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
- 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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