THE FALL OF THE HAPSBURGS.*
WE are sometimes told, by people who ought to know better, that the Allies broke up the Austro-Hungarian Empire and deliberately created the various small States which have taken its place. The truth is that the composite Hapsburg monarchy fell to pieces through its own rottenness, like the one-horse sha,y described by Oliver Wendell Holmes. The Hapsburgs had long ruled by setting one subject nationality against another— Germans against Czechs, Poles against Ruthenians, Croats against Magyars, Italians against Southern Slave—and they reaped where they had sown. War and famine intensified the bitter jealousies of the rival races and drove them asunder. The Crown and the army were the only institutions common to the Hapsburg dominions. When the army was beaten and demoralized, the young Emperor, well meaning but weak and timorous, had not the personal popularity which might have served to hold his distracted peoples together. Before the final • MP memoir,. BY Prince isidwitg Windischgraetz Translated by Gomtance 'Posey. London : G. Allen and Unpin. LIOs. net.]
'military disaster at Vittorio Veneto the several races, with the Czechs in front, were going their several ways. The Allies concluded the armistice with the generals of an Emperor-King who had virtually ceased to reign and who was repudiated by most of his former subjects.
We have seen no more vivid and dramatic account of the last stage of Hapsburg rule than that which Prince Ludwig Win- dischgraetz has written, and of which Miss Vesey has made an exceptionally readable translation. The author is a young Hungarian magnate, born in 1882, who served in the army, travelled widely and took a somewhat active part in politics before the war. He saw much service on the Russian front and then acted as Hungarian Food Minister in 1918. He knew the young Emperor well, and he was on familiar terms with all the aristocratic Magyar politicians. His narrative is all the more convincing because, unlike Count Czernin, for example, he does not profess to have been infallible, although he is naturally concerned to explain his own political activity. The book shows that the Hapsburg system was doomed as soon as war began, though it might have lingered on while peace prevailed. The Supreme Command was incredibly bad, though, as the author says, some of the earlier defeats were due to the desertion of Czech regiments. He was present when General Auffenberg, one of the most capable Austrian generals, was arrested by order of the Supreme Command, not because he had lost a battle through executing their orders but because he knew too much. The author persuaded a friendly deputy to take up the case, with the result that Auffenberg was tried and honourably acquitted. But the Supreme Command had first tried by threats to secure the general's silence, and had caused a revolver to be loft in his cell in the hope that he might shoot himself. The Supreme Command and the Foreign Office were almost openly at variance, and the Hungarian Government pursued their own policy. The death of the old Emperor Francis Joseph in November, 1916, led to many personal changes, but the new Emperor Karl, despite his good intentions, was not strong enough to modify the system. In 1917 he dismissed Tisza, the veteran Magyar Premier, who declined to widen the franchise. The Emperor wanted every soldier who had served at the front to have a vote, but Tisza refused and left office. It is fairly clear now that the young Emperor made a fatal blunder in quarrelling with Tisza, who, though a reactionary in politics, was the only strong man in Hungary and was devotedly loyal. Tisza had a majority in the Hungarian Parliament and could thwart the efforts of his successors to carry out reforms, but he had .no further opportunity of defending the Monarchy against the Socialists and Bolsheviks who were plotting revolution almost openly for many months before the end came. Those who think of revolutions as spontaneous and inevitable occur- rences should note the author's account of the way in which the Magyar revolution was worked up by Count Michael Karolyi, a very wealthy magnate of the type of Sir Francis Burdett or Lord Stanhope, who simultaneously urged the Emperor-King to make him Premier and intrigued with the Bolsheviks to declare a Soviet Republic over which the Count was to preside. If at any time up to the early autumn of 1918 the Buda-Pest Government had brought one loyal division from the front and had then arrested and shot Count Karolyi and his accomplices, there would in all probability have been no revolution and King Karl would have retained his throne. But the invertebrate old officials who formed the Cabinet could never come to a decision. They gently ridiculed the author as an intemperate youth when he warned them of the danger ; even in mid-October, 1918, the Premier Wekerle's "optimism was adamantine," and on the very eve of the revolution he laughed at the author's fears. The author, as Food Minister, had an impossible task in 1918, because Hungary would not endure privations in order to feed the hated Viennese, and there was danger in requisitioning the crops lest the farmers should go over to the revolutionary party. But Prince Windischgraetz at least gained an intimate know- ledge of the real situation at Vienna and Berlin and at the front.
The Germans admitted to him that they could not face another winter of war. Austria-Hungary's resources were completely exhausted, and the army, except the men in the front line, was utterly demoralized. While the Italian and British troops were attacking on the Piave in the closing days of October, 1918, the several States of the Hapsburg dominions—Bohemia, Hungary, Croatia, German Austria—were declaring their inde- pendence. The young Emperor, well meaning but weak and inexperienced, was no more able to guide events than the fly on the wheel. He spent his time in receiving advice, often by telephone, from this or that politician, but he could not formulate a policy and adhere to it kir two days together. The author, who vainly warned him against Karolyi, gives an affecting account of an interview with the deserted Emperor at SchOnbrunn on October 31st, 1918. The great palace, at eleven o'clock in the evening, was dark and silent. There were no sentries, no bodyguard, not even a footman.
" I reached the ante-room ; His Majesty's aide-de-camp, Commander Schonta, was sitting in the large, empty room reading a book. The Emperor is expecting you,' he said. The Emperor was alone. He was really alone already. Schenbrunn was lifeless, the guards dispersed, the servants forgetful of their duty, the great State rooms empty. The splendour which stir. rounded him had lost its meaning ; the town at his feet had shaken off the yoke ; pis throne was tottering to its fall, deserted by its three pillars—the staff of Generals, the clergy and the nobility. He was alone. Where were those now who for centuries past had knelt on the steps of the throne and lived on the favour of the Court ? A' scene came back to my mind: Reichenau,Villa Wartholz, 17th August, the Emperor's birthday ; the Knights of Theresa at the Field-Marshals table ; Conrad made a fine speech, extolled the young Monarch's qualities as a ruler ; the knights sprang from their seats, spurs clanked, swords flew from their scabbards, and while they swore eternal loyalty. the band struck up the imposing strains of God save' and—' Austria will stand for ever ! . . . The King received me in his study, the so-called Gobelins room, containing the writing-table once used by Napoleon. On it stood the telephone froth which so many conversations had been carried on, so many political acts of far-reaching importance had been arranged. He met me at once with the words : You are right, Andrassy must remain.' I said that it would be absurd to put someone else at the head of the Foreign Office ; the Entente had accepted Andrassy's note, and therefore wished to negotiate with Andrassy. ' It is his duty to remain.' The King agreed. Have you heard that Tisza has been murdered ? ' he said. It is terrible ; he must be the first to believe that peoples ought not to be coerced.' I said : Your Majesty, you are really the foremost revolutionary in your Empire.' Yes,' he said, ' I should like to revolutionize everything, though not with blood and iron.' Your Majesty, I warn you against Karolyi.' No, no, Karolyi is honest ; he has the people on his side in Hungary ; we must do our utmost to support him. He is now Prime Minister. I have given orders for all the troops at our disposal to be made over to him.' I asked : Has he taken the oath ? " Yes,' the Emperor smiled. I think it is the first time a Minister has taken the oath by telephone. The other Ministers have sworn allegiance to the Palatine, the Archduke Joseph.' " A few hours later Karolyi demanded by telephone that he should be released from his oath, which was done, and further that the King should abdicate—a request which he firmly refused. The proud Hapsburg dynasty had collapsed, but the young Emperor- King, unlike his German ally, retained at least some of his self- respect. The book, as we have said, shows that the Dual Monarchy fell by its own inherent weakness. The Allies could not have kept it together, even if they had wished to do so. The new States must learn by experience the necessity of friendly co-operation for economic and commercial as well as political ends.
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