Austria-Hungary: an inland empire looks to the sea

Abstract

ABSTRACT. During the 19 th century Trieste grew to be a major seaport and outlet for much of the trade of central Europe. The Dual Monarchy's brief period as a serious naval power commenced in the 1890s with the building of a battleship fleet meant to fight in the Mediterranean with the Triple Alliance against a Franco-Russian alliance. The defection of Italy from the Triple Alliance in 1915 condemned the fleet to a defensive role, but it still commanded the Adriatic and tied down a greatly superior enemy fleet. RESUME. Durant le XIX e siecle, Trieste se developpa pour devenir l'un des ports et points de vente principaux du commerce d'Europe central. La breve periode pendant laquelle la double monarchie se constitua en puissance maritime majeure commenca dans les annees 1890, lors de la construction d'une flotte de guerre, destinee a combattre avec la Triplice en Mediterranee, l'alliance francorusse. Le desengagement de l'Italie en 1915 condamna la flotte a un role de defense mais celle-ci garda la maitrise de l'Adriatique et bloqua l'avancee d'une flotte ennemie largement superieure. In March 1918, a United States navy memorandum characterized the Adriatic Sea as “practically an Austrian lake, in which no Allied naval operations of importance are undertaken.”1 The assessment came just four weeks after the Austro-Hungarian navy suffered its worst mutiny of the First World War, foreshadowing the complete collapse of the Dual Monarchy's armed forces, and the empire itself, a mere eight months later. The domination of the Adriatic by Austria-Hungary, right up to the eve of the Armistice, remains one of the more remarkable, and overlooked, dimensions of the conflict of 1914–1918. Indeed, the Dual Monarchy hardly rated as a strong candidate to assert local naval power effectively, even during the long prewar period of peace. Compared to Europe's other five great powers at the turn of the century, only Russia was less urbanized, only Russia and Italy less industrialized, and none had a less extensive coastline. None, too, was so dominated by another great power, as Austria-Hungary depended on its German ally not just for support and protection in the military and diplomatic sense, but also for nearly half of its foreign trade.