[1] The Dioscures, in particular Erich Ludendorff, favored solutions designed to ensure that the Reich could set up an economic unit to achieve autarky in Central Europe, reorganized for the benefit of Germany, or failing that, obtain long-term agreements with neighboring states.

[7] Since the summer of 1916, the Central Powers have been under the strict guidance of the Dioscuri, whose actions have tended to be increasingly intrusive in the daily life of the Reich and the Dual Monarchy.

[8][9] Since the failure of the peace resolution in July, the German military have imposed a chancellor in line with their views, Georg Michaelis, a high-ranking civil servant with great technical skills, but without authority or a government program, who initially proved to be "a docile instrument" of the Dioscuri Paul von Hindenburg and Erich Ludendorff.

[10] The dual monarchy appeared totally exhausted by the conflict: the starving population saw its weight and size diminish, while the number of food riots tended to increase in Austrian cities.

[14] Confronted with an increasingly worrying domestic situation, Chancellor Georg Michaelis found himself caught between the Dioscuri and the Reichstag majority in favor of a compromise peace.

[13] In the face of these attacks from the Reichstag, the Chancellor also had to contend with the military, Paul von Hindenburg and Erich Ludendorff, both of whom supported the realization of the Reich's war aims.

According to him, the dual monarchy was bound to emerge totally exhausted from the conflict,[4] but the victorious Reich was destined to become unanimously hated by its neighbors and political and commercial partners.

[14] In return, Czernin managed to negotiate the maintenance of some of the political, economic and commercial positions of the dual monarchy in the Polish regency, which was largely under German trusteeship.

[19] Indeed, the future king, the Germanophile Charles-Étienne de Teschen, was reduced to the rank of "Austrian cherry on top of the Polish cake":[20] the Vienna directives established a "simple personal union without legal connection" between the Kingdom of Poland and the dual monarchy.

However, the issue remained unresolved, as the Dioscuri, and Erich Ludendorff in particular, showed themselves to be staunch advocates of implementing a protectionist policy, ideally to achieve autarky for the economic bloc controlled by the Reich.