Ferdinand: The Last Emperor
"...increasing inability to maintain the rule of decree; Ferdinand angrily urged von Sturgkh to revoke his plans to hold elections in June of 1918 after the Second Congo Crisis erupted, fearing that Austria may have to mobilize to fight Germany on short notice; when the "War in Sight" Crisis passed without shots fired, Ferdinand nonetheless had elections in Cisleithnia postponed again, this time indefinitely, past September all the way into January of the following year.
Part of the reason was the increasingly sophisticated organization of groups such as the Young Czechs, led by Karel Kramar, or the even more radical Czech Progressives, under the leadership of the aging Tomas Masaryk and his young protege, Edvard Benes. Ferdinand was entirely convinced that if he allowed voters in Bohemia to head to the polls, they - along with Slovenes in Carniola - would vote in decisively nationalist and increasingly neo-Slavist parties. In theory, this was not something he was opposed to - a "third crown" had been an idea bandied about for years as a way to reduce Magyar power and make the Slavs the third leg of a "Triple Monarchy" - but the deteriorating political situation in Hungary, especially after the near-death of Karolyi in Zurich, made the pursuit of greater Slavic nationalism within the Habsburg Empire an impossibility.
This was met with fierce anger in Prague and other cities of Cisleithnia, where it was becoming increasingly clear that the Empire envisioned by Ferdinand was not the semi-pluralist if conservative polity of Franz Josef but rather a centralized entity with all power flowing increasingly from the Hofburg and a small coterie of advisors and, perhaps, sycophants. A crisis loomed, either internally or internationally, and the arrival of Prince Stephane Clement of Belgium to Vienna and his numerous ideas for how to pursue an aggressive, maximalist foreign policy seemed suddenly increasingly attractive to a beleaguered Ferdinand who saw a unifying war as a potential solution to his crisis of disunity..."
- Ferdinand: The Last Emperor
Part of the reason was the increasingly sophisticated organization of groups such as the Young Czechs, led by Karel Kramar, or the even more radical Czech Progressives, under the leadership of the aging Tomas Masaryk and his young protege, Edvard Benes. Ferdinand was entirely convinced that if he allowed voters in Bohemia to head to the polls, they - along with Slovenes in Carniola - would vote in decisively nationalist and increasingly neo-Slavist parties. In theory, this was not something he was opposed to - a "third crown" had been an idea bandied about for years as a way to reduce Magyar power and make the Slavs the third leg of a "Triple Monarchy" - but the deteriorating political situation in Hungary, especially after the near-death of Karolyi in Zurich, made the pursuit of greater Slavic nationalism within the Habsburg Empire an impossibility.
This was met with fierce anger in Prague and other cities of Cisleithnia, where it was becoming increasingly clear that the Empire envisioned by Ferdinand was not the semi-pluralist if conservative polity of Franz Josef but rather a centralized entity with all power flowing increasingly from the Hofburg and a small coterie of advisors and, perhaps, sycophants. A crisis loomed, either internally or internationally, and the arrival of Prince Stephane Clement of Belgium to Vienna and his numerous ideas for how to pursue an aggressive, maximalist foreign policy seemed suddenly increasingly attractive to a beleaguered Ferdinand who saw a unifying war as a potential solution to his crisis of disunity..."
- Ferdinand: The Last Emperor
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