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IV Sessione - L’Italia a Versailles. Aspetti di politica internazionale 271

4
army began to dissolve. The final point of this development was marked by the
armistice of 3 November 1918, as mentioned above.
More concrete deliberations regarding the alignment of the new army were
almost exclusive to the Social Democrats of German-Austria and aligned towards
ideological socio-political guidelines. First Lieutenant of the reserve Dr. Julius
Deutsch – the already mentioned undersecretary of state, later secretary of state
for military matters – had even presented his defence concept in a secret meeting
with trusted Social Democrats in the night from 2 to 3 November 1918, before
5
the signing of the Armistice of Villa Giusti. According to Deutsch, the armed
forces should be formed as a type of militia based on compulsory military service,
not least to emphasize the breakaway from the organization and structure of the
old Imperial and Royal military traditions. Concerning the scope of duties of the
new armed forces, internal political duties were paramount for Deutsch, especially
after the proclamation of a republic on 12 November 1918: «The military policy
of the Austrian revolution can only be understood if one recognizes the key ob-
jective of our actions, that we are considering the reactionaries a bigger threat
than the Bolshevists. Since we did not allow ourselves to be dissuaded from this
key objective, neither by the angry fight of the reactionaries nor by the ridiculous
chest-beating of the super-radicals, we managed to keep both in check». 6
While Deutsch judged policing the interior to be the primary function of the
armed forces yet to be created, «so that the revolution won’t be suffocated by
the prevalent general anarchy» military experts, on the other hand, recognized
7
the urgent need of securing those territories claimed by German-Austria by force
of arms, should the necessity arise. There was no consensus about a real defence
concept, neither amongst the parties nor within them. Especially Secretary of
State Mayer seemed unenthusiastic about “arming the people”, as imagined by
Deutsch. However, the particularly urgent situation of early November 1918 led
to the decision of yielding to the ideas of the Social Democrats. It was decided

4 Ibid. p. 651 ff.
5 Erwin Steinböck: Entstehung und Verwendung der Volkswehr. In: Saint-Germain 1919. Pro-
tokoll des Symposiums vom 29. Und 30. Mai 1979 in Wien. Wissenschaftliche Kommission
zur Erforschung der Geschichte der Republik Österreich. Veröffentlichungen Band 11,
Vienna 1989, p. 180-200; p. 180
6 Julius Deutsch: Aus Österreichs Revolution. Militärpolitische Erinnerungen, Vienna 1923, p.
26
7 Ibid, p. 27