The minutes of the Cisleithanian Council of Ministers 8/2

The Cisleithanian Council of Ministers (18671918) was the central government body of Austria (as Cisleithania was officially known since 1915). A large portion of its minutes has been lost in the 1927 palace of justice fire. However, whatever could be preserved or restored is now being published as a scholarly edition together with a critical commentary and an instructive introduction, both online and in printed volumes. Volume VIII/2 covers the last two years of the First World War, from the death of Franz Joseph on November 21, 1916, to Karl`s resignation from all official duties on November 11, 1918. During this period, five governments alternated (Koerber, Clam-Martinic, Seidler, Hussarek, and Lammasch). Among the most important topics discussed in the Council of Ministers were: War financing: now in addition to the proliferation of paper money and war bonds with tax increases and new taxes that were intended to primarily affect the wealthy. Social hardship: the state`s difficulty in obtaining the money to finance the war, and the population`s difficulty to afford basic necessities. Economic exhaustion: collapse of economic production, traffic disruptions, hunger. The security situation: as discontent grew, uprisings and the largest wave of strikes in the history of the monarchy loomed; to prevent this, the government launched a new social policy and new institutions (some of them world firsts) and, on the other hand, an expansion of work obligations. The reopening of parliament: this made securing a majority in the Reichsrat the government`s central task. After peace with Russia, that became increasingly precarious because the traditional support of Polish MPs was not to be counted upon anymore. The national question in parliament: zigzag politics, from a compromise between German and Czech nationalists (Clam-Martinic) to a policy of appeasing the German nationalists (Seidler) to the federalization of Cisleithania (Hussarek), which directly led to the dissolution of the monarchy (administered by Lammasch). Dualism in its terminal phase: the management of relations between Austria and Hungary, especially economic relations, which should have been regulated in 1917 after a ten-year cycle. But only a temporary solution was reached. Shortly before the end of the monarchy, Hungary finally accomplished the fundamental decision to divide the joint army. Many of these topics of the First World War are explored in great depth for the first time in this edition of the minutes, including a secret protocol on the division of the army. 339 of the volume`s 1,339 agenda items can now be presented in their entirety or with minor gaps. The fact that this is possible despite some severe fire damage we owe to the preservation of 106 copies and 56 finance ministers presentations to the Council of Ministers that were discovered during research.