25/10/1918 Hungarian leaders demand the return of their troops as the Austro-Hungarian army calls for an armistice

Military collapse is feeding the centrifugal forces tearing apart the Austro-Hungarian Empire. As Serbian and other Allied troops push up the Balkans, Hungarian leaders in Budapest increasingly fear invasion of their outlying territories. They fear also that Romania may re-enter the war and launch another invasion of Transylvania. So that Hungarian territory can be defended they they call for the recall of Hungarian troops from the Italian front. Meanwhile on the streets of Budapest increasingly rowdy demonstrations are demanding a new government, led by Mihály Károlyi, a radical nationalist who has long advocated an end to the war and the democratisation of Hungary.

In Italy the Austro-Hungarian army is falling apart. Frontline troops are continuing to resist Italian attacks on Monte Grappa, but the army as a whole is wracked by indiscipline many units mutinying or disintegrating through mass desertion. Logistical failures mean that the army is close to…