1918: Weapons Cache in the Vienna Arsenal
At the end of the war in the autumn of 1918, considerable quantities of munition were stored in the Vienna Arsenal. According to the terms of the Treaty of Saint Germain, weaponry should have been handed over; instead, however, particularly small arms and machine guns were secretly stored in the buildings of the Arsenal. After the end of the grand coalition, a dispute between the Social Democrats and Conservatives erupted over the weapons being kept in the now demilitarised complex, since both parties feared that they might be used in a coup attempt directed against the other.
In 1922, although both sides initially agreed to maintain secrecy and keep the weapons in their hiding places until further notice, the Christian Socialist Minister of Defence, Carl Vaugoin allowed several hiding places to be dug out in the spring of 1927 and handed over the found weapons and arms components to the representatives of the Entente Powers. The Christian Social Party attempted to use the political affair against the Social Democrats in the campaign for a National Council Election, which was coming up in April of the same year, but ultimately failed. In the subsequent period, smaller hiding places were repeatedly found in the Arsenal. The majority of the weapons, however, remained undetected and were only destroyed when the area was bombed during the Second World War.
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