Page - 971 - in THE FIRST WORLD WAR - and the End of the Habsburg Monarchy, 1914 – 1918

D’Annunzio over Vienna 971 minor territorial gains and calculated that Austria-Hungary must of necessity conclude a peace at any price within the foreseeable future. In order to encourage the disinte- gration and to accelerate it wherever possible, the Italians intensified their propaganda campaigns. They presented a clever mixture of truth and falsehood, distributed leaflets with reports of heavy Austrian losses, and referred to a report in the Neue Zürcher Zeitung of 23 June, according to which revolution had broken out in Austria. Within Army Group Conrad (then Army Group ‘Erzherzog Joseph’), claims were circulated that Army Group Boroević had been withdrawn in order to be able to fight against the revolution on the home front. The Army High Command had its hands full in an attempt to counteract the propaganda and to tell the troops that one thing or another was not true, and that, in fact, the reality was very different.2363 Rumours again surrounded Empress Zita. It was claimed that she had betrayed the Piave Offensive and for doing so had been interned together with her mother, the Duch- ess of Parma, in the Gödöllő Palace near Budapest. Others in turn were keen to relate that after the Piave battle had come to an end, the Empress had been far more concerned with the Italian wounded than those from the Austro-Hungarian side.2364 In Germany, insults were hurled at the ‘Bourbon’, and in Austria at the ‘Italian woman’. The Imperial and Royal War Minister, Stöger-Steiner, intervened in order to put an end to the sense- less gossip, but this was done neither in a suitable form, nor was a long-term effect to be expected. Stöger-Steiner first gave the generals a dressing-down : ‘I cannot comprehend that in a correctly commanded and led officer corps, the seed for such denigration can be allowed to ripen, and that it should not be possible through the influence of the higher and senior superiors, primarily the generals, to nip such destructive growths in the bud.’ In the announcement to the officers (‘To be opened in person by the commanders. Not to be announced in the military command order’), he clearly stated : ‘It has been brought to my knowledge from a reliable source that in recent times, and in the most reckless manner, events at the front and in the hinterland are being criticised thoughtlessly and in their way out of all proportion even by officers, who regrettably even do not hold back from the hallowed and irresponsible [sic !] ruler of the Monarchy, our Supreme Com- mander and his Sovereign noble wife, the Empress and Queen.’ The officers were not only to counteract such rumour-mongering, but also to prevent them from spreading and, if necessary, to report them to the authorities. The order had almost no effect.2365 D’Annunzio over Vienna Some of the campaigns conducted by the Italians in order to spread propaganda could not be obliterated entirely, however vehement the denials might be. On 9 August, seven Italian planes led by Gabriele D’Annunzio flew over Vienna at an altitude of around