Page - 968 - in THE FIRST WORLD WAR - and the End of the Habsburg Monarchy, 1914 – 1918

968 The Twilight Empire In light of the war situation and the conditions among the Imperial and Royal troops, it was inexplicable, or at any rate illusory, that on 21 July 1918, the Chief of the General Staff completed a memorandum that again concerned itself with Austria-Hungary’s war aims. In so doing, he put into action the results of a discussion with the Mili- tary Governors General for Serbia and Montenegro, Rhemen and Clam-Martinic, and the Regional Commander of Bosnia-Herzegovina and Dalmatia, General Baron von Sarkotić, on 13 and 14 May. All three had spoken out in favour of the incorporation of Serbia and Montenegro into the Habsburg Monarchy, possibly joined together with Bosnia, Herzegovina and Dalmatia in the form of an ‘imperial land’.2350 Now, with a certain amount of goodwill, it is still possible to understand that the Military Gover- nors and the Regional Commander were still able to formulate such thoughts in May 1918. Yet,the authorised forwarding of such a paper at the end of July bordered on a loss of reality. Arz spoke of ‘[…] the full incorporation of Serbia into the Monarchy […], the full incorporation of Montenegro into the Monarchy […], the creation of an independent Albania and subsequently […] the creation of a federation of Balkan states under our leadership’. The Chief of the General Staff also explained why he had come to make this demand on the Foreign Minister : ‘The realisation of my notion’, he wrote, ‘was until recently set against the slogan “Without annexations, without war reparations”. It is  – following the announcement of a portion of the war aims of the Entente  – thank God, forgotten and disappeared. The victor has the right to present the consequences of victory according to his judgement and his discretion. And we are the victors on the Balkan Peninsula ; this can be disputed by no-one.’2351 Arz lagged behind developments by at least several months. Austro-Hungarian Troops on the Western Front On 21 June, while the June battle in Veneto was still coming to an end, the German Supreme Army Command began to push for the deployment of Austro-Hungarian troops on the western front. There were to be not only more artillery divisions, as had been the case since 1914, but infantry. In the west, there was no doubt that more than the nine Imperial and Royal field artillery regiments were needed that were in the interim being used there.2352 Between five and six infantry divisions were ‘initially’ to be provided to the German Western Army, but with the complete exclusion of Czech troops.2353 Emperor Karl and the Imperial and Royal Army High Command did not agree immediately, but the failure on the Piave River and the German arguments that in light of the American forces gathering in France, the outcome would be decided in the west, made sense. ‘The precipitation of an overall decision against an enemy that is con- tinuously being reinforced in France means that we too must bring together everything