The Czechoslovak Review/Volume 3/Vienna Court During the War

by Jan Hajšman

THE CZECHOSLOVAK REVIEW OFFICIAL ORGAN OF THE AMERICAN CZECHOSLOVAK BOARD
Jaroslav F. Smetanka, Editor Published Monthly by the Bohemian Review Co., 2324 S. Central Park Ave., Chicago, Ill.
Entered as second class matter April 30, 1917 at the Post Office of Chicago, Ill., under act of Congress of March 3, 1879.
Vol. III, No. 7.	JULY, 1919	15 cents a Copy $1.50 per Year

 

Vienna Court During the War

By Jan Hajšman.

The author is now director of the official Czechoslovak Press Bureau in Prague. During the war he was one of the so-called “Maffia” which directed Czech revolutionary activity at home and kept in touch with the Czechoslovak National Council abroad. His sketches of the chief figures in the Court of Vienna and the relations between the Austrian and German Kaisers throw much light upon a phase of the war to which little attention has been paid so far.

We had a most efficient weapon in our fight for independence and against the Hapsburg monarchy in detailed and exact reports concerning the internal situation at the Court of Vienna, about the ministers, about the sentiments of various persons of importance, about various currents of opinion in the highest places, about frequent personal changes, about the peculiarities and idiosyncrasies of leading men—in short we had reliable information about everything relating to the seats of the mighty. Our reports were frequent and timely, so that events mystifying to others were plain to us; and we were thus enabled to plan ahead and to keep our workers abroad well informed.

The reports we got came to us through various channels. They were so plentiful that we could check them against each other and thus get a very reliable and comprehensive view of the situation. As a matter of fact we were not once misled. Machar in his skizzes refers to one way we had of getting information; the Pilsen “Česká Demokracie” also mentioned something of our secret work. But all that is far from complete. We were favored by the fact that there were Czechs everywhere, and even among the servants of the Hapsburgs were men who would not deny their Czech descent. The German pressure was so severe and coarse that it excited opposition even in persons whose national consciousness had long ago been overlaid by a heavy lacquer of court traditions and life. Insignificant servants whose very existence was ignored by the proud noblemen rendered immense services to us, often without realizing it. And toward the end, when hunger was general, even Germans brought in items of interest, selling their stories for a loaf of bread or a small bag of flour; some of their news were of great importance.

All of these former court attendants are still living, most of them eating the bread of the new Austrian government. So I will not name them; for that matter they would not want me to. They did not render their services for the sake of glory, generally did not even know what use we made of the news they brought us and in which they seldom saw anything of value.

Part of this work was attended to by me. I made frequent trips to Vienna, and through a friend whose near relative was attached to the court in attendance on Emperor Charles, I received frequent reports of what was going on in Vienna. We put these reports together and constructed out of them a general view of the situation. In 1915 and 1916 the reports were rather scarce, but gradually we introduced system into our operations and our information was very extensive. We were even getting reports on Charles Hapsburg after the revolution.

In Prague Dr. Šámal and I managed things so that we had a say about official reports sent from Prague to Vienna. I was constantly in very close touch with Bienert, then chief of political police, now commissioner of police of Prague. He was a patriotic Czech and himself offered us his services, regardless of the doubtful outocme of the Czech campaign. Bienert told us on the one side what was going on at Prague police headquarters, and gave us frequent warnings and suggestions; on the other side we sent through him to Vienna, to the ministry of the interior and the emperor’s secretary, such reports as would serve Czech interests. Thus at one time the Hapsburg family council determined that Charles should visit Prague; of course tremendous preparations would be made to. line up every ignorant old woman and every man without backbone to yell hurrah and make the appearance of a genuine demonstration for the dynasty. The result would be that our people abroad would be faced with the claim that they misrepresented the feeling of the Czech people: “Look at Prague, with what enthusiasm the city received the emperor.” I arranged matters with Bienert so that the police headquarters in Prague sent to the emperor’s chancellery a very impressive report of murderous conspiracies, anti-dynastic movement posing as loyal to the dynasty etc. That was enough. The cowardly Hapsburg kept away from Prague. In that fashion we carried out other schemes, and sent out to our friends in the Allied states reports of conditions at court and in Bohemia of which they made excellent use. Our main effort has been all along to support the campaign of our workers abroad, or at least never to interfere with its success.

The first reports from the court made an extraordinary impression upon us; they struck us as sensational. These reports dealt with Francis Joseph and his daily life. We had been all brought up on school-books which praised the activity of the Anointed, his goodness of heart, his gigantic mental gifts, etc., and it really astonished us what our reports had to say about the idiotic, capricious, lewd old man that was our emperor. We received very vivid pictures of the life at the court—Marie Valerie, eternally avaricious and envious of everyone, even the servants; Frederick the Cruel, a stupid fellow completely under German influences; we saw Magyar and Polish noblemen kissing the hands of these monsters and begging for favors at the expense of the people, etc. The mean fussing of the old man with his chamberlains, his constant fears about the throne or the loss of a piece of territory, his relations to Germany, to other sovereigns, all that was as clear and lifelike, as on a film. And how totally different it was from all we had been taught about the illustrious imperial family. It reminds me of a story that circulated about Francis Joseph in the Alp provinces: He went hunting somewhere in Styria, and the game-keepers as usual prepared his spoils in advance. They tied a dead eagle to a fir tree, and a young man was stationed below the tree. When the exalted group approached, they pointed out an eagle to the old man in a slightly different direction, where in reality there was nothing at all. Franz lets the rifle go, the young man pulls the dead eagle down, and the entire entourage is full of admiration for the splendid shot and the big bird. Another glorious incident that will be immortalized in schoolbooks to teach the young Hapsburg subjects to venerate their God-given rulers. A game-keeper picks up the bird and spreads out his wings before his Majesty; what an enormous specimen. His Majesty looks foolishly at the eagle and asks a chamberlain, what it is. But when he is told that he shot a magnificent eagle, the all-highest mumbles over his thick, shaggy lips: “Sie werden mir doch nich einreden wollen, dass das ein Aar ist.” (You don’t mean to tell me that this is an eagle). “As if I did not know that the Austrian eagle has two heads.” Whether the story be true or not, it seemed to fit the man who was described to us in secret reports by persons who stood closest to him in daily life.

The picture changed, when Charles ascended the throne. Not that the young man was wiser or more humane or more just. No, he was a true Hapsburg, brought up on feudal and medieval ideas, and completely under the thumb of Wilhelm. But he was stupid in a different way than Franz Josef, had other lusts, and that meant a complete overturn at the court. Like the old one, he ran after women, but he was in a more difficult position, because his wife Zitta was energetic and watched him like a hawk. Francis Joseph had been taught to rise early, to eat moderately, to be a human machine; Karl was too young for that, and besides he had received a more modern education. His exploits at the army headquarters with women and heavy drinking were notorious; it was fairly widely know that the Germans took him to their headquarters, whenever they thought it necessary to get him out of Zitta’s claws and out of the atmosphere of separate peace negotiations. The allhighest adventures of Karl with automobile in Soč and elsewhere have already been told, but one could relate entire scandalous chronicles about his doings. We have a wealth of material on this period, but I shall only describe briefly the general sentiment and atmosphere of the imperial court.

Karl maintained no relations with his kinsmen on the side of his great-uncle, Francis Joseph; he used to say that they had caused the trouble and now he had to bear the consequences. He would not read their letters, and sometimes he returned them unopened. But he was afraid of Archduke Frederick and Archduchess Marie Valerie. When the Hapsburg family council met once in a long while, it used to be very stormy and full of recriminations.

The ministers decided nothing; they were Karl’s playthings. They submitted reports to which none paid any attention. The government was a matter of willfulness ,caprice and accident. Only those ministers had any influence who were connected by some sort of a personal tie with the young emperor, especially those who had goodlooking daughters. Premier Seidler managed to maintain himself in office, because he had not only a pretty daughter, but a pretty wife. Whenever this genius started to make an extensive oral report embellished with much learning, His Majesty would glance around from object to object, from wall to wall, and when Seidler kept on talking, Karl would interrupt by asking: “How is the young lady today?” or “Give my compliments to the ladies.”

Charles was known in Vienna as Karl der Plotzliche, Charles the Sudden, because he not only was in the habit of constantly changing his decisions, but he also liked to surprise his ministers in their offices or call them up over the telephone, in order to give them the craziest orders and instructions. He did the same thing about appearing suddenly in the great headquarters.

Like all the Hapsburgs he hated the Jews, but like his predecessors he feared them and placed himself under obligations to

Courtesy of “The Americas.”

A General View of Prague.

Courtesy of “The Americas.”

One of Prague Many Beautiful Bridges.

them. He was angry, because his empire was so much in Jewish hands, but his own actions contributed toward it.

When giving audiences, Karl was shaking like a man mentally affected and appeared always greatly excited. Only when there were women present at the audience, he made a better appearance. He liked to give the impression of cordidality by slapping everyone on the shoulder and asking them silly questions. Of course the faithful subjects treasured every word addressed to them as a great distinction.

Like all the Hapsburgs he was proud of his military career and made his first-born son a colonel. A joke based on this ridiculous appointment was very popular in Prague for a time, running something like this: “Did you hear the latest scandal about the Court?” “Why, what is it this time?” “Karel Novák (the nickname given to the emperor by his Czech subjects) came home from the front and found a colonel in his wife’s bed.” “Is that possible! And who is the man?” “The little heir to the throne.”

The empress Zitta, venerated by old women of both sexes, while she was on the throne, had far more energy, perseverance and strength than her all-highest husband. Most of her subjects knew only that she had a baby nearly every year, but the rest of her character was a secret. The motherly instinct was the leading motive with her. She realized that the war endangered her own future and the future of her children, and so from the very beginning she sought consistently a way out. Not that she cared about the loss of human lives, but she feared that the war might turn out badly for her and hers. She surrounded herself and her husband with advisers who carried out her general policies. She wanted peace and she sought it from the pope, from her brothers, from reactionary cliques all the world over. She did succeed in creating a friendly feeling for the Hapsburgs in influential Allied circles. Often her schemes miscarried, and Zitta despaired and wept, especially when Kaiser Wilhelm snatched her husband from her and carried him to the German headquarters, or when the tendency to fight it out to the end gained the upper hand. Charles, who was much weaker, gave way to her generally, but he could not always resist German intrigues or invitations to visit the general headquarters, where there were drinking bouts and orgies with women. Zitta cried, begged her husband to stay in Vienna and try to save the empire for the children by negotiations; but whether he gave in or ran away on a spree, she never weakened, and never gave up.

Zitta naturally found her principal advisers among the clericals. She selected her councillors with discernment and valued their counsel. For a long time she would not deal with the Magyars, with the exception of Count Zichy; she had no use for Karolyi who, however, gained access to Charles. But toward the end even Karolyi had to be consulted, for the Magyars foreseeing the bad outcome came around to her way of thinking and she became friendly with them. The Poles, that is to say Polish noblemen, were always in high favor.

As to the Czechs, Zitta knew little of them and was inclined to ignore them, because they had no national nobility and thus no access to her. She could not appreciate the strength of the people, and when she did realize how the Czech campaign for independence was undermining the very foundations of the Hapsburg empire, it was too late to conciliate them. The Bohemian nobility was not in favor at court, when Zitta was empress, partly because they had been friends of the late Francis Ferdinand, partly because they had no people back of them. Zitta realized that clearly.

It is well known that Zitta was on very bad terms with Emperor William and that she fought steadily against German military influences in Vienna. She had many tiffs with William, at first polite, later quite violent. Thus early in November 1917 William was in Vienna, accompanied by Hindenburg, to agree with Charles and the Austrian staff on future campaigns. Zitta of course was present. William expatiated on the German plans, emphasizing especially the downfall of Russia and bragging about an overwhelming attack on the western front in the spring. He had great faith in the work of the bolsheviks and wanted to spend sixty million rubles on them; Austria was to give a half. Charles had nothing to say, Zitta spoke for him. She

Courtesy of “The Americas.”

An old Thoroughfare of Prague now called “Boulevard Wilson”.

Courtesy of “The Americas.”

Old and new Bohemia: Vyšehrad Church Above, Railway Tunnel Below.

underestimated mated the bolsheviks, claimed that they did not represent the Russian people and that sooner or later the Russians would get rid of them; no use spending money on them. Why does not the Kaiser make a deal with England instead of with the Bolsheviks; that would mean something. William tried to dismiss her arguments with a joke, but she gave him a sharp answer and stormed out of the meeting with the parting shot that no good could come out of such conferences. Zitta blamed William for dragging her husband into the great headquarters, where he was made drunk; when she started on this subject, she wound up by weeping and pitying herself. Always she tried to prevent Charles from leaving for the front, and there were many violent scenes between them.

The influence of Zitta was so all-pervading that had not the empire gone too far along the road of dissolution, she might have kept it together. She and her friends worked with much energy, but it was too late. The mood at court changed continually according to events; one day desperate weeping, next day rejoicing and new efforts for peace that never seemed to get anywhere. Toward the end poor Zitta foresaw the coming catastrophe and fought to save her man, giving up all hope of the empire.

She was a woman with incipient consumption, poor health, worn out by her babies and her incessant worries. We Czechs had to fight her, because she wanted to re-establish medieval principles. We contributed most to the defeat of her plans, but we give her credit for being a decent woman.

The big favorites at the Court of Vienna were of course members of the nobility; it was really lucky that an ordinary mortal was not deemed worthy or qualified to advise monarchs who ruled by divine grace. Our reports mentioned as persons who were most consulted Prince Pokovic, Count Sylva-Taroucca, Count Zichy, Prince Hohenlohe, later Count Karolyi; the only commoners occasionally honored by invitation to court were professors Redlich and Lammasch, and various priests. Some of these special councillors were invited to intimate family conferences. No attention was paid to cabinet meetings or to the ministers, the parliament or the people, and the only interest considered was the interest of the dynasty and the court circle. Each member of the court circle again worked for himself and just as likely as not, against the others.

The empire was so desperately sick that the most radical counsels could do no good, and all the conferences and activities of the high-born counsellors were like spitting into the sea. Sometimes there were stormy scenes between the Germans and the Magyars, and mediation was necessary. The best laid plans for saving the monarchy were spoiled by Austrian Germans who would make no concessions and who in the end always carried their wishes. Schemes, plans, changes were announced with much blowing of horns, their authors received high decorations, and nothing came of it all. What William and the Austrian Germans wanted was always done in the end.

Zichy, Karolyi and Hohenlohe maintained some sort of relations with Allied statesmen, and through Zitta’s brothers communication was kept up with the pope. The most faithful and highly esteemed adviser both of the emperor and the empress was Count Berchtold, a man of less than average ability, whose influence was boundless and who was a devoted servant of the Hapsburgs. Most of these aristocrats are still with the former emperor and spin plans for bringing back the dynasty and re-establishing their privileged position. they have not yet grasped the fact that there exists such a force as democracy.

Charles was greatly depressed ever since the Russian revolution. He could not get out of his mind the fate of Nicholas and shivered with fear, whenever something reminded him of it. And so the evolution of the revolution in Russia was followed with great anxiety, and serious attention was paid to the growing famine at home, for it

Courtesy of “The Americas.”

Karlštýn Castle, Dating from the Time of Charles IV.

Courtesy of “The Americas.”

Typical Old Dwelling, Built in 1573. Courtesy of “The Americas.”

The Famous Astronomical Clock on the Prague Town Hall.was rightly felt that there lay the greatest danger; if the people get to be too hungry, they will rise and slaughter the imperial family. Attempts were made to increase the food ration, but the demands of Germany and the incapacity of the bureaucratic system prevented any real betterment. Later on an atmosphere of hopelessness enveloped the court, a sort of fatalism that only Zitta’s energy disturbed. Charles found consolation in drunkenness and gallantry, but at home he used to cry. He was so helpless, hopeless and desperate that he sought relief in confiding with his servants; he told them about his worries, his children, about Valerie and Frederick, and listened to their family affairs, their stories of the front, their judgment of the popular sentiment, etc.

Very peculiar was the relation of Vienna to Berlin. Charles ascended the throne as William’s vassal; William gave orders not only to the sultan, to Ferdinand of Bulgaria and to the bolsheviks, but above all to Charles who ruled over fifty million people, mostly Slavs. Now Charles incited by Zitta disliked intensely his position, but he could not help himself; in the end whatever the German general staff determined had to be done. Charles used to say of William that his schemes were fantastic, that his head was always full of plans that were never carried out. He mistrusted William’s military projects, but was not strong enough to make his opposition good. The German clique in Vienna was very powerful; many high officials were in German services, particularly Czernin. Zitta was hostile to Czernin who maintained himself in office only through the influence of Berlin. Berchtold who was the favorite at court could not be appointed to office by reason of German opposition. The Magyars almost up to the end played into the hands of the Prussians whom they admired immensely; but they switched around suddenly, when they saw that Germany was licked. Berlin usually simply dictated how many men Austria would have to furnish for any campaign, and even interfered in internal affairs of the dual monarchy. Zitta’s plans for peace at any price were over and over again crossed by Berlin; when Zitta persisted, Berlin at least enforced delay. All that created a peculiar, musty atmosphere Courtesy of “The Americas.”

Veneian-like Canals in Old Prague. Courtesy of “The Americas.”

“Powder Gate”, Prague.at the Hapsburg court; it seemed the fulfilment of a statement that Francis Joseph made after the disastrous war of 1866. When an Austrian statesman advised the emperor to turn his back on the Germans and become ruler of the smaller Slav nations, Francis Joseph said: “I would rather be the porter in the Hohenzollern palace.”

William and his big men, Hindenburg and Ludendorf, were frequent visitors to Vienna. Now and then the papers were allowed to mention it, but usually nobody knew of their visits. Their conferences were far from harmonious, for Charles under the influence of Zitta tried to break William’s hold. Sometimes their discussions resembled the debates of Russian muzhiks as to how to pull out a wagon stuck in mud; the fact that William and Charles were emperors by divine grace did not make their conferences different from recriminations of two partners whose business is in a bad way. In September 1917 William talked to Charles about far-reaching, deeply-laid military plans, but Charles would not respond. He was afraid to furnish men, he did not have the necessary supplies, and the harvest did not suffice for his own subjects, to say nothing of feeding the fat Prussians. Charles feared greatly a repetition of hunger outbreaks that scared him so much during the past summer. When he remained passive in face of William’s optimistic explanations, William became nettled and made contemptuous remarks about the military capacity of his young brother. Charles flared up and refused to discuss the plans any further. The German emperor departed full of complaints and making no secret of his anger with Charles. In the end he had his way by manipulating Austrian officials.

When Hindenburg planned his offensive against the Russians at Tarnopol in 1917, Charles was advised beforehand and was invited to witness the German triumph. The offensive was successful, and yet Charles came back dejected, for the offensive was stopped far sooner than was on the program; the German steam-roller would not work even against disrupted Russia.—Charles stormed around the palace declaring that he would drop everything, and Zitta had to comfort him and interest him in new plans. On that occasion he cried aloud and swore that he would throw over William and his generals.

Courtesy of “The Americas.”

The Colonnade at Carlsbad.

After that William came less often; instead he sent his generals and worked through Czernin. Charles enjoyed himself immensely, whenever some German intrigue in the world was uncovered and Germany made ridiculous. He called the Stockholm socialist conference a fizzle; he had no confidence from the first in the outcome of Brest-Litovsk negotiations and referred to all such German schemes as comedies.

When Vienna realized that Berlin maintained close espionage over, happenings in the dual monarchy and the court, Charles decided to imitate the example. He sent confidential men to Germany; Count Hoyos served him in this capacity several times. When he got reports contradicting German official claims, Charles scoffed: “See, how they lie. They are fine allies; they did not want me to know this. We would not do that; we tell them just what the situation is.”

Finally Charles and Zitta had no more faith in the grandiloquent German schemes—bragging about the mighty offensive in the West left them cool and they were sceptical even about the early successes. When the offensive was turned into defeat, they said that William underestimated the Americans.

William was so domineering that he gave Charles instructions where to go and how to travel. When Charles went to Sophia in 1918, he sent him word that Zitta must stay at home, but Zitta to the surprise and consternation of official Berlin went with her husband.

Next to the Germans of Germany and Austria Magyars and Poles had thte main say in Vienna. There were many Poles at court and in all the high places. They influenced many decisions and were very popular with the Hapsburgs, because they were a nation with an aristocracy. The Poles never failed Austria; now and then they talked radically, but when the emperor called them in, said a few silly flatteries, promised some concessions, they were again at his service. The court counted absolutely on the Poles, and it was never disappointed. All attempts to create a common Slav front against the Germans were wrecked by Polish aristocracy.

The Magyars were more energetic and brutal in using their influence at court. They held many of the highest places, they adhered to whoever had the real power and they went remorselessly after anything they desired. It was due to them principally that the plans of the dynasty for the conciliation of the Czechs resulted in failure. Even when the war was plainly lost, they refused to consider for a moment autonomy for the Slovaks. And they were thoroughly selfish; when the emperor on several occasions appealed to Magyar magnates and pointed to the favors they had received from the dynasty, they would make no concessions for the sake of the reigning family.

The Czechoslovak question was passed over by the court as insignificant, until our campaign abroad was fully developed and the Entente gained over for us. Up to that time the big people at court were content to have the Czechs looked after by military judges, policemen, spies and such like. Nobody took us seriously; there were to be sure wholesale desertions, and several regiments had to be disbanded, but there was no open rebellion in Bohemia and no one at court saw any reason to be worried about the Czechs. Too late the ruling circles realized that the Bohemian nobility and minister Trnka did not represent the nation, that the masses of the Czech people were firmly lined up in support of the policy of the leaders in Entente countries. Attempts were made to break up Czech ranks by concessions; but as soon as the word was mentioned, Germans and Magyars made an outcry; why, they had fought for Austria and the emperor, while the Czechs were traitors; no concessions to traitors at the expense of patriots. Charles himself was rather sensible about it; he did not blame the Czechs for accepting what the Entente offered them, but against united German-Magyar opposition he was powerless.

William, who got his information from the German foreign office and Germans in Bohemia did not consider the Czech question of much importance. He made no objection to an offer of concessions, but he assured Charles that when Germany defeated Italy and revolution broke out in Lombardy, the Czechs would crawl back to obedience like whipped dogs. But he emphatically opposed granting of self-government to the Czechs, because that would make trouble for him at home.

The court would have liked to conciliate us and its plans very likely would have won over some sheep amongst us. But the Germans and Magyars made any real negotiation with us impossible. Toward the end the sentiment at court was far more hostile toward us; we were blamed both for military defeats ad for the failure of Austrian peace offers. But even then the emperor would have been glad to secure our submission by concessions.

The last reports I received before the overthrow were brief: October 6, 1918: “Negotiations between our man and V. (William) proceed by means of visits and letters. Our man is determined to end it at any cost or abdicate. He is angry, because V. did not keep his promise about accepting all the fourteen points of W. (Wilson). V. could not put it through at home.” October 26, 1918. “Our man wishes to go with his whole family to his country place where he thinks he is best liked. He believes that the war must be ended by Christmas, and something may end it sooner. . . . There is food stored in the castle up to Christmas. . . . The other members are also going away . . . everyone in great fear. . . .”

 

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