After Italy declared war, Poland, Serbia, Romania, and West Ukraine followed suit, declaring war on the Great Austrian United Republic in name while nibbling away at Austro-Hungarian Empire territory.
They had originally all feared the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Germany, but the emergence of the Great Austrian United Republic gave them a perfect excuse to go to war. Now that this war had donned the outer garment of "suppressing the Labor Party," it possessed legitimacy.
Within the Austro-Hungarian Empire, multiple governments had also emerged. Both the Austro-Hungarian Empire Government and the United Government claimed legitimacy and professed to represent the entire nation, while several local governments seized the opportunity to declare independence.
Germany, Berlin.
Prime Minister Adolf was not in a good mood. Although the chaos within the Austro-Hungarian Empire had provided Germany with an excellent opportunity to annex Austria, events had now developed beyond his expectations.
Inside the Chancellery, Adolf gave Heinrich a thorough dressing-down before saying, "Your Intelligence Department's work has been severely lacking."
"This so-called Great Austrian United Government has completely thrown our plans into disarray."
Adolf had originally intended to support the German National Party within the Austro-Hungarian Empire, strengthening Germany's infiltration there and thereby helping Germany fulfill its ambition of annexing the entire Austro-Hungarian Empire.
But Vienna had now fallen into the Labor Party's hands, and they had established a United Government. The crucial point was that this United Government was nationwide in scope and hostile toward Germany.
"Why did the Austrian National Party fail to act before the upheaval in Vienna? How did they allow Vienna to fall directly into the Labor Party's hands?"
Faced with the prime minister's questioning, Heinrich explained, "Your Excellency, the changes in the Austro-Hungarian Empire's situation were indeed partly our responsibility. But the main reason was that events changed too