In 1907 Austria-Hungary, where conscription is in force, had an army of about three million men when fully mobilised. These men were of excellent physique, since they were selected as the most promising material among a number of men fit for service. Every year when the annual contingent of recruits came up for service, a larger number were passed as “fit” than could be put into training. About a third of the “fit” were sent home; they were selected by lot, and although they were not called upon to serve immediately, they were under the obligation to do so when required. Thus there was a large second line of untrained men fit for service and ready to be called up when necessary. The high standard of efficiency resulted in only the very best material being selected; there were many among the rejected who could be called to the colours in time of necessity.

Besides this, the military authorities pursued a definite policy. They were willing to grant exemption to the city man who could be usefully employed in clerical work in war time, and devoted their energies to training the peasant for actual fighting.

All this resulted in the official figures of the available men giving no real estimate of the numbers that were actually available.

Much money and attention were devoted to the minor branches of the service. Armament factories were increased and flying fields established in connection with all the army corps headquarters. The preparations for a possible war, while being carried on with great energy and at great expense, were somewhat delayed by an incurable habit, peculiar to the Austrians, of giving great attention to branches of the service that were anything but essential. Experiments were made in ski-running on the Alps in winter. Small companies of men were frequently lost in the Tyrol while trying to cross difficult ground. It was felt in the country generally that the attempts to get over the glaciers and snowfields might just as well have been made in summer, when there was not the same danger from avalanches, and even if war with Italy were inevitable, ski-running practised within view of the Italian frontier was not likely to calm Italian susceptibilities. Aviation, which had long been recognised as the war weapon of the future, was quite neglected. The Government refused to purchase the necessary airships. The Austrians, with all their mechanical genius, were not able to make the motors for aeroplanes. Austrian inventors had to obtain motors from France before their airships could fly. The conservatism of thought and methods which made the Austro-Hungarian Government neglect the air service, led them to misread the signs of the times, and to allow the fleet to sink to a mere nothing. Although they were building up the fortifications along the Austro-Hungarian frontier, a queer optimism made them count upon Italy’s help in the Mediterranean. Meanwhile they worked up their land fortifications. The Austro-Hungarian naval ports are models of what Nature can do in the way of natural defences. Cattaro is practically impregnable from the sea side. The gulf winds in and out, and the approach to the city can be defended at every turn. The military and naval authorities felt quite secure of Cattaro, and it was only in the Annexation year, when there was trouble with Montenegro, that it was discovered that the cannon on the summit of Mount Lovcen could be fired right into Cattaro. The boundary line between Austria-Hungary and Montenegro runs close to the summit of the mountain. The Austrians considered that it would be very easy to capture the top of the precipitous mountain should war break out between the small country and themselves, but it was a very serious offset to the value of Cattaro. There was a large choice of suitable naval ports along the coast besides Cattaro. The only consideration that made a selection difficult was the question of railway communications with the interior.

Sebenico was also built out as a naval base, but, like Cattaro, there was no railway to connect it with the interior, as the narrow gauge Bosnian railways were of little practical use for military purposes. They were either light mountain railways or narrow gauge. This meant that all transports must be unloaded at the Hungarian frontier. Neither Cattaro nor Sebenico could thus be utilised as first-class naval bases until the Bosno-Herzegowinan railway system had been changed. Plans for this project were made and the money was voted, but the work had not been begun at the outbreak of the Great War. The naval authorities established excellent wireless stations and repairing shops at these ports. The Government was disinclined to spend money on these ports, because the population was either Italian or Serb, and not easy to cow into subjection, like inland peoples. A seafaring people were always able to make good their escape should danger threaten. If the sea coast were watched too carefully for them to get away by boat, there was a wild mountainous district behind, where a man could hide among the rocky crags undisturbed until the hue and cry after him had died down. Just as the Bohemians near the German frontier were always inclined to be restive, and the Government more or less obliged to take a lenient view of their offences, so the Dalmatians were seldom subjected to persecution. Austria-Hungary never let off her wrath on those able to defend themselves.

Political considerations hampered the Austro-Hungarian Government in her choice of ports and in her shipbuilding. Austria wished to get all the shipbuilding orders, and was willing to make concessions to Hungary in agricultural affairs in order to secure them. Hungary, however, was not disposed to accept these.

Austria-Hungary only settled upon a definite naval policy after the Annexation crisis. It was decided then that the new boats should be built in Trieste, and then tugged round to Pola for fitting. The Hungarians complained bitterly, and insisted upon some orders being placed at Fiume also. Slips for Dreadnoughts were prepared in Hungarian dockyards. The first Dreadnoughts, however, were built at the Stablimento Tecnico, in Trieste. This caused a storm of indignation all along the Adriatic. Austria had fostered Trieste at the expense of all other ports—both Hungarian and Italian—on the sea coast. Two railways carried goods from Trieste to Vienna. Preference tariffs were given to goods shipped over the Austrian ports. Italian firms found it cheaper to get their goods via Trieste than via Venice. Every form of ruse and trickery for magnifying the importance of Trieste and decreasing that of Venice was used. In some cases, Austrian firms received large State subventions to enable them to undersell Italian firms. Thus Trieste absorbed much of the trade that formerly went via Genoa to Switzerland and Germany. In bolstering up Trieste and its trade the Government was not actuated by commercial considerations only. The mercantile fleet proved an excellent training-school for sailors; the population was composed mostly of Italians and Slavs, seafaring people who had been accustomed to earn their living on the water for generations and generations. Austria-Hungary, when contemplating her failures in many parts of the country, could always point to Trieste as a complete success. Unfortunately, Kaiser Wilhelm also regarded the seaport as an entire success. The splendid docks, stretching miles inland, where light boats could be built, the yards at Montfalcone, all stirred a feeling of covetousness in the monarch, who was never satisfied. He actually commenced negotiations to get possession of Trieste. He needed a port in the Mediterranean or in the Adriatic for the re-fitting, re-fuelling, and provisioning of German ships in times of peace. Austria-Hungary refused on one occasion to cede her best port to Kaiser Wilhelm, but an agreement that Germany could use it as a coaling-station was entered into.

The first Dreadnoughts built for the Austro-Hungarian Navy just after the Annexation crisis were laid down secretly. Although permission to build Dreadnoughts had been given at the Delegations, many Members of Parliament opposed the granting of the money, on the ground that Austria-Hungary could not afford to embark on a policy that might embroil her with other nations. Her army was sufficiently large to protect her and assure her that respect among the Great Powers that she had a right to demand. The Government, to save argument, thus laid down the Dreadnoughts without announcing the fact. When the news that the first ship was partially ready and the second had already been laid down was made public, the other nations of Europe naturally felt that Austria-Hungary had stolen a march upon them. She specialised in building submarines and torpedoes at this time. The necessary expense was provided for by a special species of book-keeping. Money voted for education and similar purposes was devoted to the construction of submarines, and the public and Europe were kept in ignorance of the true uses to which it was put.

Archduke Francis Ferdinand, the late heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary, was especially interested in shipbuilding. He had a valid excuse for remaining far from the capital. The fine dust from the limestone with which Vienna is built injured his lungs, which were already delicate. He therefore stayed for the greater part of the year at Miramare, a beautiful castle close to Trieste, or at Brioni, farther along the coast. The Duchess and the children enjoyed the stay near the sea. He ran to and fro in a swift yacht, visited Pola and Fiume, and assisted at the experiments which were being carried on there. Kaiser Wilhelm frequently came to visit Corfu, and stayed at Miramare en route. The two men who were plotting for world-empire spent many hours together. The Kaiser was frequently accompanied by experts, who travelled incognito at the command of the Emperor.

Archduke Francis Ferdinand, brought up, like all the Austro-Hungarian Imperial family, in an atmosphere of unreality, suspected nothing of the Kaiser’s ulterior motives in coming to Trieste. He even followed his suggestions for the gradual removal of all Italians employed in Government service.