Vienna and the Fall of the Habsburg Empire: Total War and Everyday Life in World War I

In this volume, the author examines the collapse of the Habsburg Empire from the perspective of everyday life in the capital city. She argues that a striking feature of "total war" on the home front was the spread of a war mentality to the mundane sites of everyday life - streets, shops, schools, entertainment venues, and apartment buildings. While Habsburg armies waged military campaigns on distant fronts, Viennese civilians (women, children, and "left at home" men) waged a protracted, socially devastating war against one another. Vienna's multi-ethnic population lived together in conditions of serve material shortage and faced near-starvation by 1917. The city fell into civilian mutiny before the state collapsed in 1918. Based on archival research, including citizens' letters to state authorities, the study offers a new look at Habsburg citizenship by showing how ordinary women, men, and children conceived of "Austria" in the Empire's final years.