Armistice of Villa Giusti

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The armistice of Villa Giusti was concluded on November 3, 1918 in the villa of Count Vettor Giusti del Giardino near Padua between Austria-Hungary and the Entente or Italy . In particular, it ended the fighting on the Italian front of World War I between the troops of Italy and the Triple Entente on the one hand and Austria-Hungary and the German Reich , which was allied with it, on the other, but also applied to all other fronts which the kuk military had been on duty. Since Hungary had no longer been linked to Austria in a Real Union since November 1, 1918 , it did not feel affected by this armistice; it negotiated separately with the Entente and concluded a military convention with it on November 13, 1918 in Belgrade ( see below ).

prehistory

Protocol of the Armistice of Villa Giusti (last page with signatures of the delegations)
Villa Giusti (table where the armistice was signed)

After the lost battle of Vittorio Veneto at the end of October 1918, the Austro-Hungarian army was in such a state that the army command felt obliged to strive for an armistice by all means .

With the manifesto of Emperor Charles I of October 16, 1918 ( People's Manifesto ) , the federalization of the monarchy was decreed without the prerequisites for ending the war having been created beforehand. As a result, some of the successor states prompted the direct recall of their army contingents from the front. So only a quick conclusion of the armistice could put an end to it.

On October 26, 1918, Karl wanted to officially ask for an armistice, which led to a dispute between the monarch and his ministers and generals, some of whom still considered themselves strong enough to repel all attacks in the summit positions above the northern Italian plain. According to Emperor Karl's ideas, the armistice conditions should provide for the evacuation of all Italian territories conquered since 1917, for which, however, they wanted to stipulate nine months. In 1915, under pressure from the German alliance partner, the Italians had been offered an offer to cede the southern parts of Trentino in order to secure Italian neutrality. At the end of October 1918, after almost four years of war and in the face of complete military defeat, not only did they not want to withdraw from the occupied territories immediately, they also did not want to accept any territorial losses themselves. With these ideas, the Austrian side prepared the armistice negotiations. These concessions were rejected by Italy as insufficient.

Wording of the armistice agreement

Verified by Marshal Armando Diaz on November 3rd, 1918 to take effect on November 4th from 3:00 p.m.

Land conditions

  1. Immediate cessation of hostilities on land, sea and in the air.
  2. Complete demobilization of Austria-Hungary and immediate withdrawal of all units operating on the front from the North Sea to Switzerland. In the territory of Austria-Hungary and within the limits set out in § 3 below, the Austro-Hungarian armed forces only maintain a maximum of 20 divisions, reduced to the level of peace before the war. Half of all divisional and corps artillery and equipment, starting with everything in the area to be evacuated by the Austro-Hungarian army, will have to be collected at points to be determined by the Allies and the United States in order to to be delivered to them.
  3. Evacuation of every area occupied by armed force by Austria-Hungary since the beginning of the war and withdrawal of the Austro-Hungarian forces within a date to be determined by the commander-in-chief of the Allied forces on the various fronts beyond a line established as follows. From the Umbrail peak to the north of the Stilfser Joch, this line will follow the ridge of the Rhaetian Alps to the sources of the Etsch and Eisack, over the Reschen and Brennerbergs and on the heights of the Ötz and the Ziller. The line will turn south, cross the Toblacher Berg and reach the current border of the Carnic Alps. You will follow the border to the Tarvisberg and after the Tarvisberg the watershed of the Julian Alps over the Predilpass, the Mangart, the Tricorno (Triglav) and the watershed of the Podbrdopass from Bodlenischen and Indrio. Starting from this point, the line will run in a southerly direction towards the Schneeberg, with the exception of the entire Savebeck with tributaries. From the Schneeberg the line will go down towards the coast, so that Castus, Mattuglio and Voloscain are included in the evacuated bid. It will also follow the current administrative boundaries of the province of Dalmatia, in the north Lissarica and Tribam, in the south a line which starts on the coast of Cape Planca and to the east follows the highest points of the heights forming the watershed, so that in the evacuated Areas are included all the valleys and watercourses that descend towards Sebenico, such as the Cicola, the Kerka, the Butisnica and their tributaries. It will also include all the islands in the north and west of Dalmatia: Premuda, Selve, Ulbo, Scarda, Maon, Pago and Punta Dura in the north, to the south of Meleda including San Andrea, Busi, Lissa, Lesina, Torcola, Curzola, Ozza and Lagosta as well as the surrounding islets and islets and Pelagola with the exception of the islands Tirona grande and piccola, Bua, Solta and Brazza. All cleared areas will be occupied by Allied and United States forces. All military and railroad materials that are in the area to be evacuated must remain in place. Delivery of all this material (including the supply of coal) to the Allies and the United States under the special instructions of the commanders in command of the forces of the Allied Powers on the various fronts. No new destruction or looting or new requisitions by enemy troops may take place in the area to be cleared by the enemy or occupied by forces of the allied powers.
  4. The allies will have the absolute right: a) to move their troops freely on any road, railroad or waterway in Austro-Hungarian territory and to use the necessary Austro-Hungarian means of transport, b) with allied forces to all strategic points in Austria-Hungary to occupy for the time the Allies deem necessary, to live there or to maintain order, c) for requisitions against payment in favor of the allied armies, wherever they are.
  5. The complete withdrawal of all German troops within 15 days not only from the Italian and Balkan front, but from the entire Austro-Hungarian territory and the internment of all German troops that did not leave Austria-Hungary on that day.
  6. The provisional administration of the areas evacuated from Austria-Hungary will be entrusted to the local authorities under the control of the station commands of the allied occupation forces.
  7. Immediate sending home without reciprocity of all prisoners of war and interned subjects of the Allies, including the civilian population removed from their homes, according to conditions to be determined by the allied high commanders on the various fronts.
  8. The sick and wounded remaining in the evacuated area must be cared for by the Austro-Hungarian staff, who must be left on the spot together with the necessary medical material.

Conditions at sea

  1. Immediate cessation of all hostility at sea and precise indication of the whereabouts and movement of all Austro-Hungarian ships.
  2. Handover of 15 Austro-Hungarian submarines, which were built between 1910 and 1918, and all German submarines. Complete disarmament and demobilization of all other Austro-Hungarian submarines.
  3. Handover of three battleships, three light cruisers, nine torpedo boat destroyers, a mine-layer, six Danube monitors. All other upstream warships (including river ships) must be demobilized and completely disarmed.
  4. Freedom of navigation for all ships of the war and merchant navy of the Allies and the Allied Powers in the Adriatic, including territorial waters, on the Danube and its tributaries within the Austro-Hungarian territory.
  5. Maintain the blockade by the Allies and the Allied Powers under the current conditions.
  6. Consolidation and maintenance of all naval air forces in a port designated by the Allies and the United States.
  7. Evacuation of the whole coast and of all commercial ports occupied by Austria-Hungary outside its national territory.
  8. Occupation of all land and sea fortifications and the islands established for the defense of Pola as well as the shipyard and the arsenal by the Allies and the United States.
  9. Return of all captured merchant ships.
  10. Prohibition of any destruction of facilities or material prior to evacuation, handover or return.
  11. Return of all prisoners without any obligation of reciprocity.

Signatory

Viktor Weber Edler von Webenau
General Pietro Badoglio

Army High Command of Austria-Hungary

The Kingdom of Hungary ended the real union with the Austrian states on October 31, 1918, so that Austria-Hungary no longer existed. Thus, according to the Magyar view , the Army High Command was no longer responsible for concluding an armistice for the Hungarian troops from November 1, 1918.

Army High Command of Italy

  • Ten. Gene. Pietro Badoglio
  • Magg. Gene. Scipione Sciopioni
  • Colonn. Tullio Marchetti
  • Colonn. Pietro Gazzera
  • Colonn. Pietro Maravigna
  • Colonn. Alberto Pariani
  • Cap. Vasc. Francesco Accinni

Belgrade Military Convention, November 13, 1918

Due to the dissolution of Austria-Hungary at the end of October 1918, Hungary was no longer affected by the negotiations in Villa Giusti from November 1 , 1918, according to its Magyar politicians. It therefore required its own ceasefire negotiations. These took place in Belgrade , whereby, as Rauchsteiner summarized, in the military convention of November 13, 1918, the Magyars were then dictated to even more far-reaching and worse conditions . Hungary was forced to go back to Számos and Tisza and also to leave Szabadka and Baja to the Entente troops. In addition, the Danube flotilla fell into the hands of the Allies. For Hungary, this armistice was signed by Minister Béla Linder , the representative of the government .

Museum reception

The original signed document of the armistice is exhibited in the Vienna Army History Museum . You can also see the briefcase in which Colonel Karl Schneller (1878–1942), the officer in charge of the Austro-Hungarian Army High Command , brought the negotiated contract to Vienna. It comes from his possession.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Wording of the convention on the website of the Herder Institute for Historical Research on East Central Europe, Marburg, Germany
  2. ↑ Manfried Rauchsteiner: The First World War and the End of the Habsburg Monarchy , Böhlau, Vienna 2013, ISBN 978-3-205-78283-4 , pp. 1051, 1156 (note 2520)
  3. ^ Army History Museum / Military History Institute (ed.): The Army History Museum in the Vienna Arsenal . Verlag Militaria , Vienna 2016, ISBN 978-3-902551-69-6 , p. 125