![]() In reality, however, the military leaders of the Danube Monarchy and the High Command of the Austro-Hungarian army (AOK) were uncertain if the country’s nationalities – Germans, Magyars, Czechs, Slovaks, Poles, Croats, Serbs, Ukrainians, Slovenes, Romanians and Italians – would be willing to actually fight for their country. This article examines the course of events that ultimately brought many of the Austro-Hungarian armed force’s officers and soldiers, who for years had fought bravely for emperor and country, to break their oaths and either join the ranks of the Entente Powers or return to their home towns in autumn 1918 before the armistice had been signed.īefore the outbreak of World War One there existed an old saying in the Habsburg Monarchy: “When Francis-Joseph mounts his horse to go to war, all the Empire’s nationalities follow him.” According to the saying, regardless of national strife, Austria-Hungary’s ethnic groups would be loyal to the state during an armed conflict. These factors, such as economic turmoil, political unrest, war fatigue and seemingly arbitrary decisions by the state, affected both the soldiers on the front and the civilian population, weakening the Imperial and Royal Army ( kaiserlich und königliche Armee, k.u.k.) in the field as well as at the home garrisons to the point that its collapse became unavoidable. Recent research, however, points out that several factors were equally responsible for the unfavourable military, political and social developments that finally tore apart both the Austro-Hungarian army and the Danube Monarchy in October and November 1918. Since the end of World War One it has been alleged that the breakup of the Habsburg Monarchy was mainly caused by quarrels between its ethnic groups.
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