Page - 967 - in THE FIRST WORLD WAR - and the End of the Habsburg Monarchy, 1914 – 1918

The Radicals Set the Agenda 967 In front of the Viennese City Council building, the flags of the German Empire and the colours of the Revolution of 1848 were flown.2345 This sight filled a man such as Prelate Ignaz Seipel with a great sense of foreboding. Yet other representatives of the Christian Social Party, such as Prelate Hauser in Upper Austria, continued to actively support the German Nationalists. Even for a politician such as Jodok Fink from Vorarlberg, 1848 suddenly played a role, although only to the extent that on 12 August, he claimed at the Dornbirn people’s day that the citizens would find it easier to be loyal to the ruling dynasty and the state if the tradition of the Vormärz, the years prior to the March Revo- lution, were no longer to dominate in Austria.2346 This too was a signal. Hussarek was unable to counter the southern Slav demands, and capitulated before the dilemma that while he required Croatia-Slavonia, Bosnia, Herzegovina and Dalma- tia to be included in a southern Slav solution, the same did not apply to Slovenia. There, however, calls were becoming louder for the Yugoslav solution, while at the same time, there were fears of German dominance that would inevitably crush the Slovenes.2347 The ‘Yugoslav Division’ that had been fighting in the Allied Salonika Army formation since June 1918 now consisted not only of Serbs and Croats, but also Slovenes.2348 Until that point, the Slovenes had always been regarded as being particularly loyal to the Monar- chy. Now, however, the radicals had begun to set their agenda, too. In this, there was no overlooking the fact that part of the blame lay with the Viennese government. Since it refused to comply with the wishes of the moderate groups loyal to the Habsburg Empire surrounding Dr Šusteršić, the nationalists led by Dr Korošec were able to gain the up- per hand. The Regional Commander in Bosnia and Herzegovina, General Sarkotić, was far more realistic than the Viennese government in this regard, and also demanded the inclusion of the Slovenes in a Yugoslav solution. However, an additional eminent com- plication in the deliberations surrounding imperial reform in the south was the fact that Croatia belonged to Hungary and Slovenia to Austria, while Bosnia and Herzegovina still fell within the area of authority of the Imperial and Royal Finance Minister. Every individual who expressed their opinion could see only partial aspects of the situation and, for this reason, Hussarek found it only right and proper to force Hungary to make con- cessions to Croatia, although without even recognising the problem with the Slovenes. For Hungary, the southern Slav solution was also connected to the issue of access to the sea. Within the framework of a single economic area, such questions were not of any particular importance. However, what would happen if this framework were to disappear ? Negotiations between Hussarek and the Hungarian Prime Minister Wek- erle on the southern Slav issue ended on 30 August by Wekerle telling his Austrian counterpart : ‘Here in Hungary, nine-tenths of our body politic is in good order, and you expect me for your sake to also turn my nine good tenths into disarray.’2349 How- ever, Wekerle should not have used such forceful words, since in Hungary, too, there was ferment.