Page - 863 - in THE FIRST WORLD WAR - and the End of the Habsburg Monarchy, 1914 – 1918

The Negotiations in Brest 863 In Pazin, in central Istria, 47 people died of starvation during the winter of 1917. The supply of food had collapsed entirely. Then, the half-ripe grain was harvested. Nettles were boiled, as were many types of grass. It is not surprising that the May Declaration issued by Slovenia met with enormous support in Istria. Until the autumn of 1917, the willingness among the population to support the declaration by providing their signa- ture had only been hesitant, but after the prince-bishop of Ljubljana (Laibach), Anton Bonaventura Jeglić, had issued an open declaration of support on 15 September 1917, and in doing so had referred to the peace initiative by Pope Benedict XV, support for the May Declaration turned into a real movement. From September 1917 until the spring of 1918, the declaration movement swelled. In March 1918, Anton Korošec was presented with 200,000 signatures by women in Ljubljana.2051 Most of the signatories felt the same way as Jeglić. Support in southern Styria was even greater than in Carn- iola. One characteristic hand-written comment to a signature read : ‘Long live Yugosla- via, long live our Emperor Karl’.2052 Events took a different turn only in the Slovenian parts of Carinthia, since the Deputy State Governor, Count Lodron, attempted to suppress the May Declaration movement. Croatia distanced itself from the declaration movement, which was regarded primarily as a Slovenian protest. The group was even weaker in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Most Muslim leaders in particular remained opposed to the May Declaration, and were not disappointed that the declaration movement was banned after eleven months. Before being banned, the declaration had gathered around 300,000 signatures. The parameters continued to shift, and this at a time when military victory appeared to be within reach. However, for the Foreign Minister, the increasingly frequent food demonstrations and the dilemma, which was almost impossible to resolve, of transport- ing supplies, was not merely something that concerned him greatly in general terms. The drifting asunder of the parts of the Empire put him under real pressure, since he was also obliged to strive to help stabilise the Monarchy via the circuitous route of concluding a peace with Russia and Romania. Once again, foreign policy was subject to the demands of domestic policy. The Negotiations in Brest When in December 1917 the peace negotiations were due to begin in Brest-Litovsk, Czernin fell ill and had to send Ambassador Kajetan von Mérey as his representa- tive. Czernin simply issued him with guidelines that were to be binding for the Aus- tro-Hungarian delegation. The peace was to be secured by the military, and was to enable food and raw materials to be brought from Russia. Poland was to be removed from the Russian sphere of influence. Russia was to provide assurances that it would