What was hungarys role in ww1

Chrysanthemum-waving crowds poured into the streets shouting their approval. Karolyi formed a new cabinet, whose members were drawn from the new National Council, composed of representatives of the Party of Independence, the Social Democratic Party, and a group of bourgeoisie radicals. After suing for a separate peace, the new government dissolved the parliament, pronounced Hungary an independent republic with Karolyi as provisional president, and proclaimed universal suffrage and freedom of the press and assembly.

The government launched preparations for land reform and promised elections, but neither goal was carried out. On November 13, , Karl IV surrendered his powers as king of Hungary; however, he did not abdicate, a technicality that made a return to the throne possible. The Karolyi government's measures failed to stem popular discontent, especially when the Entente powers began distributing slices of Hungary's traditional territory to Romania, Yugoslavia, and Czechoslovakia.

The new government and its supporters had pinned their hopes for maintaining Hungary's territorial integrity on abandoning Austria and Germany, securing a separate peace, and exploiting Karolyi's close connections in France. The Entente, however, chose to consider Hungary a partner in the defeated Dual Monarchy and dashed the Hungarians' hopes with the delivery of each new diplomatic note demanding surrender of more land. On March 19, , the French head of the Entente mission in Budapest handed Karolyi a note delineating final postwar boundaries, which were unacceptable to all Hungarians.

Since , its main opponents had been nationalist groups from within and outside the empire. This was also true for the occupied territories, which were ethnically and nationally mixed. Starting in May , the Central Powers experienced their first decisive turning point on the Eastern Front with the successful Gorlice-Tarnow offensive. Initially, the German and the Austro-Hungarian occupation zones were completely distinct economically, which led to considerable difficulties.

Gradually, the strict separation was relaxed through bilateral agreements and decrees. Because of their central position and their desire for a resolution to the Polish question, which had grown increasingly vehement in the second half of the 19 th century as a result of the Polish nationalist movement, Berlin and Vienna focused their efforts at first on reorganizing the region.

This concept foresaw the reappearance of Poland as a kingdom under the Habsburg Crown. But, the details were unclear and the idea remained a controversial topic even in Lemberg, Vienna and Budapest.

There were even strategic deliberations on whether to cede it to Austria-Hungary. This initiative did make it clear whether the German Empire had taken charge of the Polish question. Over the intervening years, a Polish civil administration was set up alongside that of the occupying forces. In December , the Provisional State Council was founded, and from 12 September , the Regency Council, consisting of three men, formed the provisional Head of State with the new constitution.

Civil authorities remained under the guardianship of the occupiers, as well as being under permanent pressure from the Polish independence movement. From the summer of onwards, the most important aim of the occupying administration was the economic exploitation of the territory. Throughout the years open resistance and military violence between occupiers and occupied were the order of the day. But we do not see further escalations or collective punishments.

It was the declared aim of the Austro-Hungarian planning in the event of war to overrun the Kingdom of Serbia as quickly as possible and integrate the territory into its own realm. However, for almost a year all attempts by the Habsburg forces to conquer Serbia remained unsuccessful. It was not until Bulgaria entered the war that it was possible to carry out a successful military offensive that ultimately led to defeating the small kingdom by December of Bulgaria was given the eastern and southern territories.

The military administration attempted to keep the peace by enforcing the military penal law and martial law.

Cooperation with Serbian representatives only took place at the local level. Meanwhile, the Serbian government spent its time in exile together with what was left of its army. The main job of the occupying troops was to gather food and other supplies. However, Serbia was in ruins: One and a half years of fierce battles, requisitions and the almost complete mobilization of the population had left the country exsanguinated.

The occupation authorities found it necessary to invest and modernize. It was only from the fall of that the situation began to improve. By the middle of , the export of cattle totaled ,, that of lamb , and that of pigs 50, It was no more than a system of forced labour , with which the military administration had 14, to 20, workers at their disposal. While in the first months of starvation was rampant in Serbia, the army leadership remained unyielding: Serbia had to be punished for its long resistance.

In the end, they gave in. They shipped their own food items and allowed international shipments of relief. However, the mutual distrust remained. Quickly the whole occupation territory was under attack. Austria-Hungary responded with brute force: their troops burned entire villages to the ground, persons were shot dead either under martial law or as hostages. Around 20, people died during the uprising, mainly Serbian civilians.

Following this, the Habsburg troops changed their procedure: The population at large was no longer regarded as an outright threat, but the Komitadjis were all the more so. After the fall of Serbia at the end of , the troops of the Central Powers marched farther to the west. Montenegro was quickly overtaken. What was left of the government in Montenegro began the negotiations with the enemy. The Royal and Imperial troops established a military governorate based in Cetinje at the beginning of March The first commander was Rudolf Braun , who was succeeded one month later by Viktor Weber von Webenau Montenegro had no surplus production of food or any special natural resources to fall back on even in times of peace.

The military authorities had to bring in supplies of food from different parts of the monarchy. The people were also instructed to plant gardens to grow vegetables. With Kotor under their control, the Royal and Imperial navy made sure that the Entente forces did not succeed in expanding the Otranto Barrage. In addition, Vienna wanted to be in a position after the war to keep Serbia and Italy away from the east coast of the Adriatic Sea.

Austria-Hungary viewed Albania as a strategically important country to rule over the west Balkans. Wied had resigned from his post on 3 September Italian, Serb and Montenegrin troops temporarily controlled Albanian territory. Thus, in January it was easy for the Austro-Hungarian troops to seize northern and central Albania. The Entente troops, comprised mainly of Italian and French forces, set up base in the south.

Officially, Albania was not occupied enemy territory, since no military governorate was established there. The administration of the country, strongly based on local tribal structures, remained intact. In the formal sense, the Albanian territory was the base of the XIX. In Vienna, meanwhile, until shortly before the end of the war the idea was not to let Albania come under control of Count Wied, but instead to possibly transform the country into a protectorate of the Habsburg Monarchy.

Just as in Montenegro, it was necessary to import food to Albania. The troops stationed in the country could only come up with about half the meat and wood they needed. The strategic importance that Austria-Hungary attached to Albania did not change during the course of the war. On July 28, , after a decision reached conclusively the day before in response to pressure from Germany for quick action—apart from Kaiser Wilhelm II , who by some accounts still saw the possibility of a peaceful diplomatic resolution to the conflict, but was outmaneuvered by the more hawkish military and governmental leadership of Germany—Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia.

In response, Russia formally ordered mobilization in the four military districts facing Galicia, its common front with the Austro-Hungarian Empire. That night, Austrian artillery divisions initiated a brief, ineffectual bombardment of Belgrade across the Danube River. He was proven right over the next several days. On August 1, after its demands for Russia to halt mobilization met with defiance, Germany declared war on Russia. Thus, in the summer of , the major powers in the Western world—with the exception of the United States and Italy, both of which declared their neutrality, at least for the time being—flung themselves headlong into the First World War.

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