Page - 750 - in THE FIRST WORLD WAR - and the End of the Habsburg Monarchy, 1914 – 1918

750 Kerensky Offensive and Peace Efforts according to which fathers of six or more children who were not provided for were not to be subjected to ‘constant exposure to the enemy’. Even if this formulation still allowed a great deal of room for manoeuvre, consideration was finally visible in it.1738 Though why six children ? All these greater and lesser changes atrophied the idea of the inviolability of the ruler. ‘Karl the Sudden’, as he was named in the Army High Command,1739 was not the kind of monarch who stood far above things. It was only a small step from the description of minor weaknesses to the circulation of untrue rumours, for example the alcoholism of the Emperor and sexual excesses.1740 Very soon, connections to the Entente were also assumed and the Empress, two of whose brothers served in the Belgian Army, was brought into play. Another brother, Elias, had admittedly served in the Imperial and Royal Army and fallen in battle in 1916. But this was not enough to silence even the most senseless rumours. It was noticed by the politicians, military men and diplomats who attended court that the Empress occasionally sat somewhere in the corner dur- ing discussions of high politics and listened or had the Emperor called away from a conference.1741 Even the ‘Press Service for the Most Senior Gentlemen’, which was set up in February 1917, could not prevent the circulation of rumours.1742 Until July 1917, however, there was hardly anything that would have unleashed massive criticism of the Emperor. Then, however, on 2 July the Emperor announced an amnesty decree for political offences. And with a single blow, the pent-up resentment broke loose. Days earlier, the Emperor had begun to ponder how the judgements passed by the military courts could be examined. They were frequently not only draconian but unjust, argued Karl. A report, according to which in Tyrol a landlady had been sentenced to death for high treason and then ultimately ‘reprieved’ by means of the sentence being commuted to a prison term of several years because she had been insulted by officers and had insulted them back, was apparently the final straw.1743 The new Prime Minister, Baronet Ernst von Seidler, believed that an amnesty would improve the parliamentary situation and thus make his own work easier. The Polish deputy Adolf Gross had al- ready proposed a motion in the judiciary committee for the examination of all judge- ments passed by military courts.1744 Above all, however, the Pope and the Curia had by means of silent diplomacy been attempting for some time to induce Emperor Karl to retract death sentences. As early as spring 1916, the Pope had intervened in favour of 16 Serbs in Banja Luka who were sentenced to death for espionage. Since their pardon had failed due to the opposition of the Army High Command, the Vatican renewed its efforts. In July, the Pope extended his intervention to the leader of the Czech radicals, Karel Kramář. The arguments of the Holy See and evidently also the influence of Alois Musil, who had returned from the Ottoman Empire and was now court chaplain, made an impact, and Emperor Karl finally addressed the matter.1745 Prime Minister Seidler and the Chief of Staff to the Emperor, Arthur Polzer-Hoditz, urged a generous solu-