SLOVENE SOLDIERS ON THE EASTERN FRONT IN THE FIRST WORLD WAR: FROM THE OUTBREAK OF WAR TO THE OPENING OF THE ISONZO FRONT

Avstro-Ogrska je dočakala prvo svetovno vojno povsem nepripravljena. Spretni madžarski politiki in popuščanje le-tem s strani avstrijskega cesarja in madžarskega kralja Franca Jožefa sta bila faktorja, ki sta močno vplivala na to, da so avstro-ogrske oborožene sile, razdeljene na skupno vojsko, avstrijsko in madžarsko domobranstvo, postale številčno, predvsem pa tehnološko zaostale tistim iz drugih velesil takratnega sveta. Ko so vidovdanski streli v Sarajevu kulminirali v vzročno-posledičnih vojnih napovedih obeh formiranih se taborov, so se tudi nad slovenske domove zgrnili črni oblaki. Okrog 30.000 slovenskih vojakov je bilo skupaj s sto tisočimi vojaki drugih narodov dualistične monarhije poslanih v Galicijo, kjer jih je pričakala daleč številčnejša vojska ruskega imperija. V manj kot dveh mesecih od izbruha vojne je Avstro-Ogrska izgubila Galicijo in utrpela več kot sto tisoč mrtvih vojakov. Na teh bojiščih na vzhodni fronti, ki niso v prvih mesecih vojne v ničemer spominjala na tista iz drugih front, je padlo tudi na tisoče Slovencev. Krivdo za tak razplet gre pripisati avstro-ogrskemu generalštabu, ki ga je v tistem času poosebljal njegov načelnik Franz Conrad von Hötzendorf, ki je popolnoma podcenil udarno moč takrat sodobnega topništva in dajal primat pehoti in boju mož na moža. Tej katastrofi je v zimi 1914 – 1915 sledila še hujša, znana kot Karpatenwinter. Če je v bojih za Galicijo Conrad von Hötzendorf izgubil srce avstro-ogrske vojske, je v zimskih spopadih v Karpatih izgubil še tisto, kar je od vojske ostalo, skupaj s celo generacijo neutrjenih in neizšolanih rezervistov. Med pehotnimi polki, ki so utrpeli največje izgube, so bili tudi \u27slovenski\u27. S padcem utrdbenega mesta Przemyśl 22. marca leta 1915 je bil poraz Avstro-Ogrske popoln in zgolj posredovanje Nemčije je dualistično monarhijo obvarovalo pred dokončno dezintegracijo. O tej moriji, ki velja za eno najmanj raziskanih aspektov prve svetovne vojne, smo nekaj ključnih fragmentov dobili iz ohranjene pisne zapuščine slovenskih vojakov, ki so jo doživeli.Austria-Hungary awaited the First World War completely unprepared. Because of adept Hungarian politicians and the indulgent Austrian emperor and Hungarian king Franz Joseph both the Austro-Hungarian armed forces, divided into the common army, the Austrian and the Hungarian Home Guard, became numerically and especially technological inferior to those of other superpowers that time. When the shots of Vidovdan in Sarajevo culminated in causal declarations of war between the two formed alliances, they meant difficult times also for Slovenian homes. Around 30,000 Slovenian soldiers together with hundreds of thousands of soldiers of other nations of the dualistic monarchy were sent to Galicia, where they were greeted by a far more numerous army of the Russian Empire. In less than two months since the outbreak of the war, the Austro-Hungarian Empire lost Galicia and suffered more a hundred thousand dead soldiers. On these battlefields on the Eastern Front, that in no way resembled those of other fronts, especially in the first few months, also fell thousands of Slovenians. The blame for such an outcome can be attributed to the Austro-Hungarian General Staff, which was at that time personified by its chief - Franz Conrad von Hötzendorf, who completely underestimated the impact of modern artillery, and who instead advocated infantry tactics and man-to-man combat.. This catastrophe was followed by an even greater one in the winter of 1914 - 1915, which became known as Karpatenwinter. If in Galicia Conrad von Hötzendorf lost the heart of the Austro-Hungarian army, in the winter conflict in the Carpathians he lost the remains of the army, along with a whole generation of unprepared and untrained reservists. Among the infantry regiment that suffered the greatest losses were also "Slovenian" ones. With the fall of the fortress city Przemyśl on March 22 1915 the Austro-Hungarian defeat was complete and only the German intervention saved the monarchy from a final disintegration. We obtained key fragments about this nightmare, which is considered one of the least explored aspects of the First World War, from the preserved written legacy of Slovenian soldiers who experienced it