Page 278 - Il 1919. Un’Italia vittoriosa e provata in un’Europa in trasformazione. Problematiche e prospettive - Atti 11-12 novembre 2019

276 Il 1919. Un’Italia vittoriosa e provata in un’Europa in trasformazione

and its “injustices”, while at the same time rejecting the Social Democratic na-
tional defence system with an arming of the people and soldiers’ councils. All
of this would point to a political alignment with the Christian Social Party, how-
ever, that party did not really participate in the discussion of military matters
through “its” Undersecretary of State Dr. Waihs in a decisive way and left the
field to Deutsch. Without any doubt, the interventions by Deutsch, motivated
by internal political agendas, were not beneficial to the Volkswehr for increasing
trust in itself – especially among the border population – as the young republic’s
instrument of national defence.
18
In the meantime, “Provisional Regulations for the Armed Forces” as a legal
foundation for the future national defence system of the young republic had
been created on 6 February 1919 in the form of the first national defence act of
the republic. The armed forces were to be raised within the framework of com-
pulsory military service according to the initial aims, including all male citizens
aged 18 to 41. However, the Volkswehr was to remain in force until the creation
of a regular militia system and its members should then be merged into the militia
army as cadres. During the transition period on the road to regular conscription
planned for a later date, the government was also granted the right to draft 24,000
men born between 1896 and 1900 for four months if needed and the right to
additionally recruit volunteers. This right was only applied once, in Carinthia in
April 1919. However, the results were thin and only 6,500 men reported for duty;
2,200 of them were instantly given leave, 1,900 deserted and 1,100 were classified
unfit for service, which left fewer than 1,500 men for deployment. 19
Besides the already mentioned ambivalence of political prerogatives and mil-
itary necessities within leadership structures as well as fundamental legal issues
regarding the new national defence act, there arose further, very concrete problem
areas: by early 1919, military expenditure began to significantly exceed the pro-
jected framework, since army pay for the Volkswehr – as was already mentioned
– had been fixed at a disproportionally high rate and because the old institutions
of the Imperial and Royal Army, now termed “liquidating,” were still processing
(until 1931) all the administrative cases which had not been settled during the
war and needed to be financed as well. In the following months, the financial re-

18 Verordnungsblatt des Staatsamtes für Heerwesen Nr. 8 vom 22. Februar 1919

19 Erwin Steinböck: Die Organisation der österreichischen Streitkräfte von 1918 – 1938. In:
1918 – 1968, Die Streitkräfte der Republik Österreich. Katalog zur Sonderausstellung im
Heeresgeschichtlichen Museum 1968, Vienna 1968, p. 35