One Empire or Two States? Dualism and States of Emergency in Austria-Hungary Before and During the First World War

Abstract

ABSTRACT Much has been written about Austria-Hungary under the state of emergency during the First World War. Historians have analysed many aspects of wartime government, among them the political, bureaucratic, and constitutional background since 1867. Emphasis has been placed on the legal regulations that underpinned the state of emergency and their wartime implementation, institutional responsibilities, and the different kinds of hardship emergency decrees imposed on the Habsburg Empire’s diverse population, including the targeting of particular nationalities and political ideologies. Much of this scholarly work, however, focuses solely on one or other of the two halves of the monarchy without looking at their differences and similarities. This article therefore analyses: To what extent did one of the main characteristics of Austria-Hungary as a state, namely its dualism, influence planning for and implementation of the wartime state of emergency? While in both halves of the Monarchy parliamentary legislation transferred authority to the government in the event of a state of emergency, in Austria there were fewer safeguards against the military’s abuse of power. The more significant limitations on the military’s authority in wartime Hungary and the greater powers reserved to its Parliament and judicial system were not sufficient in themselves to reduce the repressive nature of emergency rule or its negative impact on the lives of ordinary citizens.