A gleeful Russian Cossack skewers Austro-Hungarian Emperor Franz Joseph in Galicia, the Empire's northeastern region isolated from the rest of the country by the Carpathian Mountains. The caption is a play on words echoing the name of the mountain range in telling Franz Joseph, 'it seems your soldiers took to their heels.' After twin defeats in the Battles of Gnila Lipa and Rava Russka, the Austro-Hungarian Army lost the great fortress at Lemberg, and was being driven out of Galicia and back through the Carpathians. Russia's attempts to break through the Carpathians continued through April 1915, with heavy losses on both sides. The Austro-Hungarians, with German support, held.

Parait que tes soldats se Carapathent



Seems that your soldiers took to their heels



Dix 701



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Dixo-Couleur Paris, Visé Paris, Numéro au Verso.

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Sunday, January 20, 1918

". . . With the Ukrainians, who, despite their youth, are showing themselves quite sufficiently grown to profit by the situation, negotiations are proceeding but slowly. First they demanded East Galicia for the new 'Ukrainia.' This could not be entertained for a moment. Then they grew more modest, but since the outbreak of trouble at home among ourselves they realized their position and know that we must make peace in order to get corn. Now they demand a separate position for East Galicia. The question will have to be decided in Vienna, and the Austrian Ministry will have the final word.

Seidler and Landwehr again declare by telegram that without supplies of grain from Ukraine the catastrophe is imminent. There are supplies in the Ukraine; if we can get them the worst may be avoided.

The position now is this: Without help from outside, we shall, according to Seidler, have thousands perishing in a few weeks."

Quotation Context

Excerpt from the entry for January 4, 1918 by Count Ottokar Czernin in his In the World War. Opposition to the November, 1917 Bolshevik Revolution and revolutionary calls for self-determination led regions of Russia to seek to break from Russia as independent nations aligned with ethnic populations. Ukraine laid claims to Galicia in northeastern Austria-Hungary, and were bolstered by food riots and strikes in Vienna. Minister of Foreign Affairs Czernin headed the Austro-Hungarian delegation to the Brest-Litovsk peace conference between Russia and the Central Powers. Ernst Seidler von Feuchtenegg was President-Minister of Austria from 1917 to 1918. General Ottokar Landwehr von Pregenau headed a common Austro-Hungarian food agency that was unable to resolve the challenges facing the Empire.

Source

In the World War by Count Ottokar Czernin, page 267, copyright © 1920, by Harper & Brothers, publisher: Harper and Brothers, publication date: 1920

Tags

1918-01-20, 1918, January, Ukraine, food, Galicia