OF THE HAPSBURG EMPIRE

“THE HUNT FOR TRAITORS AND THE FALL OF THE HAPSBURG EMPIRE.”

RAJAN D.

At a lecture hosted at Reading School, Mark Cornwall, a renowned historian gave us an interesting lecture on the Hunt for Traitors and the fall of the Hapsburg (Austro Hungary) Empire. I have attempted to do justice to Mr Cornwall’s inspiring lecture in my article.

No empire has had a higher execution rate for treason than the Habsburg Empire. You may have heard of Hell, it is the first part of Italian writer Dante Alighieri's 14th-century epic poem, Divine Comedy. It talks about Dante’s journey to hell, and how the further he went the worse the punishment became for more despicable crimes, of which treason stood paramount. In the early 20th century, the definition of treason was endangering the state of which you were a member, but today treason is betraying secrets to another country. It is interesting how much the meaning of treason has changed over time. One kind of traitor that the Habsburg Empire just loved to deal with were the Emigre traitors, the kind who left their own countries to fight against them.

A person like Tomas Masaryk. He was a Czechoslovak politician, statesman, sociologist, philosopher and sported a tremendous moustache. He decided he did not like the way the Hapsburg Empire, which encompassed Czechoslovakia, was ran. He wanted a federal state where

Czechs and Slovaks could be independent. When the First World War broke out in 1914, Masaryk concluded that the best course of action was to seek independence for Czechs and Slovaks from AustriaHungary. He went into exile in December 1914 with his daughter Olga, staying in several places in Western Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States and Japan. Masaryk began organising Czechs and Slovaks outside Austria-Hungary during his exile, establishing contacts which would be crucial to Czechoslovakia’s independence. After overthrowing the tsarist regime in 1917, the Russian form of an absolute monarchy (which is a bit like a dictatorship) Masaryk transferred his attention to Russia in order to organise the Czechoslovakian Legion, formed by Czechoslovakian war prisoners, and to develop contacts with the new government. After the Bolshevik Revolution, he set out for the United States, where he was welcomed by Czech and Slovak groups and where he negotiated the terms of Czechoslovak independence with President Woodrow Wilson and Secretary of State Robert Lansing. On the 3rd June 1918, Czechoslovakia was recognised as an Allied power, and its boundaries set according to Masaryk’s instruction. On November 14 1918, he was elected president of Czechoslovakia, and he was re-elected in 1920, 1927 and 1934. As a true “liberator” and “father of his country,” he was constantly occupied in settling the crises which resulted from the conflicts between the Czech and the Slovak parties. As a philosopher and democrat, Masaryk was among the first to voice his anxiety over central Europe’s fate after the Nazis came to power in Germany in 1933. He resigned his post in December 1935 and died nearly two years later. So, he was potentially one of the most significant people for the push for the fall of the Hapsburg Empire.

Another significant figure regarding treason was Cesare Battisti, born and raised in Tyrol, he fled Austria-Hungary when World War 1 broke out and went to Italy. Here he joined the Italian Alpini Corps, a special division. After the Battle of Asiago, he was

captured by the Austrian forces on 10th July 1916 and faced a court-martial in his hometown, Trento, at the Castello del Buonconsiglio, charged with high treason. Though Battisti officially enjoyed parliamentary immunity, he was sentenced to death by strangulation. He requested a military execution by firing squad so as to not dishonour the Italian Army uniform, but the judge denied his request and instead procured for him some shabby civilian clothes.

In addition to this, many political leaders who openly opposed the Empire ended up publicly executed. For example, Alois Rasin, a leader of the Czech revolutionary organisation, Omladina. Rasin was arrested and imprisoned for conspiring against the Austrian authorities after nationalistic riots in Prague 1893, and sentenced to death. Granted amnesty in 1895, he joined the Young Czech Party and then founded a new Radical-Progressive Party in 1899. Later, however, Rasin rejoined the Young Czechs and became a close associate of the party’s leader, Karel Kramer. Rasin was elected to the Austrian Reichsrat lower house of parliament in 1911; but, following the outbreak of World War I, he was arrested in July 1915 and was sentenced to death for treason in 1916. Given amnesty a year later, he was one of the home defence leaders who effected the bloodless revolution at Prague that established a national republican government. In January 1923 he was shot by a Communist revolutionary and subsequently died of his wounds.

In conclusion, it was a fascinating lecture in which I and many other scholars of history learned much about this subject.

If you wish to attend any other lectures, please contact Mr Sexton at sexton44@gmail.com for more details.