‘Filled with an unalterable love for all my peoples I do not wish to make my person a hindrance to their free development. I accept in advance the decision that is taken by German-Austria concerning its future form of state. The people has taken charge of government through its representatives. I relinquish every participation in the affairs of state. At the same time I release the Government of Austria from its office.’
Quoted from Bihl, Wolfdieter: Der Erste Weltkrieg 1914–1918. Chronik – Daten – Fakten, Wien/Köln/Weimar 2010. p. 237
Brook-Shepherd, Gordon: Um Krone und Reich. Die Tragödie des letzten Habsburgerkaisers, Wien 1968
Broucek, Peter: Karl I. (IV.). Der politische Weg des letzten Herrschers der Donaumonarchie, Wien 1997
Gottsmann, Andreas (Hrsg.): Karl I. (IV.), der Erste Weltkrieg und das Ende der Donaumonarchie, Wien 2007
Leidinger, Hannes/Moritz, Verena/Schippler, Bernd: Schwarzbuch der Habsburger. Die unrühmliche Geschichte eines Herrscherhauses (2. Auflage, ungekürzte Taschenbuchausgabe), Innsbruck [u.a.] 2010
Rauchensteiner, Manfried: Der Erste Weltkrieg und das Ende der Habsburgermonarchie 1914–1918, Wien u. a. 2013
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Kapitel
- The course of the war 1917–1918: Face-to-face with imminent downfall
- The situation in the hinterland
- Apathy and resistance – The mood of the people
- The Sixtus Affair: A major diplomatic débacle
- A programme for world peace – President Wilson’s Fourteen Points
- ‘To My faithful Austrian peoples’ – Emperor Karl’s manifesto
- The collapse
- The disintegration of the Habsburg Monarchy – Part I: On the road to self-determination
- The disintegration of the Habsburg Monarchy – Part II: The situation in Vienna and Budapest
- The last days of the Monarchy
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Kapitel
- Franz Joseph: the ageing emperor
- The problem of the succession
- Franz Joseph and Franz Ferdinand – a tense relationship
- Franz Ferdinand and his political programme
- Kaiser Wilhelm II: The Beloved Enemy
- “Archduke Bumbsti”
- Karl as successor to the throne
- The New Emperor
- Karl I and the collapse of the Monarchy
- The last days of the Monarchy
- Emperor Karl on his way into exile
