Der Erste Weltkrieg

After the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo, it was clear that war would break out. Emperor Franz Joseph wanted it and in Vienna, the possibility of a big war was definitely taken into consideration. How the war was unleashed and only weeks later Austria-Hungary was not forced to give up just because it repeatedly received German troop aid has lost nothing of its drama to this day. Two months before his death, the Austrian Emperor renounced part of his sovereignty and agreed to a joint supreme war leadership under the leadership of the German Emperor. Franz Joseph's successor, Emperor Karl, was never able to undo this. Some of the Austro-Hungarian peoples also feared German dominance. Finally, not even the military successes of 1917 could prevent the collapse of the Habsburg Monarchy. The book is based on decades of research and remains captivating right to the last page, even though the end is known. But many connections only now become clear. Rauchensteiner sees the First World War as a turning point in history. Whether he was the primordial catastrophe of the 20th century, the reader must decide.