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36 on both sides of the Leitha, and with the same brutality; and it was this very absolutism which served to unite the Magyar and German cause.

It is for these reasons that the Habsburg Monarchy always remained so unstable, and that all Europe was convinced that the first great shock would break up the State. It is for these reasons that internally everything was in such a state of confusion and disorder, that the different nationalities, pitted one against another, only desired the destruction of this political and social organism, which was so obviously moribund, and which, by its structure, organisation, traditions, and system of government deserved nothing better than to be swept off the map of the world.

When war broke out, our struggle was in full swing. Our political parties had never renounced their ancient national programme, and as soon as the first shot at Belgrade was fired, a single voice rang out throughout the Czech countries: "This war will at last deliver us from the yoke of the Habsburgs, the Germans, and the Magyars."

It was the internal situation which finally drew Austria into the war. She had never accepted the federalist programme. The actual system could no longer continue because of the Slav resistance, which was growing ever more powerful. At all costs this resistance had to be broken. The war of 1870 had considerably modified the