Vienna's 'respectable' antisemites by Michael Carter-Sinclair

Author:Michael Carter-Sinclair [Carter-Sinclair, Michael]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: History, Europe, Austria & Hungary, Modern, 19th Century, 20th Century, General
ISBN: 9781526144881
Google: -7cYEAAAQBAJ
Publisher: Manchester University Press
Published: 2021-02-02T01:03:32+00:00

6

War and the end of empire, 1914–18

The first weeks of the war

On 28 July 1914, Emperor Franz Josef gave instructions to his Minister President, Graf von Stürgkh, to notify the ‘royal Serbian government’ that a state of war existed between ‘the monarchy and Serbia.’1 Next morning, the front pages of the Viennese newspapers were given over to a statement from the Emperor, appealing ‘to my peoples’ for unity in a war that was to be fought in the cause of exacting justice for the assassination of Franz Ferdinand. The declaration of war was a huge risk, in many ways, and the appeal for unity was telling. While the biggest risk seemed to be that Russia, the closest ally of Serbia, would likely retaliate with its own declaration of war against the Empire, testing its military strength, internal tensions and disunity were also potential threats to the Austrian war effort.

Disputes between some of the nationally inclined political parties of the Empire were still unresolved at the outbreak of war, and cooperation between, say, the Germans of the Empire and its Slavs might be difficult to achieve. Members of the largest political movement in Vienna, the Social Democrats, were ferociously republican in their outlook and nominally pacifist: it was therefore unclear whether they would work for the war effort at all. And Vienna had also seen food riots in recent years: it was unknown if these might return if the war caused shortages on the home front.

Against the expectations of many, the appeal that Franz Josef issued found some early resonance.2 Crowds gathered on the streets of cities to cheer the news, and a number of the previously bickering national interest groups rallied behind the dynasty. It is not known how far, if at all, censorship played a part in the reporting of events, but ‘patriotic gatherings’ at the Vienna Rathaus were covered without criticism by the Arbeiter-Zeitung, a newspaper that was usually sarcastic, at the very least, about such things.3 Czech-language newspapers in Prague and Brünn declared that, while they sympathised with pan-Slavic ideals, that is, the notion of the common interests of all Slavic peoples, the Serbian government was at fault, and Czechs should support the Empire in maintaining its integrity against threats from abroad.4 A peace that broke out between rival civilian political factions – the so-called Burgfriede, or citizens’ peace – allowed war credits to be approved in Parliament. Even the Social Democrats backed the war effort, although the enthusiasm of some Socialists was criticised by fellow party members.5

It was no surprise, however, that the Church in Vienna, one of the strongest supporters of the Habsburgs, dashed to give the Emperor its allegiance and to call on others to do the same. On the day that the declaration of war was issued, Cardinal Friedrich Gustav Piffl, archbishop of Vienna, issued a statement that the ‘much-loved Emperor’ had acted in self-defence, taking up his sword against neighbouring states that wished to tear land from the Empire for themselves. Piffl,

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