Seite - 258 - in THE FIRST WORLD WAR - and the End of the Habsburg Monarchy, 1914 – 1918

258 Adjusting to a Longer War ate presence. Those surrounding Archduke Friedrich felt that : ‘He has not yet matured, in spite of his 27 years of age‘.617 Now, the relationship between the Army High Command and the heir to the throne not only touched on more insubstantial issues, such as the extent to which personal animosities played a role and whether Conrad was perhaps of the opinion that the heir to the throne was still too inexperienced. Very different problems were at issue, in particular the position of the heir to the throne in relation to the military elite, which gained a new degree of importance as soon as it was asked why archdukes were given the command of operations at all and rose up to high ranks within the military hierar- chy. This was only in part a feudal foible, albeit to the smallest extent. Above all, this had a very different tradition in Austria than in other European countries. Ultimately, after all, the war was understood to be decisive not only for the fate of the Empire, but also of the dynasty. Therefore, what could be more obvious than to integrate archdukes into the command hierarchy more extensively ? Since in addition, signs of decay very quickly became evident within this hierarchy, the archdukes guaranteed to a significant extent the continued existence of the structures. Wherever possible, the agnates of the dynasty moved in. Archdukes Friedrich, Joseph Ferdinand, Joseph, Eugen and others, not least and in a particular fashion the heir to the throne Archduke Karl, took over high and supreme commands. No wonder it must have seemed to all appearances that this was ‘their’ war. Certainly, their functions were in part nominal. Under these circumstances, the attempt by Conrad to push back the heir to the throne and to decline to involve him in the decisions seemed odd in a double sense. However, Archduke Karl enjoyed greater regard from Vienna in one way by being repeatedly called there to present reports. The Army High Command also quickly succeeded in causing the representative of the Foreign Ministry, Baron Wladimir von Giesl, to be forced into a corner and finally dismissed. For one-and-a-half months, he had been able to send independent reports to his minister. Then he was accused of passing on strictly confidential messages relat- ing to plans for an offensive and in so doing, of breaching military secrecy. Giesl was issued with a warning, and was finally so restricted in his effectiveness that from then on he was able to do no more than copy out the army report. Berchtold was unable to prevent Giesl’s removal. Finally, the minister merely wanted assurance that he would be informed by Giesl at least once a week in a private letter, in order to learn of Giesl’s ‘views on the situation of the armies’ in this way.618 This appeared to Berchtold to be all the more important, since he wished and needed to be informed as comprehensively as possible. Since the official reports from the Imperial and Royal fronts failed to yield much information, Berchtold wanted at least to take control of the reporting for other countries and thus conduct psychological warfare. He developed plans for a propa- ganda offensive, which naturally only promised to be a success if it were also based on knowledge of the appropriate facts.