SEE IT THROUGH (“hold out to the bitter end”), slogan transformed into satirical leitmotif; cf. directive of the War Press Bureau in Berlin (March 1917) which prohibited questioning of Germany’s ability to “see it through economically” (wirtschaft-liches Durchhalten): 118, 237, 297, 300, 303, 310, 329, 331, 374, 402, 414, 454f, 472, 488, 503, 513, 517ff, 550.
SEIDLER, Ernst von Feuchtenegg (1862–1931), Austrian prime minister (June 1917–July 1918): 446.
SEMMERING (Map E3), Alpine pass and fashionable thermal spa in Lower Austria, on first mountain railway line, Vienna-Graz: 182f, 352ff.
SEPARATE PEACE. As agreed within the →Entente, no such treaty was negotiated by the tsar even after Russia lost →Galicia, Poland, and Courland in 1915. There were secret negotiations in 1917—Britain and France unsuccessfully tried to separate Austria from Germany; Germany sounded out Russia (armistice in December 1917, →Brest-Litovsk in March 1918) — but Austria, focused on retaining territorial integrity, did not negotiate with Russia independently as predicted by the →Neue Freie Presse and regurgitated by Biach (IV, 26): xviii, 367, 429.
SERBIA (Map F5) achieved sovereignty at Congress of Berlin (1878). Its pro-Russian policy under King Peter I (1903–21), aiming to liberate South Slavs of Austro-Hungarian Empire, was exacerbated by Austrian annexation of →Bosnia-Herzegovina (1908) and strengthened by victories over Turkey and Bulgaria in Balkan wars (1912–13). Unacceptable terms of Austrian ultimatum led to war. Initial success (1914–15) until overrun by united Central Powers (1915–16): x, xi, xiv, xvii, 31, 32, 47, 49, 55, 57, 62ff, 67, 69, 87, 214f, 242, 283, 307, 308, 315, 346, 357, 366, 388, 420, 500, 510, 520, 527, 532, 542f, 546, 592.
SETTE COMUNI, →Asiago.
SHAKESPEAREAN ALLUSIONS:
Preface: “Horatio’s message to the forces of renewal” from Hamlet, Act V, scene 2: 2, 516;
I, 55: “sicklied o’er with the pale cast of thought” from Hamlet, Act III, scene 1: 55;
I, 29: “Shakespeare is, after all, an enemy author”; but the Schlegel-Tieck translation had so familiarized Germans with his work that lines from the great plays figured prominently in popular culture: 158;
II, 33: “Caviar for the People”: “Kaviar für’s Volk”, the phrase used in the Schlegel-Tieck version for “caviar for the general”, from Hamlet, Act II, scene 2: 235;
III, 41: “My tables — meet it is that I should set it down that one may smile, and smile, and be a general”, adapted from Hamlet, Act I, scene, 5: 309;
IV, 29: “the rest would be silence”, echoing Hamlet’s final words from Act V, scene 2: 379;
V, 2: “O gods! Who is’t can say ‘It is at the worst?’/It is worse than e’er it was”, from King Lear, Act IV, scene, 1: 420;
V, 2: “This was sometime a paradox, but now the grandeur of the age gives it proof”, adapted from Hamlet, Act III, scene 1: 420;
Epilogue: “Methinks I scent the morning air” from the Ghost’s speech in Hamlet, Act I, scene 5: 575.
“SHAMPERS CALMS OUR TEMPERS” (“Ein Tampus von Schampus”, 1914), marching song, music by Ludwig Prechtl (1865–1931) and text by Franz Allmeder (1872–1941): 534.
SIEGHART, Rudolf (Rudolf Singer, 1866–1934), financier, governor of Bodenkreditanstalt bank: 44, 138, 235, 237, 506.
SILISTRIA, port on Danube in north-eastern Bulgaria (Map H4), ceded to Romania after second Balkan War (1913), retaken by Bulgarians (September 1916): 360.
SIMPLICISSIMUS, Munich satirical magazine (1896–1967), noted for caricatures of Prussian military figures; became more patriotic during war: 117, 461.
SINGER, Emmanuel (Mendl) von (1846–1929), influential parliamentary correspondent on →Tagblatt, ennobled by Franz Joseph: 137, 390.
SIXTY-SIX, popular card game. In 1866 Prussia defeated Austria at Königgratz: 392.
SKODA, Karl (1884–1918), →Hofburgtheater actor: 493.
SKODA WORKS, largest armaments factory in Austria-Hungary, founded in Pilsen (Map D3) in 1859: 460, 511, 569, 580.
SKOLIK (Scolik), Charles (1854–1928), court photographer. Skolik’s original photograph of →Conrad von Hötzendorf, taken in 1912 during the Balkan wars (cf. F 366–67, 1–3), is reproduced in Timms, Karl Kraus — Apocalyptic Satirist, vol. 1, 161): 130.
SLEZAK, Leo (1873–1946), popular singer and film actor; member of Court →Opera: 419.
SLOVENSKY JUG (Slavonic South), bulletin of the Pan-Serb Association, published in Belgrade (1903–12), then Odessa (from 1916); its “Minutes”, cited by →Friedjung in the Trial of 1909 as evidence of an anti-Habsburg conspiracy, turned out to be forgeries. The Friedjung of the play (I, 6) is still searching for incriminating documents: 67.
SMOLLE, Leo (1848–1920), educationalist and historiographer; published Maria Theresia als Stammmutter des Hauses Habsburg-Lothringen (1909); Der Weltkrieg (1914–15); Kaiser Carl I (1917): 486.
SOMME, Battle of the, impact of this documentary film, produced by British Topical Committee for War Films, prompted newly created Prussian Bild- und Film-Amt to respond with three-part Bei unseren Helden an der Somme (January 1917). In the battle (Plan B2, June — November 1916), fought to a standstill, some 500,00 °Central Powers troops died, and 750,000 of the Entente: 310, 359, 369, 371ff, 400, 538, 544.
SONNINO, Sidney, Baron (1847–1922), Italian statesman, foreign minister (1914–19), who in 1915 formed a pact with the →Entente: 245.
SONN- UND MONTAGSZEITUNG (“Sonn und Mon”), illustrated weekly: 236.
SOUTH TYROL (Map D4), German-speaking Austrian province south of Alps, promised to Italy by Entente as incentive to enter war in 1915; awarded to Italy in peace of St. Germain: 245, 259, 311.
SOUTH-WEST FRONT, between Austria and Italy. After Conrad’s planned offensive through →South Tyrol into Trentino (Map D4) was halted, focus of fighting shifted east to rivers →Isonzo and →Piave: 319.
SPECIAL RELATIONSHIP (“Nibelungentreue”): 93, 122, 139, 174f, 251, 313, 325, 347, 378, 420, 428, 520, 525, 592.
SPIELBERG, notorious fortress on mountain above Brno (Brünn, Map E3); the “jailer” is Emperor Franz I: 380.
SPITZER, Emil (b. 1878), author of Kriegslieder aus Österreich-Ungarns und Deutschlands grösster Zeit (9th ed., 1916) (War songs from Austria-Hungary and Germany’s →age of grandeur): 234, 237.
SPITZY, Hans (1872–1956), professor of orthopaedics: 234f.
STADTPARK, popular park with café in Kursalon (Plan D4): 102, 489.
STANISLAU (Map G3), in →Galicia, railway bridgehead held in several major battles (1915–16), occupied by Russians during →Brusilov offensive, retaken by Central Powers (July 1917): 358.
“STARGAZER, STARGAZER” (“Sterngucker, Sterngucker — nimm dich in Acht”), song from operetta Der Sterngucker (1916), music by →Franz Lehár and libretto by Fritz Löhner (1883–1942), starring →Hubert Marischka: 167, 491.
STARHEMBERG (“Pipsi”), probably Prince Ernst Rüdiger von (1861–1927), chamberlain and privy councillor, member of Upper House: 121.
STEEL BATH, the invigorating mineral waters of a spa (such as Stahlbad Imnau, founded 1773); perverted into a militaristic metaphor (attributed to Hindenburg) to suggest the “steeling” of character in war, supposedly an antidote to the neurasthenia caused by modern living: 57, 75, 119, 265f, 519f, 533.
STERNBERG, Count Adalbert (“Montschi”, 1868–1930), officer, writer, favourite of →Neue Freie Presse: 122.