrusted with monitoring internal security or employment conditions being regulated by the Law on War Contributions and the workers being placed nationwide under military jurisdiction. Karl wanted to end this state of affairs and he worked consistently to achieve this. In the German Empire, on the other hand, until the appointment of Hindenburg and Ludendorff military power had been mitigated by constitutional establishments, which had continued to function. Now, however, the image of a military dictatorship emerged ever more in the German Empire. When Karl travelled to Cieszyn, he had already had to swallow the bitter pill con- cerning the Joint Supreme War Command. Talks no longer had to address this topic. But the relationship with Germany could also be examined in other areas. And this did not proceed without friction, either. On 5 December, Karl was due to travel to Pszczyna with the leadership of the Army High Command in order to meet with Kaiser Wilhelm and the German Supreme Army Command. Since not only Kaiser