Seite - 550 - in THE FIRST WORLD WAR - and the End of the Habsburg Monarchy, 1914 – 1918

550 Lutsk : The End of an Illusion (II) Highness has agreed to this plan, but Conrad was opposed for considerations of pres- tige and decisively rejected this proposal. There was nothing left for it but to obtain the decision of His Majesty.’ Herberstein therefore wrote to the Chief of the Military Chancellery of the Em- peror, General Bolfras, and requested an audience with Emperor Franz Joseph. It was fixed for 25 August. With this, so much had now become clear that Conrad could hardly expect any more support for his attempts to maintain the independence of the Imperial and Royal Army High Command. The Army Supreme Commander Arch- duke Friedrich had forsaken him perhaps less out of conviction and more because he was fed up with his own role. Conrad negotiated once more with Falkenhayn, who could do nothing else but endorse the joint supreme command and endeavoured to explain to Conrad the advantages of such a regulation. He pointed not only to Bulgaria and Turkey but also to the Entente, since  – according to Falkenhayn  – the French Marshal Joffre had the overall command. In claiming this, Falkenhayn was either not careful enough with the truth or he did not know any better, since whilst Joffre might have chaired the conferences in Chantilly, the states were on an equal footing. Conrad did not know this, either. On 25 August, Archduke Friedrich and Herberstein were in Vienna. Friedrich ‘was very agitated and definitely afraid of the audience [with the Emperor]’, as his Adjutant General noted.1297 But he wanted to assist him and was able to do so. The Archduke remained alone with the Emperor for over an hour, then Herberstein was called and he presented for a quarter of an hour on the memorandum that he had already sent to Bolfras. Franz Joseph had indeed been coached for this by the directors of his Military Chancellery. The execution in the form of an expression of the imperial volition had therefore already been prepared and Franz Joseph only had to dictate it to Herberstein : ‘It is My will that the initiative of the German Kaiser regarding the unified supreme command will be accommodated if possible. My Army High Command should  – af- ter customary agreement with the German Supreme Army Command  – submit to me such proposals for a solution of the matter, so that My Sovereign Rights and the dignity of My Armed Forces are not affected and the current sphere of influence of My Army High Command with regard to My Armed Forces remains unrestricted.’1298 Friedrich appeared afterwards to be relieved and was only concerned about how he should break the news to Conrad. Herberstein also wanted to relieve Friedrich of this. Conrad was exceedingly agitated and asked who had ‘perpetrated [the] document’. It was easy for Herberstein to answer, and he told Conrad ‘that His Majesty dictated the document ‘It is My will’ to me himself during the audience. Now he [Conrad] became very upset and even called me a traitor to the fatherland etc.’1299 But the Chief of the General Staff did not yet give up, and pleaded on 27 August to establish a joint war council instead of transferring the supreme command to the German Kaiser. But