Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of figures
- List of tables
- List of contributors
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- 1 The economics of World War I: an overview
- 2 The pity of peace: Germany's economy at war, 1914–1918 and beyond
- 3 Austria-Hungary's economy in World War I
- 4 The Ottoman economy in World War I
- 5 Between the devil and the deep blue sea: the Dutch economy during World War I
- 6 Was the Great War a watershed? The economics of World War I in France
- 7 The United Kingdom during World War I: business as usual?
- 8 Poor Russia, poor show: mobilising a backward economy for war, 1914–1917
- 9 Italy at war, 1915–1918
- 10 Until it's over, over there: the US economy in World War I
- Index
- References
3 - Austria-Hungary's economy in World War I
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 23 July 2009
Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of figures
- List of tables
- List of contributors
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- 1 The economics of World War I: an overview
- 2 The pity of peace: Germany's economy at war, 1914–1918 and beyond
- 3 Austria-Hungary's economy in World War I
- 4 The Ottoman economy in World War I
- 5 Between the devil and the deep blue sea: the Dutch economy during World War I
- 6 Was the Great War a watershed? The economics of World War I in France
- 7 The United Kingdom during World War I: business as usual?
- 8 Poor Russia, poor show: mobilising a backward economy for war, 1914–1917
- 9 Italy at war, 1915–1918
- 10 Until it's over, over there: the US economy in World War I
- Index
- References
Summary
Introduction
When World War I had ended, more than 1 million of the 8 million men mobilised in the Austro-Hungarian armed forces had died in action or as prisoners of war. More than 1.8 million had been wounded, 3.5 million had become ill and hospitalised, while between 1.5 and 1.7 million soldiers of the Habsburg armies were taken prisoner (Gratz and Schüller, 1930: 161–4; Rothenberg, 1976: 218; Winkler, 1930: 23–4). The Monarchy's defeat after more than four years of fighting was followed by its dismemberment: confirmed in the Treaties of St Germain (1919) and Trianon (1920), the lands that for centuries had been in a multinational empire under Habsburg rule were divided into new nation states or ceded to neighbouring countries. Austria and Hungary were reduced to small rumps, while Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, and Poland emerged as independent states.
That was the horrendous price Austria-Hungary paid for her folly of going to war as a means of solving the Serbian crisis once and for all, even if that meant risking military conflict with Russia. While the Habsburg authorities may have gambled on a short military conflict that could be fought on the basis of material stocks, from an economic perspective the empire was ill prepared for the long, resource-intensive industrial war that was to start in August 1914. Some basic observations underline the point. Judged by its commitment to spending on armaments, Austria-Hungary was, perhaps ironically, the least militaristic of the six major European combatant nations.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Economics of World War I , pp. 77 - 111Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2005
References
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Hungary – Census, 1910: ‘Volkszählung in den Ländern der ungarischen heil. Krone im Jahre 1910. Zweiter Teil: Berufstätigkeit der Bevölkerung’. Kgl. Ung. Statistisches Zentralamt. Ungarische Statistische Mitteilungen, N. S., 48. Budapest, 1913.
Hungary – Magyar Statisztikai Évkönyv 1913–1916/18. Magyar Kir. Központi Statisztikai Hivatal. Budapest, no year.
(1920), Direct and Indirect Costs of the Great World War (2nd edition) Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
. (1968), ‘Agricultural Production and Output Per Worker in Hungary, 1870–1913’, Journal of Economic History 28(2): 197–222.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
(1915), ‘Das Volksvermögen Österreichs und Ungarns’, Bulletin de L'Institut International de Statistique 20, 2e Livraisons.Google Scholar
(2000), ‘How (Not) to Pay for the War. Traditional Finance and “Total War”’, In R. Chickering and S. Foerster (eds.), Great War, Total War. Combat and Mobilization on the Western Front, 1914–1918, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 409–34.Google Scholar
(1984), The Economic Rise of the Habsburg Empire, 1750–1914, Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.Google Scholar
and (1928), The Economic Policy of Austria-Hungary During the War, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
and (1930), Der wirtschaftliche Zusammenbruch Österreich-Ungarns. Die Tragödie der Erschöpfung, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Vienna: Hölder-Pichler-Tempsky.Google Scholar
and (1940), The Cost of the World War to Germany and Austria-Hungary, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
(1961), The Dissolution of the Habsburg Monarchy, Chicago: University of Chicago Phoenix Books.Google Scholar
Jindra, Z. (1996), ‘Der wirtschaftliche Zerfall Österreich-Ungarns’, in and (eds.), Österreich und die Tchechoslovakei 1918–1938, Vienna: Böhlau, pp. 17–50.Google Scholar
(1983), The Habsburg Monarchy as a Customs Union. Economic Development in Austria-Hungary in the Nineteenth Century, Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
(1926), Die Regelung der Volksernährung im Kriege, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Vienna: Hölder-Pichler-Tempsky.Google Scholar
(1977), Die Eisenbewirtschaftung im Ersten Weltkrieg. Die Planwirtschaft des k. u. k. Kriegsministeriums, Vienna: Verlag A. Schendl.Google Scholar
Mühlpeck, V., Sandgruber, R., and Woitke, H. (1979), ‘Index der Verbraucherpreise 1800–1914’, in Österreichisches Statistisches Zentralamt (eds.), Geschichte und Ergebnisse der amtlichen Statistik in Österreich, 1829–1979, Beiträge zur österreichischen Statistik, Heft 550, Vienna: Austrian Statistical Office, pp. 649–88.
(1925), Das Geldwesen im Kriege, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Vienna: Hölder-Pichler-Tempsky.Google Scholar
(1993), Der Tod des Doppeladlers: Österreich-Ungarn und der Erste Weltkrieg, Graz: Verlag Styria.Google Scholar
(1932), Die Industrie Österreichs während des Krieges, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Vienna: Hölder-Pichler-Tempsky.Google Scholar
(1996), Engineering and Economic Growth. The Development of Austria-Hungary's Machine-Building Industry in the Late 19th Century, Frankfurt a. M.: Peter Lang.Google Scholar
(2000), ‘Patterns of Growth and Stagnation in the Late Nineteenth Century Habsburg Economy’, European Review of Economic History 4: 311–40.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
(2001), The Decline and Fall of the Habsburg Empire, 1815–1918 (2nd edition), London: Longman.Google Scholar
(1996), Armaments and the Coming of War: Europe, 1904–1914. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
(1927), A Magyar Penzügyei A Háború Alatt, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Budapest: Franklin.Google Scholar
Wegs, R. J. (1977), ‘Transportation: The Achilles Heel of the Habsburg War Effort’, in , , and (eds.), The Habsburg Empire in World War I, New York: Columbia University Press, 121–34.Google Scholar
(1930), Die Einkommensverschiebungen in Österreich während des Weltkrieges, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Vienna: Hölder-Pichler-Tempsky.Google Scholar
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