- "*! T f UMI [ MICHOPILHED 1990 ] INFORMATION TO USERS The most advanced technology has been used to photograph and reproduce this manuscript from the microfilm master. UMI films the text directly from the original or copy submitted. Thus, some thesis and dissertation copies are in typewriter face, while others may be from any type of computer printer. The quality of this reproduction Is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. Broken or indistinct print, colored or poor quality illustrations and photographs, print bleedthrough, substandard margins, and improper alignment can adversely affect reproduction. In the unlikely event that the author did not send UMI a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if unauthorized copyright material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. 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Zeeb RA Ann Aibor, MI 48106 THE CZECHS DURING WORLD WAR I (ESPECIALLY 1917-1918): ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL DEVELOPMENTS LEADING TOWARD INDEPENDENCE DISSERTATION ! Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of the Ohio State University By H. Louis ReeS, B.A., M.A. The Ohio State University 1990 D issertation Committee: Approved by Carole R. Rogel Michael W. Curran John A. Rothney Department of History ACKNCMLEEGMQIIS I would like to express my sincerest thanks to Professor Carole Rogel for her assistance, her encouragement, and her patience. I am grateful to the International Research and Exchanges Board (IREX) and the Austrian M inistry of Science and Research for providing the financial support for my research in Czechoslovakia and Austria. A special debt is owed to Professor Josef V. Polisensky in Prague for his guidance on archival holdings. Finally, I owe deep gratitude to my wife Deborah Sanborn, who helped me most of a ll. 11 VITA October 7, 1950 ...................................... Bom - Massena, New York 1972 ....... B.A. , Ohio State Uhiveislty , Columbus, Ohio 1975-1977 .................................................. Teaching Associate, Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 1976 ...............................................................M.A., Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 1979-1981 .................................................. Teaching Associate, Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 1981-1988 .................................................. Analyst, Battelle Memorial Institute, Columbus, Ohio FIELDS OF STUDY Major Field: History Studies in: East Central Europe. Professor Carole R. Rogel Russia and the Soviet union. Professor Michael W. Curran Tudor-Stuart England. Professor Clayton Roberts American Foreign Policy. Professor Warren R. Van Tine i i i TABU! OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS.................................................................................................... 11 VITA .................................................................................................................................. I l l INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................ 1 CHAPTER I . BACKGROUND AND EARLY WAR YEARS.................................................. 5 The Czechs in Austria-Hungary Before World War I . 5 The Early War Y ears ............................................................... 18 N o t e s ............................................................................................ 25 I I . NOVEMBER 1916-MAY 1 9 1 7 .................................................................. 33 N o t e s ............................................................................................ 63 I I I . SUMMER 1 9 1 7 ....................................................................................... 69 N o t e s ................................................................................................. 100 IV. SEPTEMBER 1917-FEBRUAHY 1 9 1 8 ............................ 106 N o t e s ................................................................................................. 137 V. MARCH-OCTOBER 1 9 1 8 ................................................................................143 N o t e s ................................................................................................. 174 CONCLUSION............................................................................... 182 LIST OF REFERENCES..................................................................................................... 187 lv INIWXUCTICN The story of the establishment of the first Czechoslovak republic in October 1918 has been the source of conflicting historiographical interpretations and political arguments for over seventy years. In the interwar years, with the exile leaders (TomSfi Masaryk and Eduard BeneS in particular) dominating the political scene in Czechoslovakia and with all Czech political leaders anxious to prove that they had been anti-Kabsburg from the very first moments of the war, Czech historiog­ raphy was pervaded by the memoirs of these exiles and the study of their activities. All the exiles, of course, had been fervent enemies of the state who had Immediately gone into action against the Habsburgs. Developments w ithin the monarchy, on the other hand, usually were ignored. There was no political advantage to be gained from admitting that one had been, at worst, loyal to the empire or, at least, slow to take action against It. Only a few historians dealt with the internal situation, and such of their work was interrupted by the Second World War. (1) After World War II, Czech historiography was complicated by the fact that many of those who left the Social Democratic Party to found the Czech Communist Party in 1921 were among the most ardent opponents of an independent Czech or Czechoslovak state. This includes the GomnuniBt Party's first head, Bohumfr Smeral. Czech historians 1 2 instead concentrated on destroying the reputations of the politicians who had dominated the interwar bourgeois Czechoslovak state. In this interpretation of the war years, the role of the emigre leaders is minimized, that of the domestic politicians virtually ignored, while the role of the Bolshevik revolution in Russia is given preeminence. According to this view, the October Revolution and Ienin's call for national self-determ ination were the most important impetuses for the growth of a Czech independence movement. Austria-Hungary was over­ thrown because of the revolutionary activity of the Czech working class, strengthened and lead by the Russian example. (2) This inter­ pretation is best illustrated by the phrase, prominent until very recently on banners in Czechoslovakia: "Without the October revolution in Russia there would have been no October revolution in Austria- H ungary." This dissertation concentrates on the domestic situation. It attenpts to describe the actions of the political leaders inside the enpJLre, in Prague and in Vienna, and to place them within the economic, social, and political context in which they were carried out. This context includes, of course, the October revolution in Russia and the radicalizing effect it had in Austria-Hungary. It also includes, however, numerous other, purely domestic, issues. The most significant of them were the rebirth of parliamentary government and the attendant political responsibility forced onto the politicians, the attitude of the various governments in Vienna to the Czechs and particularly to question of the Czech-German struggle in Bohemia and Moravia, and, most inportantly, the abysmal m aterial deprivation that went far in 3 undermining already weak Czech support for the war effort and for the monarchy. 'The dissertation deals with the war's final two years because it was only in this period that all these issues realiy began to cane into play. Prior to that, Austria-Hungary was a virtual m ilitary dictatorship, with no real political life and no opportunity at all for political expression. The population was cowed into submission. In addition, it was in the war's final two years that the state's economic difficulties began to have a palpable effect. As the stress is on the domestic situation, the dissertation deals with the emigre politicians only when there is relevant interaction between them and the politicians in the empire. 4 r&fcgg (1) For exanple: Jan Opodfensk/, Hie Collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy and theR lse of the Czechoslovak State (Prague: Qrbis, 1928); ________ . Konec mon&rchle RaXaxsko-Uhersk^ [The end of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy] (Prague: Orbis a £in, 1928); Mllada Paulovrf, PljlmLmaffle;