According to legends, in 1914 there was significant war enthusiasm in the Monarchy. The young men enthusiastically shook their fists: then we will show Serbia and half the world what the truth is! I have no doubt that it was so, as the many films, press memorabilia, pictures and some badges bear witness to this. Knowing the consequences, all this is strange and dissonant in retrospect. After the two world wars, today’s people think about war differently than the young people of 1914.
In any case, the few badges that the manufacturers made for the enlistment, and even before that, for the muster, also belong to the World War cap badge collections. The piece presented now was certainly made at this time, as it shows the portraits of the two allied rulers together. The ornate badge with a pendant was certainly only attached to the clothes and hat until the young man took on the buckskin. So, after the enlistment, these fragile little badges must have spent the following decades in a desk drawer or sewing box, until they were once again in a dignified environment and company in a collection.