Page - 934 - in THE FIRST WORLD WAR - and the End of the Habsburg Monarchy, 1914 – 1918

934 An Empire Resigns Csáky, etc. were only present in the military schematisms and ranking lists, however, when one or the other family members occupied a generally lower reserve officer rank predominantly in a cavalry regiment. Some older generals, for example Prince Hugo Dietrichstein zu Nikolsburg or Count Felix Thun-Hohenstein, were reactivated but they were without doubt no longer suitable for senior troop commands. Particularly conspicuous was the absence of the Hungarian high nobility, which was clearly out- stripped by its Polish counterpart. Even here, however, such important families as the Potockys, the Lubomirskis and others were missing. The retreat of the high nobility had already been looming since the mid-19th century. The fact that graduation from the War Academy and a career as a General Staff officer were necessary for high and highest ranks had not least contributed to this absence. Only very few wanted to go to this trouble. The expectations in the Navy were the same. Of course, the lack of the high nobility was also an expression of neither the majorate gentlemen nor other male members of the long-standing families wanting to connect their personal fate and that of their families with that of the ruling house. The absence of the high nobility could be understood as a partial renunciation of the Empire and, above all, the ruling dynasty. This absence went so far that some gentlemen, large land- owners and industrial magnates exercised extreme restraint in the subscription of war bonds. (Reference was already made to this in the chapter ‘How is a War Financed ?’) In the case of the moneyed (high) aristocracy, the risk assessment permitted, or so it seemed, only the most necessary payments. At any rate, money was allocated very cautiously. Among those colonels and generals who fell in battle as members of the Imperial and Royal Army during the First World War, there was not a single member of the ancient nobility and just one member of a comital house, the Commander of Dragoon Regiment No. 2, Colonel Count Johann Bolesta-Koziebrodzki. This was a noticeable, even stark, contrast with the experiences of the German Army, where from 1915 to 1919 in the different series of the Almanach de Gotha the names of the fallen of the ancient noble and comital houses filled dozens of pages each. In fact, the absence of the Austrian and Hungarian high aristocracy should have been conspicuous even whilst Emperor Franz Joseph was still alive. But this had not been the case. The aristocratic absence only became altogether clear under Emperor Karl. Not even the countless honours that the Emperor showered on aristocrats and non-aristo- crats helped here. Even four new comital families (Conrad, Benigni, Scheuchenstuel and Dankl) could not compensate for the absence of the great, old names. And it made a difference whether someone was to fight in this war for God, the Emperor and the Fatherland as a lieutenant of the reserves or as a general. At the latest by 1918, Emperor Karl had in any case the feeling that there were too many generals. In view of the discontinuation of the front in Russia and the victory