"Budapest, 1918: protesters break windows at the Imperial German Consulate General for Hungary." Hand-painted watercolor postcard by Schima Martos, showing the shield of the Imperial German Consulate General for Hungary bearing the imperial eagle between two broken windows, glass still falling to the ground.
Kaiserlich Deutsches General Consulat für Ungarn; Budapesten 1918Imperial German Consulate General for Hungary; Budapest, 1918
"The rejoicings [in Austria-Hungary] lasted throughout the following days until stilled by the fateful tidings of the decision taken at Homburg. The whole Empire revolted in horror against resuming hostilities with Russia, and the anti-German sentiment, never deeply hidden in these days, flared up with dangerous rancour. Austria-Hungary had suffered much from her overbearing ally in the four years of war, and the realization of her own military inferiority to Germany did nothing to soften the antagonism, which was rapidly increasing. Particularly resented was Germany's assumption that Austria-Hungary would have to collaborate in her annexationist adventures, and the entire Dual Monarchy cried out against further sacrifice."
Leon Trotsky, head of the Russian delegation to the Brest-Litovsk peace conference with the Central Powers, left the negotiations on February 10, 1918 saying Russia would not sign Germany's proposed peace treaty, but would withdraw from the war. Three days later the German High Command met at Homburg in western Germany to determine the response. The conference included Kaiser Wilhelm, Germany's Supreme War Lord, the duumvirate of Generals Paul von Hindenburg and Erich Ludendorff, Major General Max Hoffmann, commander of the German Eighth Army on the Russian Front, and Baron Richard von Kühlmann, Germany's Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs from August 6, 1917 to July 9, 1918. At the beginning of 1918 Austria-Hungary was desperate for peace and the food a treaty promised.
Brest-Litovsk: The Forgotten Peace; March 1918 by John W. Wheeler-Bennett by John W. Wheeler-Bennett, page 233, publisher: The Norton Library, publication date: 1971, first published 193
1918-02-20, 1918, February, war news, Zweibund war news kiosk, Budapest anti-German demonstration
