One Empire or Two States? Dualism and States of Emergency in Austria-Hungary Before and During the First World War

ABSTRACT

Much has been written about Austria-Hungary under the state of emergency during the First World War. Historians have analysed many aspects of wartime government, among them the political, bureaucratic, and constitutional background since 1867. Emphasis has been placed on the legal regulations that underpinned the state of emergency and their wartime implementation, institutional responsibilities, and the different kinds of hardship emergency decrees imposed on the Habsburg Empire’s diverse population, including the targeting of particular nationalities and political ideologies. Much of this scholarly work, however, focuses solely on one or other of the two halves of the monarchy without looking at their differences and similarities. This article therefore analyses: To what extent did one of the main characteristics of Austria-Hungary as a state, namely its dualism, influence planning for and implementation of the wartime state of emergency? While in both halves of the Monarchy parliamentary legislation transferred authority to the government in the event of a state of emergency, in Austria there were fewer safeguards against the military’s abuse of power. The more significant limitations on the military’s authority in wartime Hungary and the greater powers reserved to its Parliament and judicial system were not sufficient in themselves to reduce the repressive nature of emergency rule or its negative impact on the lives of ordinary citizens.

KEYWORDS:

• Austria-Hungary
• First World War
• state of emergency
• dualism

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Notes

1. For examples, see Bihári, “A Forgotten Home Front”; Cornwall, The Undermining of Austria-Hungary; Healy, Total War and Everyday Life; Livio, “The Wartime Treatment”; Marin, “World War I and Internal Repression”; Lukan, “Die politische Meinung der slowenischen Bevölkerung”; Moll, Burgfrieden; Rachamimov, “Arbiters of Allegiance”; Olechowsky, Die Entwicklung des Preßrechts; Spann, “Zensur in Österreich”; Stibbe, “Krieg und Brutalisierung”; and Überegger, Der andere Krieg. While this article relies a great deal on the arguments developed in these ground-breaking works, the bulk of the sources cited were collected for my MA and PhD dissertations, reworked and jointly published in Scheer, Die Ringstraßenfront.

2. Cornwall, “Disintegration and Defeat,” 183.

3. The most up-to-date interpretation is offered by Judson, The Habsburg Empire.

4. Judson, “Where our Commonality is Necessary … ,” 5, 14. The Rechtsstaat refers to the idea of a state based on the rule of law.

5. Orzoff, Battle for the Castle, 62, 65; and Heimann, Czechoslovakia, 51, 55.

6. Koller, Ausnahmsgesetze und Verordnungen, 10.

7. Redlich, Österreichische Regierung und Verwaltung, 83.

8. Scheer, Die Ringstraßenfront, 13.

9. Österreichische Nationalbibliothek/ALEX Historische Rechts- und Gesetzestexte online/Reichsgebsetzblatt - https://alex.onb.ac.at/ALEX, Reichsgesetzblatt für die im Reichsrathe vertretenen Königreiche und Länder, 1884, 15. Verordnung des Gesammtministeriums, 30 January 1884, 15.

10. Österreichisches Staatsarchiv-Kriegsarchiv (henceforth ÖStA-KA), Kriegsministerium (henceforth KM), Präs, 75-6/1, War Minister’s Note, 19 January 1906.

11. k.u.k. Kriegsministerium, Orientierungsbehelf über Ausnahmsverfügungen.

12. ÖStA-KA, Mil. Impressen, Karton 493, Orientierungsbehelf über Ausnahmsverfügungen für die im Reichsrate vertretenen Königreiche und Länder, Ausgabe B, J-25 a, Wien 1909, 1.

13. Hugelmann and Boehm, Das Nationalitätenrecht, 150–1. See also Brix, Die Umgangssprachen in Altösterreich, 60–1.

14. Scheer, Language Diversity and Loyalty, 31–3.

15. Klabjan, “Od Trsta do Sarajeva in nazaj,” 762–3. See also Rachamimov, “Arbiters of Allegiance.”

16. Apponyi sat in the Hungarian Parliament for the entire period 1872–1918, with one short break only. The citation appears in Miskolczy, Ungarn in der Habsburger-Monarchie, 149.

17. ÖStA-KA, Nachlasssammlung (henceforth NL), B/600:1, Anton Lehár, Geschichten erzählt, Vol. 2, 47.

18. Szábo, “The Functioning of the Hungarian Political System,” 153–67.

19. Galántai, Der österreichisch-ungarische Dualismus, 146. See also ÖStA-KA, KM, Präs, 76-30/20, Hungarian Minister-President to War Minister, 4 July 1886.

20. ÖStA-KA, Reichskriegsministerium (henceforth RKM), Präs, 75-11/10, War Minister to Hungarian Minister-President, 24 December 1910.

21. Miskolczy, Ungarn in der Habsburger-Monarchie, 179. See also ÖStA-KA, RKM, Präs, 75-6/15, War Minister to Hungarian Minister-President, 14 August 1906.

22. All branches of the general staff dealt with war scenarios, including consideration of language skills among officials – see Scheer, Die Sprachenvielfalt in der österreichisch-ungarischen Armee, 150.

23. ÖStA-KA, RKM, Präs, 75-11/10, War Minister to Hungarian Minister-President, 24 December 1910.

24. ÖStA-KA, RKM, Präs, 75-11/3, 1909, Chief of general staff to War Minister, 24 October 1908. For the War Ministry’s insistence on a Hungarian ‘Ermächtigungsgesetz’, see Suppan, “Ausnahmezustand in Erwägung,” 261.

25. Galántai, Hungary in the First World War, 73–4. ‘Enabling Law’ here did not mean the same thing as the Enabling Acts of the twentieth century, with their wholesale surrender of legislative powers to the executive.

26. Suppan, “Ausnahmezustand in Erwägung,” 256.

27. ÖStA-KA, RKM, Präs, 75-11/10, War Minister to Hungarian Minister-President, 24 December 1910.

28. ÖStA-KA, RKM, Präs, 75-11/10, Report of the War Ministry, 1910.

29. Galántai, Hungary in the First World War, 76.

30. ÖStA-KA, RKM, Präs, 75-11/3, 1910, 5th Department to 10th Department of War Ministry, 9 December 1909.

31. Galántai, Hungary in the First World War, 76. See also ÖStA-KA, Militärkanzlei Franz Ferdinand (henceforth MKFF), Mb 11–13, Vortrag des KM bei der MKFF, 9 October 1912; and ÖStA-KA, KM, Präs, 75-3/3, note dated 8 February 1913.

32. Galántai, Der österreichisch-ungarische Dualismus, 145–6; and Galántai, Hungary in the First World War, 75. On the Hungarian government commissioners’ work, see ÖStA-KA, KM, Präs, 75-3/3, note dated 8 February 1913.

33. Cornwall, “Disintegration and Defeat,” 183.

34. A list of the emergency decrees announced from 28 July 1914 onwards can be found in Galántai, Hungary in the First World War, 78–9.

35. In Bosnia-Herzegovina the provincial Parliament was suspended in July 1914, civil rights guaranteed under the provincial constitution of 1910 were put on hold, and the joint military administration headed by governor Oskar Potiorek put the province under strict and exclusive military rule. See Imamović, Bosnia and Herzegovina, 255–6; and Grunert, “The Habsburg State.” Also ÖStA-KA, KM, 10. Abt., 5-8/7, 1914, Orientierungsbehelf für Ausnahmsverfügungen für Bosnien-Herzegowina.

36. ÖStA-KA, Mil. Impressen, Karton 493, Orientierungsbehelf über Ausnahmsverfügungen für die im Reichsrate vertretenen Königreiche und Länder, Ausgabe B, J-25a, Wien 1909, §1(1).

37. ÖStA-KA, RKM, Präs, 75-1/12–1, War Minister to Hungarian Minister-President, 24 March 1909.

38. ÖStA-KA, RKM, Präs, 75-11/12–2, Hungarian Minister-President to War Minister, 29 March 1909.

39. ÖStA-KA, Kriegsüberwachungsamt (henceforth KÜA), no. 12, Telegraph to War Surveillance Office, 26 July 1914.

40. ÖStA-KA, KM, Präs, 18-8/2, letter to Hermann Diamand, 8 August 1917.

41. See ÖStA-KA, Militärkanzlei Seiner Majestät (henceforth MKSM), 30-2/16, report of Honvédség Minister at Military Chancellery of the Monarch, 12 April 1918; and ÖStA-KA, KÜA, no. 8168, note dated 28 October 1914.

42. See ÖStA-KA, MKSM, 9-4/1, report dated 9 September 1917; ÖStA-KA, KM, Präs, 18-8/2, letter to Hermann Diamand, 8 August 1917; and ÖStA-KA, MKSM, 30-2/16, report of Honvédség Minister at Military Chancellery of the Monarch, 12 April 1918.

43. ÖStA-KA, MKSM, 30-2/16, report of Honvédség Minister at Military Chancellery of the Monarch, 12 April 1918.

44. ÖStA-KA, KÜA, no. 2378, note dated 24 August 1914.

45. ÖStA-KA, KM, Präs, 83-9/2, fol. 2, 1914, informational report.

46. ÖStA-KA, KM, Präs, 83-9/1, 1914, Hungarian Minister-President to War Ministry, 4 August 1914.

47. ÖStA-KA, KM, Präs, 16-48/2, Hungarian Minister-President to War Minister, 15 July 1915.

48. Many traces of this cooperation can be found in the files of the KÜA. For some examples see ÖStA-KA, KÜA, no. 236, note dated 30 July 1914; ÖStA-KA, KÜA, no. 103437, HB to KÜA, 14 April 1917; and ÖStA/KA/KÜA, no. 103485, HB to KÜA, 18 April 1917.

49. Redlich, Österreichische Regierung und Verwaltung, 88.

50. ÖStA-KA, KM, Präs, 18–8, War Ministry report, 17 June 1917.

51. ÖStA-KA, KM, Präs, 16-60/1, Comment of the Army High Command, 30 August 1917.

52. ÖStA-KA, KM, Präs, 16-60/1, Ministry of Interior, 30 July 1917.

53. ÖStA-KA, MKSM, 9-4/1, report about organisational changes to the KÜA, 9 September 1917.

54. ÖStA-KA, NL, B53:8–12, Albert Schmidt von Georgenegg, 8. Tagebücher,Tagebuch Nr. 6, entry for 16 August 1917.

55. ÖStA-KA, MKSM, 30-2/16, Honvédség Ministry to the MKSM, 12 April 1918.

56. Scheer, Die Ringstraßenfront, 108–9.

57. Hauptmann and Prasch, eds., Dr. Ludwig Thalloczy, 147.

58. ÖStA-KA, KÜA, no. 8168, note dated 28 October 1914.

59. ÖStA-KA, KÜA, no. 1558, note dated 16 August 1914.

60. ÖStA-KA, KÜA, no. 8777, note dated 17 October 1914.

61. Mihályhegy, “Ambivalente Gefühle,” 293.

62. ÖStA-KA, KÜA, no. 8168, note dated 28 October 1914.

63. Hauptmann and Prasch, eds., Dr. Ludwig Thalloczy, 301.

64. N. N., “Die Lage in Österreich: Die Aufhebung des Kriegsüberwachungsamtes,” Pester Lloyd, 12 September 1917, 6.

65. See Bihari, A Forgotten Home Front.

66. Decree of the Honvédség Ministry, 25 July 1914, in Reichsgesetzblatt, no. 171/1914.

67. Grandner, Kooperative Gewerkschaftspolitik, 38. See also Schmied-Kowarzik, “Die wirtschaftliche Erschöpfung”; and Scheer, “Die Kriegswirtschaft,” 439.

68. Lipusch, ed., Österreich-Ungarns katholische Militärseelsorge, 441.

69. ÖStA-KA, KÜA, no. 9135, 8 November 1914.

70. For one study that mentions this episode, see Busch, Major Kwaplitschka, 146.

71. Livio, “The Wartime Treatment of the Italian-Speaking Population.”

72. Stibbe, “Krieg und Brutalisierung.”

73. Marin, “World War I and Internal Repression.”

74. Stibbe, Civilian Internment, 108.

75. For examples involving the Vienna police, see Scheer, “Denunciation and the Decline of the Habsburg Home Front”; and for a regional case study highlighting many instances of family denunciation, see Moll, Der Deutsch-Slowenische Nationalitätenkonflikt.

76. Grunert, ”The Habsburg State,” 262. See also Cornwall, “The Road to Pragmatism,” 222.

77. Cornwall, “Disintegration and Defeat,” 174.

78. N.N., “Rechtsverwirrung,” Die Arbeit, 24 January 1917, 1–2, here 1.

79. Judson, “Where our Commonality is Necessary … ,” 13–14.

80. Stibbe, “Krieg und Brutalisierung,” 101–2.

81. Piahanau, “A Priest at the Front,” 721–41.

Additional information

Funding

This research was funded in part by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF) [10.55776/V555]. For open-access purposes, the author has applied a CC BY public copyright license to any author-accepted manuscript version arising from this submission.