Arthur Arz von Straussenburg

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Arthur Arz von Straussenburg , from 1917 Baron Arz von Straussenburg (born June 16, 1857 in Sibiu , Austrian Empire , † July 1, 1935 in Budapest , Kingdom of Hungary ), was an Austro-Hungarian professional officer (most recently in the rank of Colonel General ) and during of the First World War 1917/18 Chief of Staff of the Austro-Hungarian Army .

Arthur Arz von Straussenburg, 1917

Origin and youth

Arthur Arz von Straussenburg, from a Protestant pastor's family, was born in 1857 as the son of postmaster Karl Gustav Arz von Straussenburg (1831-1893) and his wife Louise, née Louise. Pfaffenhuber was born in Sibiu. The noble family belonged to the Transylvanian Saxons , the German-speaking minority of Transylvania , at that time part of the multi-ethnic state Empire Austria , since 1867 Austria-Hungary . His father was a highly respected man who (like Baron Arz later ) belonged to the Hungarian magnate house (upper house).

The young Arz completed his school career in Dresden and Hermannstadt and graduated with great success . After that, he decided law to study, however, made before military service as a one-year volunteer . In 1876/77 he served as a reserve lieutenant in a Hungarian military police battalion .

Career as a professional officer

During this time, Arz changed his career plans and joined the common army to pursue the career of an officer .

From 1885 to 1887 he attended the Austro-Hungarian War School in Vienna and was then assigned to the Army General Staff because of his outstanding achievements as a staff officer . Soon he was promoted to captain and in 1895 assigned to the newly appointed General Troop Inspector Feldzeugmeister Anton von Schönfeld as adjutant , which he remained until his death in early 1898. In 1898 Arz returned to the General Staff , where, with a few exceptions, he was to remain until 1908.

In November 1908, Arz, promoted to major general , left the general staff and took command of the 61st Infantry Brigade. At that time he was considered one of the most promising and competent army officers and received funding from Archduke Eugen . In 1912 he took over the command of the 15th Infantry Troop Division in Miskolc for a short time before he was promoted to Lieutenant Field Marshal in 1913 and transferred to the War Ministry in Vienna. Here he acted as section head , reporting directly to the minister.

First World War

After the outbreak of the First World War in the summer of 1914, Arz remained in the War Ministry for a few weeks before he was assigned to the Eastern Front at the beginning of September and briefly the 15th Infantry Troop Division and shortly thereafter the VI. Corps on the San sector took over. In Galicia he made his first experiences at the front and stood out in the section of the Austro-Hungarian 4th Army in early December, especially in the battle of Limanowa-Lapanow . At the beginning of May 1915 he fought with his troops in the formation of the German 11th Army under General August von Mackensen in the battle of Gorlice-Tarnów and near Grodek , after which he advanced as far as Brest-Litowsk during the Bug Offensive .

180th doctorate of the Military Maria Theresa Order on August 17, 1917 in the Villa Wartholz , where Arz von Straussenburg received the Commander's Cross of this order

Promoted to general of the infantry in September 1915 , his corps was transferred to Bukovina and subordinated to the 7th Army at Horodenka . Attacked by the Russians near Butschatsch in July 1916 during the Brusilov offensive , he saved his corps by being closely associated with the German southern army and was able to stabilize his positions in the Drohobycz area .

At the end of August 1916, after Romania entered the war, Austria-Hungary came under increasing strategic pressure on the part of the Entente . Arz was transferred to Transylvania and given the command of the newly formed 1st Army to repel the advance of the Romanian troops into this area. Upon his arrival at the headquarters of Cluj ( Cluj-Napoca ), he said: I am a army chief without an army. In fact, the 1st Army only had divisions (around 10,000 men) - proof of the overused resources of the Danube Monarchy . With the support of the German 9th Army under General von Falkenhayn , which marched on the mountain ridge of Transylvania , the Central Powers succeeded in repelling the Romanian invasion in the Battle of Kronstadt and finally counter-attacking. Because of his achievements in the Romanian theater of war , Arz won recognition from the heir to the throne, Archduke Charles .

Chief of Staff 1917/1918

Arz (right) with Erich Ludendorff

When Emperor and King Franz Joseph I died on November 21, 1916, Karl I / IV followed him. after, who exchanged both civil and military leadership in the weeks following his accession to the throne. On December 2, 1916, Karl personally assumed the supreme command of the entire armed power , which Archduke Friedrich von Österreich-Teschen had held until then , but subsequently came into conflict with the Chief of Staff, Conrad, who was used to making independent decisions . Due to these differences, the emperor removed Conrad on March 1, 1917 and appointed Arz as his successor on the same day.

This came immediately to the headquarters in Baden near Vienna and took over his new role in the Army High Command (AOK) . He had a completely different style of leadership than the self-confident, ambitious Conrad. Rather, Arz was a loyal advisor to his monarch on military matters and was neutral in political matters. He did not strive for a personal increase in power. Manfried Rauchsteiner judged him as an apolitical, inconspicuous and, above all, a man who was loyal to orders .

The relationship of the chief of staff to the powerful German Supreme Army Command (OHL) under Hindenburg and Ludendorff was far more harmonious than that of his predecessor; Arz was a supporter of the alliance and an admirer of the German army . As a result, the German OHL gained more influence over military operations in the dual monarchy; increasingly a problem for the Austro-Hungarian decision-makers, especially for the monarch himself. The peace efforts of Emperor Charles were not supported by the German ally. However, the increased German support also led to military successes in the summer and autumn of 1917 (defense of the Kerensky offensive and victory of Karfreit ).

Arz von Straussburg's coat of arms, awarded in 1917 after he was promoted to Hungarian baron

On April 19, 1917, as a Hungarian nobleman, awarded the title of baron by the monarch and on August 17, 1917 with the Military Order of Maria Theresa and promoted to Colonel General on February 9, 1918 , Arz, under pressure from the OHL, planned a final in the summer of 1918 Battle against Italy . But the planning turned out to be problematic, as both Field Marshal Conrad and Field Marshal Boroevic wanted to lead the main thrust of the offensive, which ultimately led to the failure of the operation in June 1918. In response, Arz took full responsibility for the failure and offered the emperor his resignation, which he refused.

In his biography, Arz later denied Austro-Hungarian expansion efforts. Conquests would have disturbed the balance that had been maintained “if necessary”. The existence of the monarchy was threatened with decay due to changes in its composition in the course of annexations, which is why the sole aim of the war was to maintain the monarchy.

Internally, he took a different position in a letter to Foreign Minister Burián in July 1918 :

“The winner has the right to determine the consequences of his victory according to his judgment and his own discretion. And we are the winners on the Balkan Peninsula ... The solution of the Yugoslav question goes hand in hand with our war aims in the Balkans. It will have to be resolved, which, in my opinion, is entirely possible only within the framework of the monarchy. I can only see the elimination of the greater Serbian danger in the fact that an independent Serbian nation-state is not allowed to arise again and that the monarchy incorporates this people into its union. Only this radical solution to the question can protect the monarchy from new crises and entanglements. "

Arz von Straussenburg, portrait of Hugo von Bouvard (Vienna, Heeresgeschichtliches Museum )

Arz wanted to convert Albania's status as friendly, neutral foreign countries into the status of a hostile and conquered area, above all in order to have more requisition opportunities in the country. On July 21, 1918, he demanded an equivalent from Burián for the disproportionately large sacrifices in personnel and material for the occupation of Albania. But this equivalent could not possibly be seen in a protectorate . As an independent state, Albania must have direct borders with the monarchy and be established with it through constitutional ties . Since, in the opinion of Arz, the victor on the Balkan Peninsula will be the monarchy, it is up to it to steer the future in certain directions by taking anticipatory measures.

Obituary notice for Artur Baron Arz von Straussenburg
Grave of Arz von Straussburg in the Budapest New Cemetery

Arz even advocated a protectorate of the monarchy in Armenia . He saw no disadvantage for the monarchy in sending weak Austro-Hungarian forces to the Caucasus. An engagement in the Caucasus seemed to be beneficial to both the great power prestige and the economic interests of the monarchy; - above all securing a share in Baku's oil . On August 9, Arz declared himself ready to send two to three battalions to Armenia in view of the great importance of the extraction of raw materials from the Caucasus .

But that did not happen because of the course of the war. The Entente had gained the upper hand after the USA entered the war and at the end of October 1918 the Austro-Hungarian Real Union broke up and the front-line army disbanded. Arz declared that the army could no longer continue the war and advised Charles I to armistice in order to prevent unnecessary bloodshed. The emperor resigned the supreme command on the night of November 3rd and wanted to appoint Arz as his successor. But the latter refused to be responsible for signing the armistice, which threatened the German alliance partner, and asked the emperor to replace Field Marshal Kövess as commander in chief, which he did. On November 3, 1918, the armistice of Villa Giusti came into effect under chaotic circumstances, as a result of which almost 350,000 Austrian soldiers fell into Italian captivity .

After the war

After the end of the war, the former Austro-Hungarian army was demobilized by the monarch on November 6, 1918 and disbanded completely. Arz resigned from active duty and was forced to settle in Vienna (he lived according to Lehmann's address book: 3., Esteplatz 5). His Transylvanian homeland had meanwhile become Romanian territory, and Romania, as a former enemy of the war, refused to allow him to return.

According to constitutional law, Arz was a Hungarian citizen, but both Hungary and Romania refused to grant him pension payments , which is why he had to live in poor conditions despite donations and contributions from a fund from former officers. To make matters worse, he had to go through a process, but at the end of which he was acquitted. Arz was accused of having given the order to cease fire on the Italian front too early after the armistice, so that many Austrian soldiers were still captured in Italy.

It was not until 1926 that his financial situation changed when he accepted Hungary's pension offer, which was, however, linked to the condition that he always collect the pension personally in Budapest .

In Vienna he wrote his memoirs and war experiences without self-justification or political views. While in Budapest to redeem his pension, he suffered a heart attack and died on July 1, 1935. He was buried with the highest military honors in the Kerepescher Cemetery in Budapest. His remains were later transferred to the Budapest New Cemetery , where his grave is still located today.

Fonts

  • On the history of the Great War 1914-1918. Records. Rikola-Verlag, Vienna 1924 (reprint of the original edition: Akad. Druck- u. Verl. Anst. Graz 1969).
  • Battle and overthrow of the empires. Günther Publishing House, Vienna 1935.

literature

Web links

Commons : Arthur Arz von Straussenburg  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Hungarian ennobling than bouquet burgi báró Arz Artúr. In German-language documents, the baron was named Freiherr.
  2. ^ Gustav Adolf Metnitz:  Arz von Straussenburg, Arthur. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 1, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1953, ISBN 3-428-00182-6 , p. 405 ( digitized version ).
    Arz was a Hungarian citizen from 1867 and used his first name without the silent h (see party slip); In German-language texts, however, it is mostly written with an h. From 1917 on he held the Hungarian baron title, which is often reproduced as baron in German-language texts.
  3. ^ Daily newspaper Wiener Zeitung , Vienna, No. 51, March 4, 1917, p. 1, official part
  4. ↑ Manfried Rauchsteiner: The death of the double-headed eagle. Austria-Hungary and the First World War. Böhlau, Vienna / Graz / Cologne 1993, ISBN 3-222-12454-X , p. 431
  5. ^ Daily newspaper Wiener Zeitung , Vienna, No. 95, April 26, 1917, p. 1, official part
  6. ↑ Arno Kerschbaumer: Nobilitations under the reign of Emperor Karl I / IV. Károly király (1916-1921) . Graz 2016, ISBN 978-3-9504153-1-5 , p. 199.
  7. ^ Daily newspaper Wiener Zeitung , Vienna, No. 50, March 2, 1918, p. 1, official part
  8. ↑ Arthur Albert Arz: On the history of the Great War 1914-1918. Records . Vienna 1924 (reprint of the original edition: Graz 1969), p. 148
  9. ^ Andrej Mitrović: The War Aims of the Central Powers and the Yugoslavia Question 1914-1918 . In: Adam Wandruszka, Richard G. Plaschka, Anna M. Drabek (eds.): The Danube Monarchy and the South Slavic Question from 1848 to 1918. Texts from the first Austrian-Yugoslav historians' meeting in Gösing 1976. Vienna 1978, pp. 137-172, here : P. 150.
  10. ^ Helmut Schwanke: On the history of the Austro-Hungarian military administration in Albania (1916-1918) . Rough Diss., Vienna 1982, p. 102ff.
  11. ↑ Winfried Baumgart : The "Kaspi Enterprise" - Ludendorff's megalomania or routine planning by the German General Staff? First part: A critical review of the German military intervention in the Caucasus at the end of the First World War. Second part: Documents on the German military intervention in the Caucasus at the end of the First World War. In: Yearbooks for the History of Eastern Europe NF 18 (1970), pp. 47–126 and 231–278, here: pp. 85f. and 249ff. (Text)
  12. ↑ Manfried Rauchsteiner: The death of the double-headed eagle. Austria-Hungary and the First World War. Böhlau, Vienna / Graz / Cologne 1993, ISBN 3-222-12454-X , p. 620.
personal data
SURNAME Arz von Straussenburg, Arthur
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austro-Hungarian officer
DATE OF BIRTH June 16, 1857
PLACE OF BIRTH Sibiu , Austrian Empire
DATE OF DEATH July 1, 1935
Place of death Budapest , Kingdom of Hungary