Editing Zita of Bourbon-Parma (section)

===End of Empire===
By this time, the war was closing in on the embattled Emperor. A Union of Czech Deputies had already sworn an oath to a new Czechoslovak state independent of the [[Habsburg Empire]] on 13 April 1918, the prestige of the [[German Army]] had taken a severe blow at the [[Battle of Amiens (1918)|Battle of Amiens]], and, on 25 September 1918, Zita's brother-in-law [[King Ferdinand I of Bulgaria]] broke away from his allies in the [[Central Powers]] and sued for peace independently. Zita was with Charles when he received the telegram announcing [[Bulgaria]]'s collapse. She remembered it "made it even more urgent to start peace talks with the [[Western Powers]] while there was still something to talk about."<ref name="Brook-Shepherd"/>{{Rp|111}} On 16 October, the Emperor issued a "People's Manifesto" proposing the empire be restructured on federal lines with each nationality gaining its own state. Instead, each nation broke away and the empire effectively dissolved.<ref name="Brook-Shepherd"/>{{Rp|113–115}}

Leaving behind their children at [[Gödöllő]], Charles and Zita travelled to the Schönbrunn Palace. By this time ministers had been appointed by the new state of "German-Austria", and by 11 November, together with the Emperor's spokesmen, they prepared a manifesto for Charles to sign.<ref name="Brook-Shepherd"/>{{Rp|121–130}} Zita, at first glance, mistook it for an abdication and made her famous statement:
{{cquote|A sovereign can never abdicate. He can be deposed... All right. That is force. But abdicate – never, never, never! I would rather fall here at your side. Then there would be Otto. And even if all of us here were killed, there would still be other Habsburgs!<ref name="Brook-Shepherd"/>{{Rp|130}}}}

Charles gave his permission for the document to be published, and he, his family and the remnants of his Court departed for the Royal shooting lodge at [[Eckartsau]], close to the borders with [[Hungary]] and [[Slovakia]].<ref name="Brook-Shepherd"/>{{Rp|132}} The [[Republic of German-Austria]] was proclaimed the next day.