Original scientific paper
The Austro-Hungarian Command of the Southwestern Front and Questions concerning the Political Mood in Croatia during the First World War
Gregor Antoličič
; Milko Kos Historical Institute at the Research Centre of Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts
Abstract
The outbreak of the First World War Apart presented Austria-Hungary not only with military questions but also with major political issues. The very existence of the state now crucially rested on the attitude of civilian population, with any possible unrest in the rear threatening the stability of the entire country. In this regard, the onset of the war ushered in the period of the so-called “war absolutism”, with which the state boosted its surveillance of what it considered “dangerous” individuals and groups. The state surveillance apparatus incorporated numerous state and provincial bodies, including military structures. This article aims to analyze a special study that the Austro-Hungarian Command of the Southwestern Front issued in 1916, with a particular focus on analyzing the political attitude among the Italian and Croatian population of Istria, and the activities of the Southern Slav Committee. The said command also prepared similar studies evaluating the disposition of the Slovenian and Italian inhabitants of Southern Tyrol. The study of the developments in Istria is titled Staatsfeindliche Bewegungen in Fiume und Kroatien sowie auf den Inseln im Quarnero (Anti-State Movements in Rijeka, Croatia, and the Kvarner Islands). In the first part, the Austro-Hungarian Command of the Southwestern Front analyzed local irredentism and provided a detailed description of organizations and individuals at the heart of the movement. Surveillance of irredentist cells grew in its importance especially after the Kingdom of Italy declared war on Austria-Hungary in May 1915. The empire and its army began to perceive irredentism as a serious threat, deeming that organized resistance, diversion operations, and political disobedience in the rear might aggravate the military situation on the front.
The second part of the study, more interesting from the Croatian point of view, centers on activities of the Southern Slav Committee and the Southern Slav movement on Krk Island. Regarding the latter, it is especially noteworthy that the Austro-Hungarian Command of the Southwestern Front declared Anton Mahnič, Bishop of Krk, as its central figure. Although most views presented are based on the analysis of various newspaper articles and individual reports, the booklet offers an interesting insight into the dimensions of state surveillance both at home and abroad. More specifically, an association of the Southern Slav emigration, the Southern Slav Committee was regarded by the Austro-Hungarian Command of the Southwestern Front and the state leadership as a dangerous organization embodying, through its desire to unify the Austro-Hungarian Southern Slavs with the Kingdom of Serbia, a destabilizing force undermining the Habsburg unity. Accordingly, the study focused more closely on the prominent members of the Southern Slav Committee, such as its president Ante Trumbić, as well as Franjo Supilo, and Bogumil Vošnjak. Although the study clearly established that many data contained therein were of questionable credibility, its authors nevertheless maintained that this did not diminish its significance or the significance of the views regarding all “dangerous” individuals and associations within and beyond the state borders.
The study presented in the article offers an extremely interesting insight into the dimensions of the Austro-Hungarian state and military surveillance during the First World War. Such examples not only further substantiate the existing knowledge about “war absolutism” but above all testify to the diligence with which the state addressed the threat of war by exerting surveillance of all “dangerous” structures. In the event of an unrest, the state and the army could use detailed inventories, many also listing names, to persecute and imprison individuals and associations. Moreover, in light of the events that unfolded towards the end of the First World War, both in relation to the Southern Slav integrations and Italian territorial aspirations in Istria and the Bay of Kvarner, it is safe to conclude that the study conducted by the Austro-Hungarian Command of the Southwestern Front accurately evaluated individual “dangerous” cells, which in late October and early November 1918 played a notable role in the destruction of the Habsburg state and the creation of new political entities.
Keywords
First World War; Command of the Southwestern Front; political control; irredentism; Southern Slav agitation; Southern Slav Committee
Hrčak ID:
263862
URI
Publication date:
9.9.2021.
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