Page - 915 - in THE FIRST WORLD WAR - and the End of the Habsburg Monarchy, 1914 – 1918

The Alliance of Arms 915 Then, Landwehr ordered German grain tugboats that were travelling up the Danube and which were loaded with 2,455 wagonloads of maize, to be taken by Austro-Hun- garian troops on 30 April. This was to help get the situation in Vienna and in the army back under control. While the fury this caused in the German Empire was enormous, the Germans showed themselves willing to negotiate.2203 Moreover : they were forced to swallow their anger and rage against this show of strength by the Austrians, since on 9 April, the offensive in France, in which so much hope had been placed, had had to be brought to a halt. The confidence within the German Supreme Army Command of winning a decisive victory over the Allies was now buried. This meant that restraint was also advisable when it came to Germany’s ally. Even so, this did not entirely pre- vent Kaiser Wilhelm from playing off his triumphs. On 10 May, Emperor Karl  – as mentioned earlier  – travelled to Spa in the company of his Foreign Minister and Chief of the General Staff to meet Kaiser Wilhelm. The main topics of discussion were the Sixtus Affair and the German-Austrian alliance. Karl knew that he would have to make concessions, since it was not sufficient for ‘his’ cannons to give the Allies in the west their response to the affair. The German authorities had made it clear time and again that they required guarantees, and not simply promises. And it was to their advantage that Karl left for Spa in an extremely despondent state of mind. The reception was rather frosty, but then the Germans made a surprising show of generosity. The Alliance of Arms was signed, which did however bind Austria-Hungary more tightly to German decisions than had been the case with the Joint Supreme War Command until that point. The Alliance of Arms had been thoroughly thought through by the German side. In particular, the German draft had been formulated in such a manner that the agreements took place within the power of command of the rulers in order to avoid parliamentary debates on the subject in Austria-Hungary. Otherwise, however, the agreement had been honed for so long in order that no loophole would be left open to Austria-Hun- gary.2204 A joint command authority was created and the harmonisation of the basic principles of the armed forces was agreed, including the standardisation of weaponry. Item twoof the ‘General Principles for the Alliance of Arms’ ran : ‘Every man capable of bearing arms must pass through the army training school.’ In order to relieve the troops, formations of less able men were to be created. This stipulation would certainly have a significant impact on the domestic policy of the Danube Monarchy, since before the war its military strength had not been exploited to the full. Ultimately, the most important stipulation was a detailed plan for the exchange of officers, with the aim of achieving an extensive alignment of officer training. With regard to this item, the First Quartermaster General of the German Army, General Ludendorff, subsequently demanded that Jewish officers in the Imperial and Royal Army be excluded from the exchange programme.2205 The negotiations at the German Grand Headquarters in Spa