Soldiers, politics and society in Austria during the WWI

di Hermann Kuprian
in Memoria e Ricerca n.s. 28 (2008), p. 55

This article tackles the theme of the militarization of the Austro-Hungarian society during WWI and of the role played by the Common Army in managing society during the war. The war, looked forward to by many people as an opportunity to reinvigorate the declining imperial society and to fight the centrifugal nationalistic movements, gave the military a chance to act as the arbiters of the destiny of the Empire. However, the exceptional legislation and the possibility which the headquarters were offered to decide the fate of the Monarchy were unable to prevent the latter’s disintegration. On the contrary, the hardness of the war regime, the widespread poverty and hunger, and the inability of the military hierarchies to meet the needs of the population, accelerated the loss of loyalty of the various nationalities to the Crown and the unity of the Monarchy, even if the Common Army remained faithful and united all throughout.