The Provisional National Assembly of German Austria on 21 October 1918 in the Lower Austrian Landhaus in Vienna, photo from Das Interessante Blatt, issue of 31 October 1918

‘Earth from Bohemia, earth from Hungary, earth from Slovenia … earth from Austria’: With these words in his drama The Third of November 1918 the author Franz Theodor Csokor buries not only a colonel of the Imperial and Royal Army who has committed suicide out of despair but also, in symbolic form, the Monarchy. 

Once the other nationalities had confirmed their decision to leave the Dual Monarchy by proclaiming their independence, the two ‘peoples of state’ – the German Austrians and the Magyars – sought to prepare the ground for their respective futures.

The aim of the peace conferences held in the suburbs of Paris between January 1919 and August 1920 was to create a new international order.