Page 284 - Il 1919. Un’Italia vittoriosa e provata in un’Europa in trasformazione. Problematiche e prospettive - Atti 11-12 novembre 2019

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

the other successor states, a possible entry to the League of Nations including
participation in its executive powers as well as a collective demilitarization to-
gether with the neighbouring nations. Regarding the form of national defence
an enlisted cadre army with 14 months of service was proposed, which then
could be transformed into a militia army (of the Swiss model) after a transition
period of five to ten years. The parallel maintaining of a small enlisted cadre con-
tingent on permanent standby for urgent needs was conceivable as an additional
option. A professional army was categorically rejected for ideological and financial
reasons.
A rude awakening came on 20 June 1919 when the military clauses of the
peace treaty were handed over to the German-Austrian delegation. Its content
already was more or less identical with the specifications in the actual Treaty of
Saint Germain and included the definitive creation of a professional army with
a maximum strength of 30,000 volunteers as a “force to keep the order” as well
as considerable restrictions regarding quality and quantity of weapons and arma-
ments. Schneller reacted by compiling a presentation for the delegation in which
he rejected the posited restrictions and the explicit specification of a professional
army. In case of the latter he was striving for a combination solution instead,
wherein the proportion of professionals and militia would be decided au-
tonomously within the limits of the conceded maximum numbers. In Vienna,
Körner held parallel talks “on-site” with the representatives of Italy, France and
Great Britain to influence the negotiations in Paris. His main line of argumenta-
tion was the potential threat of the Hungarian Soviet Republic, a convenient and
clever choice. However, the “Federal Hungarian Socialist Soviet Republic” col-
lapsed on 1 August 1919 after Budapest had been captured by Romanian troops
– «two weeks too early for us. Now the enemies [sic!] will all the more so insist
on the full extent of the treaty», as Schneller wrote in his diary. 31
The Treaty of Saint Germain was finally signed on 10 September 1919 and
the military clauses it contained – a total of 42 articles of the treaty addressed
military matters - were later reflected in the National Defence Act of 18 March
1920, taking effect on 20 July 1920. 32

31 ÖSTA/KA/B/509 Estate Schneller Nr. 1/1320
32 Ludwig Jedlicka: Ein Heer im Schatten der Parteien. Die militärpolitische Lage Österreichs
1918 – 1938, Graz 1955, p. 24 f.