Seite - 1005 - in THE FIRST WORLD WAR - and the End of the Habsburg Monarchy, 1914 – 1918

The Armistice of Villa Giusti 1005 Károlyi, was made jointly responsible for the murder of Tisza. It was for this reason that Andrássy resigned. General Weber had remained in the Villa Giusti and awaited the return of his courier and the response from Baden. The Allies expected an answer by midday on 2 November. The deadline elapsed. The Emperor summoned the party leaders of the German Austrian council of state. Parliament was to decide on the acceptance of the conditions. The attempt to shift responsibility, however, miscaried. Viktor Adler com- mented bluntly : the war had been started by the Emperor, and now it was also to be ended by ‘those parties’ who were responsible for unleashing it. In response, Emperor Karl could very easily say that he had not been among those ‘parties’ that had begun the war, either. Hungary no longer participated in negotiations. The radicals and the pacifists were in power there. A whiff of the 1848 revolution was in the air. Hundreds of thousands, who took to the streets, adorned themselves with white asters as a sign of non-violence. Hence the name ‘revolution of the hollyhock’ (Az őszirózsás forradalom). The Royal Hungarian War Minister of the Károlyi government, Béla Linder, had demanded on 1 November that all Hungarians on the front lay down their arms, and was repeatedly quoted as saying : ‘I do not want to see any more soldiers.’2504 It had to be asked whether the capitulation was even his responsibility. Military affairs were a joint imperial con- cern. If the Empire as a whole were to conclude an armistice and everyone made the excuse that this was no concern of the successors of the Empire, then the Imperial and Royal War Minister and the Army High Command could not simply be brushed aside for the time being. General Arz withheld Linder’s order until 2 November ; then he passed it on to the army group commanders and added for the commanders that the Hungarian government and the Hungarians assumed full responsibility for this measure. Boroević was of a completely different opinion and immediately telegraphed Waldstätten that, in his view, complete responsibility continued to rest on the shoulders of the army leaders.2505 At this point, Arz qualified his earlier dispatch : with his refer- ence to the order of Béla Linder, he had only wanted to illustrate what was happening. Whilst Vienna and Baden dodged a decision, sought to delegate responsibility and no-one could be found who was prepared to assume responsibility, and whilst Andrássy also resigned, a telegram arrived from the Chief of the Italian General Staff, accord- ing to which the Allies demanded the acceptance of the conditions by midnight on 3 November. If this acceptance was not given, the offer would become obsolete and the offensive would be continued with full force.2506 Half an hour before midnight, the Emperor empowered the Chief of the Operations Division, Waldstätten, to telegraph General von Weber that the conditions were to be accepted, though point four on the free access to march through was accepted under protest.