"This book is about Austria-Hungary's fatal degeneration and its impact on European civilization." It charts the decline of the empire after 1866, when it lost its last major war. "Austria-Hungary's anxieties and pretension as a fading great power were a chief cause of the war, and these same qualities were also the source of its defeat."
"Austria's weakness emanated from its quarreling, disaffected nationalities." Before the losses in wars against France in 1859 and Germany in 1866, Austria was considered a great power on par with England, France, and Russia. Afterwards, it was at best a Balkan power. The empire was too far-flung and ethnically diversified to be manageable. Franz-Joseph chose war for reasons of honor in 1859, 1866, and 1914, when he "would have been far better served by some face-saving deal short of war." Prussia's crushing victory at Koniggratz, followed by German unification, shocked Europe. The next year, the emperor consented to the dual monarchy to be known as Austria-Hungary. Hungary did not pay a proportional share of taxes and obstructed Vienna at every turn. They would not approve army budgets as the empire continued to slip as a world power. This would have massive repercussions in 1914, when the Dual Monarchy would be outgunned and outclassed by its rivals. "Hungary was dragging the Habsburg empire over a cliff."
After Russia's humiliating defeat in Asia in 1905, it turned to the west and sought to expand its influence in the Slavic world at the expense of the Ottoman and Austro-Hungarian empires. And to the south of Austria-Hungary stood Serbia, a nation desirous of uniting the ten million Slavs on the Balkan Peninsula under their flag. While Serbia flexed its muscles, Vienna refused to face the new world of massed professional militaries with modern weapons moved to the fronts on new railway systems. In 1912, Russia organized the Balkan League of Serbia, Bulgaria, Montenegro, and Greece to collectively evict Turkey from Europe and share the spoils. Austria stood by and watched their intended sphere of influence fade away. "Vienna had lost most of its freedom of movement as a great power. There was no domestic consensus on foreign policy and the budget was a billion crowns in deficit." The old emperor was as dotty as ever. Chief of Staff Conrad believed that their remaining purpose was "to go under honorably."
The Black Hand was hoping for an opportunity to deliver a blow to Austria that would provoke war between the empire and Serbia. Knowing that Franz Ferdinand would be visiting Sarajevo in June, they trained three Bosnian Serbs to assassinate him. The archduke and his wife were killed on the 28th. The reaction in Vienna was "Krieg, Krieg, Krieg." Germany thought this was the ideal issue to provoke a wider war wherein they would deal with the Entente for good. The Kaiser, readying for his annual Nordic cruise, gave a blank check to back Austria if it went to war with Serbia. Amazingly, Conrad went on a three-week vacation with his mistress. The German Military Attaché could not even ascertain Vienna's intentions about allocating divisions between fighting Serbia and Russia. Serbia mobilized while Austria dithered. They did not mobilize until after the ultimatum they delivered was declined. Berlin was ready for war by the first week of August.
Neither the empire nor its Chief of Staff were ready. Germany expected Vienna to defend against Serbia, and more importantly, Russia. Germany estimated it would take six weeks to defeat France, and Austria had to hold the Russians back until the Germans were finished in the west. Completely ignoring the German plans and without even telling Berlin, Conrad sent 40% of the army to Serbia after a month to deploy. Poorly trained and equipped and lacking any motivation, the empire's troops were routed in Serbia.
Russian Poland protruded into the west from the body of the Russian Empire. It was south of East Prussia and north of Galicia, with Warsaw about equidistant from each. Russia surprised the Germanic allies with its rapid mobilization. Germany was encouraging Austria to attack and relieve them of potential Russian pressure. Conrad ordered his equally unready eastern army to march a hundred miles through the Galician heat and dust to reach the border. They then used fifty-year-old infantry tactics and attacked the Russians in skirmish lines. They were crushed. Although Austria prevailed in a three-day battle at Krasnik, they were ultimately overwhelmed by superior manpower, which benefited from excellent artillery support. By the end of August, the Austrian offensive was over. September saw a rout at Lemberg and Rawa-Ruska. "The war in the east was barely three weeks old and Conrad had lost a third of the Austro-Hungarian army."
A second attempt to invade Serbia followed. It met the same fate as the August attack. Once again, the only planning was to try again and see if it worked. It did not. Ill-prepared, the army crossed the Drina from Bosnia into Serbia, ran into mountainous terrain, and were soundly defeated by battle-hardened veterans defending their homeland. Austria-Hungary was astounded and befuddled as another 40,000 men fell for naught.
"Austro-Hungarian floundering in Galicia and the tumultuous retreat struck the Germans dumb with amazement." In a month, the empire had lost 500,000 men and seemed to have given up. The Central Powers were in deathly fear of Russia. Berlin concluded that direct assistance to Austria was necessary. The Tsar, under pressure from a reeling France and England, ordered his armies to attack Germany. After three days, the Russian attack petered out. Stymied in France, Germany decided to do more than hold back Russia; it decided to attack. The offensive was successful, and they almost reached Warsaw before they were stopped. "The monstrous war the Austrians and Germans had welcomed in July was spinning out of control, and the Central Powers, hardly on speaking terms, were in grave danger of losing it."
Austria amassed equipment, supplies, and men to attack Serbia, which was weakening after the Balkan Wars and the previous Austrian attacks. This time, the empire's soldiers reached and occupied Belgrade. Serbia counterattacked, and the Austrian army disintegrated. The army did not retreat—it fled in complete disarray. Instead of punishing the uppity Serbs, the empire was humiliated by its lack of planning, incompetent commanders, and the massive casualties. For all intents and purposes, the Austro-Hungarian armies were finished.
Both sides prepared to attack as soon as possible in the east. Russia had twice as many men on the front, but less than a fifth even had a rifle. They came at the Austrians relentlessly and constantly. They committed their men to frontal attacks. The empire's soldiers had no motivation to fight, walked away daily, and in one instance, 1,850 of a 2,000-man Czech unit deserted to surrender and become prisoners in one night. Most of the connected career officers, and all of the high command, relaxed in a sumptuous palace miles from the front. Conrad was known to spend hours relaxing with newspapers. Having lost a million men in 1914, Austria-Hungary lost another 800,000 defending the Carpathians in early 1915. Three-quarters of the casualties were due to illnesses caused by exposure. "Beaten too many times to count, the Dual Monarchy had lost whatever respect it commanded from its subjects and neighbors, and lost any semblance of cohesion or, for that matter, sovereignty. Its days on the earth were numbered."
For the rest of the war, Germany oversaw the empire's efforts and continually bailed them out on every front. Austria-Hungary had a chance to leave the war in 1917-18 under Emperor Karl, but the Kaiser hauled him back in line. Wilson had initially spoken of reorganizing the empire, and then vowed to dismember it. "The monarchy had come in with a bang—vanquishing the Turks and saving Christendom—went out with a whimper. Of all the many miscalculations of this uniquely catastrophic war, Austro-Hungarian decision making in 1914 was the most reprehensible. The Great War has earned a dark place in our historical map, and Vienna, no less than Berlin, was the heart of darkness."
Geoffrey Wawro is one of my favorite historians, and one uniquely motivated to write this story. Just before the Great War, all four of his grandparents left Galicia and sailed to Ellis Island. He tells a shocking story. The perfidy of Hungary is seldom detailed elsewhere. And the fighting saw some of the most mindless incompetence conceivable on the part of those making decisions. Whether they were in Vienna or St. Petersburg, it was delusional and idiotic to think uneducated peasants could go to war without training and equipment. These men wore civilian clothing, were often drunk, had no rifles or food, faked illness, and were left unburied. None of the masters understood what was going on and had no idea about what to do. "Imagine there's no countries. It isn't hard to do. Nothing to kill or die for. And no religion too."
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