Austria-Hungary and the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk: The Quest for Bread and the Fundamental Reordering of Europe

Abstract

This thesis analyzes how the Habsburg state tried to preserve itself late in the First World War by cooperating with German plans to create a powerful Central European economic block. While Habsburg leaders initially aimed to preserve a conservative monarchical order in the Austro-Hungarian sphere of influence, this paper argues that the Dual Monarchy's response to the increasingly serious shortage of food and its economic negotiations with Germany, which culminated at the peace conference in Brest-Litovsk, show how by late 1917 the Habsburg state was willing to participate in a fundamental reordering of Europe in a final attempt to save itself.