Trechos de The First World War And The End Of The Habsburg Monarchy (2014), de Manfried Rauchensteiner.
Collapse was in sight and the end was nigh. The Swiss envoy in Vienna, C. D. Bourcart, briefly formulated it in his final report from the Habsburg Monarchy on 31 October as follows: "Chaos reigns in the former Dual Monarchy." Austria-Hungary had withdrawn from the alliance. However, the Emperor did not want to carry the responsibility for concluding the armistice alone, and perhaps not at all. He initially sought to tread the path of allowing the step towards peace to be supported by a popular movement. Karl summoned the Mayor of Vienna, Weiskirchner, and suggested that he organise "spontaneous" demonstrations in Vienna on the evening of 28 October, in order to demonstrate approval of the imperial move. Weiskirchner refused. The matter was not ended, however. It took on peculiar, almost embarrassing features.
THE ARMISTICE OF VILLA GIUSTI
The commission of General von Weber, which had been at the ready in Trento since the beginning of the month, then briefly dismissed and again convened, was instructed to establish contact with the Italians. Now, at the latest, it must have become clear that the commission contained exclusively officers. Where, however, were the diplomats?
- - -
On 29 October, a member of the armistice commission, Captain Camillo Ruggera, approached the Italian lines. Although the group carried a flag for all to see and announced its approach with a trumpet signal, it was shelled. It took hours until the letter could be handed over in which the desire for the conclusion of an armistice was expressed. Ruggera returned to Rovereto. The whole day passed without an answer.
The Army High Command eventually sent an open radio signal and also made it known to the Italians that in the event of a withdrawal of the Imperial and Royal troops from Veneto, far-reaching demolitions would have to be carried out. The Italians indicated that they had received the radio transmission, but at the same time called into question the validity of the authority of the Austro-Hungarian armistice commission. Eventually, however, they accepted General von Weber.
- - -
On the same day, the Italians reached Vittorio Veneto. Whilst negotiations were taking place, they were able to pursue the retreating and disbanding troops, accelerate their withdrawal here and there, overtake them, take prisoners and reach the aimed-for borders. On 31 October, Weber was permitted to cross the Italian lines with members of the Austro-Hungarian commission. Two German officers, Colonel Schäffer von Bernstein and Captain Heinz Guderian, went sent back by the Italians, however, although they had presented their credentials in the Lagarina Valley, in which they were empowered by Field Marshal Hindenburg to participate in the armistice negotiations.
This evidently did not interest the Italians. Weber and his entourage were brought to the villa of Senator Giusti del Giardino in the vicinity of Padua. This was the guest house of the Italian High Command, which was accommodated in Abano Terme. The Allied delegation was not due to arrive, however, until 1 November. It was led by the Deputy Chief of the Italian General Staff, Major General Pietro Badoglio.
- - -
The Army High Command was appalled. Only an armistice was supposed to be concluded, and now a more or less unconditional surrender was being demanded. Particularly critical was the point demanding that the Allies receive complete freedom of movement within Austro-Hungarian territory. This meant that from Austrian territory they could also attack the German Empire, which had not opened armistice negotiations.
- - -
There was fighting in the streets of Budapest. As early as 25 October, 300 to 400 officers marched to the Bug River at the forefront of a student demonstration. Brandishing their sabres and calling "vivat", they had broken through the police blockades and hoisted the national flag. The agitation increased from one day to the next. Unlike Major General Zanantoni in Prague, the Budapest city commander General Lukachich ordered for the crowd to be shot at. Companies of storm troopers were to capture the headquarters of the revolutionary council, but they did nothing of the sort. On 31 October, the "bourgeois" revolution appeared to have triumphed: Archduke Joseph, who functioned as "homo regius", appointed Mihály Károlyi as Prime Minister. On the same day, soldiers shot and killed Count Tisza in his house in Pest. There was a parallel here to the murder of Count Stürgkh: the soldiers held the Hungarian Prime Minister personally accountable for the war and took their revenge. They no longer, however, had to galvanise or fear anyone.
The republic had been proclaimed in Prague on 28 October, and with that, speculation naming Duke Max von Hohenberg, the older son of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, as the possible king of Bohemia had become obsolete. In German-Austria, however, demonstrations in favour of annexation by the German Empire took place, although the German ambassador, Count von Wedel, urgently advised against such rallies. They would only complicate matters further, he argued. It would be better if German-Austria were to begin its existence as an independent state and only become a German federal state after several years of peace. In Vienna's Mariahilferstraße and in the inner-city, the "Watch on the Rhine" was sung time and again.
- - -
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 õszirózsás 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."
- - -
The Imperial and Royal Army High Command had attempted to inform the troops that the armistice would only come into force on 4 November at 3 p.m., but the soldiers generally allowed the Allies to pass unhindered. They did attempt, however, to make it clear to them that the armistice was already in place. Italians and British did not appear to be very quick on the uptake and pushed on. They travelled to Trieste, to the Val Canale and in the direction of the Brenner. Perhaps they also saw how, on the highest mountain of the decomposed Habsburg Monarchy, the Ortler, a black and yellow flag was flying at half mast, before the garrison of Carinthians and Styrians evacuated their positions on the peak. Protests against the capture of all the Imperial and Royal troops outstripped by the Italians were simply answered by pointing to the fact that the treaty had been signed by plenipotentiaries of the Army High Command. This was difficult to dispute.
During the course of the Allied advance, 108,000 soldiers were captured from the German lands of the Dual Monarchy, including around 30,000 from the territory that was to become German-Austria. In addition, 83,000 Czechs and Slovaks, 61,000 southern Slavs, 40,000 Poles, 32,000 Ruthenians, 25,000 Romanians and 7,000 Italians were captured. The Hungarians had, for the most part, already withdrawn. Thus, the Italians, British and French had captured masses of soldiers from their new allies as well as a few new compatriots ; this fact was not without piquancy.
- - -
The armistice also extended to all the other fronts on which Austro-Hungarian troops stood, namely the Balkans and the German western front. Understandably, there was confusion in those places. The German Empire had not concluded an armistice; indeed, it had not even opened negotiations to that effect. The troops of the former ally Austria-Hungary were sent to the rear.
In the Balkans, where practically nothing had been heard about the results of negotiations in the Villa Giusti, the withdrawal had continued. On 1 November, Imperial and Royal troops detonated the railway bridge near Belgrade, which was thus destroyed for the third time in this war. The next day, no soldier of Army Group "Feldmarshall Kövess", which should have long since been Army Group "Erzherzog Joseph", stood any longer on Serbian soil. Kövess heard on 4 November, or even on the 5th, that he had been appointed Army Supreme Commander. He travelled on the Danube to Vienna. In the meantime, Hungary demanded and received new, separate armistice negotiations because it did not feel affected by the treaty signed in the Villa Giusti. In Belgrade, more far-reaching and worse conditions were then dictated to the Magyars.
The armistice naturally also extended to the navy. The Emperor had already transferred the High Seas Fleet to the new southern Slav state on 31 October, i.e. before the conclusion of the armistice, and did not intend to deliver the Fleet to Italy. The last Commander of the Imperial and Royal Fleet, Rear Admiral Miklos von Horthy, departed with an order to the fleet in which he expressed the hope that the southern Slavs who remained on the ships would exercise a "firm protection of the common coast". Evidently, Horthy did not want to accept that Hungary and Croatia would no longer share a common coast. The southern Slav fleet command had other worries, however, than commenting on this problem.
Italy felt duped by the transfer of the Imperial and Royal Fleet. It could not do much about it, but at least the joy of the new state of the Slovenes, Serbs and Croats was to be dulled and the danger of a powerful Yugoslav fleet averted.
- - -
[...] on 4 November in Vienna's St. Stephan's Cathedral. It was the name day of the Emperor, which was to be commemorated. Cardinal Piffl celebrated mass. The members of the Imperial-Austrian government had almost completely assembled. It was not a requiem for the Empire but instead a 'Te Deum'. At the end, the Emperor's Hymn, Gott Erhalte (God Preserve) was sung. For Josef Redlich, there was a glaring contrast between the words "lead us with a prudent hand" and the revolution taking place outside. "Blood and treasure for our Emperor, Blood and treasure for the Fatherland" - this might have been acceptable as a type of "balance sheet of the World War". But the entire scene was unreal.
- - -
Once the revolution had gradually spread to all the lands of the Habsburg Monarchy, many did not want to accept it, but one glance at the surging masses said everything. Vast crowds moved through the streets of Vienna, Prague, Budapest and other capital cities. They did not want to "watch the revolution" but actually to be a part of it when in the centre of Europe nation states were founded and an affirmation of one of the new states was demanded of every single person. Whoever attempted to make it clear that they still felt obligated to the Imperial and Royal government ran the risk of being physically reminded of the new realities.
- - -
At Vienna's Nordbahnhof, released Russian prisoners of war plundered, and shots were fired. At Ostbahnhof, in Klein Schwechat and in Stadlau there were gunfights between units of the people's militia on the one hand and Czecho-Slovakian or Hungarian repatriates on the other. There were dead and wounded on both sides. The guarding of depots was generally in vain: people plundered, ate and drank like there was no tomorrow.
Mais:
http://www.returnofkings.com/76781/bela-kun-and-the-hungarian-communist-revolution-of-1919
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKewtPTOCs8
http://drive.google.com/file/d/1a2l3PPQobJRlHdMwc-jsNb4FyxeiMdHH
http://www.habsburger.net/en/chapter/turk-gates-vienna-episode-2
THE ARMISTICE OF VILLA GIUSTI
The commission of General von Weber, which had been at the ready in Trento since the beginning of the month, then briefly dismissed and again convened, was instructed to establish contact with the Italians. Now, at the latest, it must have become clear that the commission contained exclusively officers. Where, however, were the diplomats?
- - -
On 29 October, a member of the armistice commission, Captain Camillo Ruggera, approached the Italian lines. Although the group carried a flag for all to see and announced its approach with a trumpet signal, it was shelled. It took hours until the letter could be handed over in which the desire for the conclusion of an armistice was expressed. Ruggera returned to Rovereto. The whole day passed without an answer.
The Army High Command eventually sent an open radio signal and also made it known to the Italians that in the event of a withdrawal of the Imperial and Royal troops from Veneto, far-reaching demolitions would have to be carried out. The Italians indicated that they had received the radio transmission, but at the same time called into question the validity of the authority of the Austro-Hungarian armistice commission. Eventually, however, they accepted General von Weber.
- - -
On the same day, the Italians reached Vittorio Veneto. Whilst negotiations were taking place, they were able to pursue the retreating and disbanding troops, accelerate their withdrawal here and there, overtake them, take prisoners and reach the aimed-for borders. On 31 October, Weber was permitted to cross the Italian lines with members of the Austro-Hungarian commission. Two German officers, Colonel Schäffer von Bernstein and Captain Heinz Guderian, went sent back by the Italians, however, although they had presented their credentials in the Lagarina Valley, in which they were empowered by Field Marshal Hindenburg to participate in the armistice negotiations.
This evidently did not interest the Italians. Weber and his entourage were brought to the villa of Senator Giusti del Giardino in the vicinity of Padua. This was the guest house of the Italian High Command, which was accommodated in Abano Terme. The Allied delegation was not due to arrive, however, until 1 November. It was led by the Deputy Chief of the Italian General Staff, Major General Pietro Badoglio.
- - -
The Army High Command was appalled. Only an armistice was supposed to be concluded, and now a more or less unconditional surrender was being demanded. Particularly critical was the point demanding that the Allies receive complete freedom of movement within Austro-Hungarian territory. This meant that from Austrian territory they could also attack the German Empire, which had not opened armistice negotiations.
- - -
There was fighting in the streets of Budapest. As early as 25 October, 300 to 400 officers marched to the Bug River at the forefront of a student demonstration. Brandishing their sabres and calling "vivat", they had broken through the police blockades and hoisted the national flag. The agitation increased from one day to the next. Unlike Major General Zanantoni in Prague, the Budapest city commander General Lukachich ordered for the crowd to be shot at. Companies of storm troopers were to capture the headquarters of the revolutionary council, but they did nothing of the sort. On 31 October, the "bourgeois" revolution appeared to have triumphed: Archduke Joseph, who functioned as "homo regius", appointed Mihály Károlyi as Prime Minister. On the same day, soldiers shot and killed Count Tisza in his house in Pest. There was a parallel here to the murder of Count Stürgkh: the soldiers held the Hungarian Prime Minister personally accountable for the war and took their revenge. They no longer, however, had to galvanise or fear anyone.
The republic had been proclaimed in Prague on 28 October, and with that, speculation naming Duke Max von Hohenberg, the older son of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, as the possible king of Bohemia had become obsolete. In German-Austria, however, demonstrations in favour of annexation by the German Empire took place, although the German ambassador, Count von Wedel, urgently advised against such rallies. They would only complicate matters further, he argued. It would be better if German-Austria were to begin its existence as an independent state and only become a German federal state after several years of peace. In Vienna's Mariahilferstraße and in the inner-city, the "Watch on the Rhine" was sung time and again.
- - -
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 õszirózsás 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."
- - -
The Imperial and Royal Army High Command had attempted to inform the troops that the armistice would only come into force on 4 November at 3 p.m., but the soldiers generally allowed the Allies to pass unhindered. They did attempt, however, to make it clear to them that the armistice was already in place. Italians and British did not appear to be very quick on the uptake and pushed on. They travelled to Trieste, to the Val Canale and in the direction of the Brenner. Perhaps they also saw how, on the highest mountain of the decomposed Habsburg Monarchy, the Ortler, a black and yellow flag was flying at half mast, before the garrison of Carinthians and Styrians evacuated their positions on the peak. Protests against the capture of all the Imperial and Royal troops outstripped by the Italians were simply answered by pointing to the fact that the treaty had been signed by plenipotentiaries of the Army High Command. This was difficult to dispute.
During the course of the Allied advance, 108,000 soldiers were captured from the German lands of the Dual Monarchy, including around 30,000 from the territory that was to become German-Austria. In addition, 83,000 Czechs and Slovaks, 61,000 southern Slavs, 40,000 Poles, 32,000 Ruthenians, 25,000 Romanians and 7,000 Italians were captured. The Hungarians had, for the most part, already withdrawn. Thus, the Italians, British and French had captured masses of soldiers from their new allies as well as a few new compatriots ; this fact was not without piquancy.
- - -
The armistice also extended to all the other fronts on which Austro-Hungarian troops stood, namely the Balkans and the German western front. Understandably, there was confusion in those places. The German Empire had not concluded an armistice; indeed, it had not even opened negotiations to that effect. The troops of the former ally Austria-Hungary were sent to the rear.
In the Balkans, where practically nothing had been heard about the results of negotiations in the Villa Giusti, the withdrawal had continued. On 1 November, Imperial and Royal troops detonated the railway bridge near Belgrade, which was thus destroyed for the third time in this war. The next day, no soldier of Army Group "Feldmarshall Kövess", which should have long since been Army Group "Erzherzog Joseph", stood any longer on Serbian soil. Kövess heard on 4 November, or even on the 5th, that he had been appointed Army Supreme Commander. He travelled on the Danube to Vienna. In the meantime, Hungary demanded and received new, separate armistice negotiations because it did not feel affected by the treaty signed in the Villa Giusti. In Belgrade, more far-reaching and worse conditions were then dictated to the Magyars.
The armistice naturally also extended to the navy. The Emperor had already transferred the High Seas Fleet to the new southern Slav state on 31 October, i.e. before the conclusion of the armistice, and did not intend to deliver the Fleet to Italy. The last Commander of the Imperial and Royal Fleet, Rear Admiral Miklos von Horthy, departed with an order to the fleet in which he expressed the hope that the southern Slavs who remained on the ships would exercise a "firm protection of the common coast". Evidently, Horthy did not want to accept that Hungary and Croatia would no longer share a common coast. The southern Slav fleet command had other worries, however, than commenting on this problem.
Italy felt duped by the transfer of the Imperial and Royal Fleet. It could not do much about it, but at least the joy of the new state of the Slovenes, Serbs and Croats was to be dulled and the danger of a powerful Yugoslav fleet averted.
- - -
[...] on 4 November in Vienna's St. Stephan's Cathedral. It was the name day of the Emperor, which was to be commemorated. Cardinal Piffl celebrated mass. The members of the Imperial-Austrian government had almost completely assembled. It was not a requiem for the Empire but instead a 'Te Deum'. At the end, the Emperor's Hymn, Gott Erhalte (God Preserve) was sung. For Josef Redlich, there was a glaring contrast between the words "lead us with a prudent hand" and the revolution taking place outside. "Blood and treasure for our Emperor, Blood and treasure for the Fatherland" - this might have been acceptable as a type of "balance sheet of the World War". But the entire scene was unreal.
- - -
Once the revolution had gradually spread to all the lands of the Habsburg Monarchy, many did not want to accept it, but one glance at the surging masses said everything. Vast crowds moved through the streets of Vienna, Prague, Budapest and other capital cities. They did not want to "watch the revolution" but actually to be a part of it when in the centre of Europe nation states were founded and an affirmation of one of the new states was demanded of every single person. Whoever attempted to make it clear that they still felt obligated to the Imperial and Royal government ran the risk of being physically reminded of the new realities.
- - -
At Vienna's Nordbahnhof, released Russian prisoners of war plundered, and shots were fired. At Ostbahnhof, in Klein Schwechat and in Stadlau there were gunfights between units of the people's militia on the one hand and Czecho-Slovakian or Hungarian repatriates on the other. There were dead and wounded on both sides. The guarding of depots was generally in vain: people plundered, ate and drank like there was no tomorrow.
Mais:
http://www.returnofkings.com/76781/bela-kun-and-the-hungarian-communist-revolution-of-1919
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKewtPTOCs8
http://drive.google.com/file/d/1a2l3PPQobJRlHdMwc-jsNb4FyxeiMdHH
http://www.habsburger.net/en/chapter/turk-gates-vienna-episode-2
