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There was a war. Austria received help from the German Empire. Finally, however, German troops marched in, ending the existence of old Austria. It was a utopian novel and a vision with a very real factual basis. In some respects, it anticipated what was to come over the next thirty years. 68 The vision of the last battle of the Monarchy was ever-present, and particularly in political circles, debate now centred solely on whether Austria-Hungary was capable of fighting this battle at all, or whether it would disintegrate piece by piece without a fight.

The greatest risk, if a new Balkan League were to be formed, was that it would turn against Austria-Hungary with the help of Russian support and French funding. If Russia or Serbia were also to find supporters among the peoples of Austria-Hungary, a mood of crisis would inevitably follow. Indeed, this is precisely what did happen – and this was also by no means a new phenomenon. 49 However, an approach that was intended to be both a statement and a programme, and also a guaranteed right, was unable to prevent the peoples in the Empire from drifting apart.

72 A state of near 40 On the Eve ungovernability had arisen in the Austrian half of the Empire, which appeared to be very different to that of its Hungarian counterpart. It was no wonder that once again, calls were made for the military to intervene, and in this regard, the newspapers in particular also played their part. Politics were conducted with the help of the press. Parties and individuals had ‘their’ organs and used them as a mouthpiece. 73 However, the newspapers are not only worth mentioning because they were in effect the only continuous source of information and were the only medium as such.