Friedrich of Austria-Teschen

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Archduke Friedrich Maria Albrecht Wilhelm Karl of Austria , Duke of Teschen (born June 4, 1856 in Groß Seelowitz , Moravia ; † December 30, 1936 in Hungarian-Altenburg / Magyaróvár, today Mosonmagyaróvár , Hungary ) was an Austro-Hungarian field marshal , military leader in the First World War I , landowners and entrepreneurs.

Archduke Friedrich (1916)
Archduke Friedrich in his younger years

Pre-war period

His parents were Karl Ferdinand von Habsburg and Elisabeth Franziska Maria von Österreich (1831–1903), daughter of Joseph Anton Johann von Austria . Friedrich was the heir of his uncle and adoptive father, Archduke Albrecht von Österreich-Teschen , who, in addition to a huge fortune, also owned the Archduke Albrecht Palace and its collection in Vienna . Both his father and mother were grandsons of Emperor Leopold II , who is or was Friedrich's two-time great-grandfather.

In 1874 Friedrich began his military career. Since October 8, 1878 he was married to Princess Isabella von Croy-Dülmen (1856–1931); the couple had nine children. When a son was born to the couple after eight daughters in 1897, Friedrich founded a neo-Gothic votive church in Albertkázmérpuszta ( Albrecht-Kasimir ) on his Hungarian property within sight of today's eastern border of Austria. On December 10th of that year he appointed Count Anatol of Bigot de Saint-Quentin to be his chief steward .

Friedrich was an avid supporter of the Imperial and Royal Army Museum (now the Army History Museum ) in Vienna. After Crown Prince Rudolf's suicide in 1889, Friedrich took over his chairmanship and protectorate of the committee established in 1885, which was responsible for the creation and organization of the museum. Under his patronage, the museum was opened on May 25, 1891 by Emperor Franz Joseph and put to use.

Heir to the throne of Franz Ferdinand's unequal wife Sophie (married in 1900) was previously the lady- in- waiting to Friedrich's wife Isabella. Their discovery that Franz Ferdinand was not a daughter of Frederick, but Countess Chotek, was often a guest of Friedrich in Pressburg in the Grassalkovich Palace , triggered a scandal.

He acquired large estates in Véghles , Topolovac and Klachau - Wörschach for the inherited estates, namely the Duchy of Teschen , the lords of Hungarian Altenburg and Bellye , the allodial estates Saybusch , Seelowitz and Friedek . In 1905 Friedrich moved with his family from Pressburg to Vienna and lived in the Archduke Albrecht's palace, which he expanded generously. He became general troop inspector and in 1907 head of the kk Landwehr .

Archduke Friedrich of Austria, 1914. The Army Commander signed this PR postcard with the abbreviation “FM” (Field Marshal) and, normally unusual among the Habsburgs, with his Archduke title. He was depicted with the Order of the Golden Fleece , the house order of the dynasty, and the Prussian Iron Cross . The note in the field was added to the left.
Archduke Friedrich (center) visiting the Przemysl fortress after it was reconquered in June 1915
Friedrich's marshal baton and the order of
December 2, 1916 in the Army History Museum

First World War

Friedrich was supposed to resign from his command in 1914 because of his disharmony with Franz Ferdinand. After the assassination of the heir to the throne in the assassination attempt in Sarajevo , the 84-year-old Emperor Franz Joseph appointed Friedrich as Commander-in-Chief in the event of war on July 5, 1914 . With the mobilization he finally took up this position (Army Commander) on July 31, 1914. Nominally he was at the head of the army and the kuk Kriegsmarine, but the management of the operations actually lay with the chief of the general staff Franz Conrad von Hötzendorf . Both had already met in 1871 as lieutenants in the 11th Feldjäger Battalion.

On December 8, 1914, the Kaiser appointed Friedrich Field Marshal . The exact date of his appointment as army commander can not be determined from the official Wiener Zeitung , which otherwise contained all the promotions of officers. On July 14, 1914, she published a letter from the Kaiser to Friedrich dated July 12, in which he was relieved of the Landwehr High Command and, as the highest- ranking army inspector, was placed at the disposition of the Supreme Command . On August 21, 1914, meanwhile the First World War had begun, it printed a letter from Friedrich dated August 18, in which the Archduke, as Army Commander-in-Chief , to whom the entire land and naval forces of the monarchy are subordinate, to the Kaiser on behalf of all soldiers 84th birthday congratulations. The appointment must therefore have been made between July 13 and August 17, 1914.

However, as the Kaiser had agreed with Friedrich, the actual management of the operations was incumbent on the Chief of the General Staff , General Franz Conrad von Hötzendorf ; the German allies assessed Friedrich as a figurehead, as he was not always fully informed by his chief of staff.

At the beginning of the war, the War Surveillance Office (KÜA) was founded under the patronage of the Army High Command (AOK) to protect the armed forces against external and internal enemies. The office harbored enormous distrust, especially of the Slavic nationalities. The AOK, headed by Archduke Friedrich, sought to persuade the two Prime Ministers, Karl Stürgkh and Stephan Tisza , that civil administration in the Slavic countries of both halves of the empire had to be abolished.

After his accession to the throne, Emperor Karl I himself assumed command of the army, which was tantamount to dismissing Archduke Friedrich. On December 2, 1916, the new sovereign proclaimed in a short order of the day that he would take over direct command of all land and naval forces of the monarchy “in the exercise of his sovereign rights”. The rumors that Archduke Friedrich resented his dismissal were not true. He himself had discussed the issue of handing over command in the last few weeks of the Franz Joseph government with Karl.

On February 11, 1917, the emperor relieved Friedrich of his current function as deputy army commander and placed him at the disposal of my supreme command . Friedrich then lived in Pressburg and Halbturn , (at that time) both in old Hungary.

On November 13, 1918, one day after the proclamation of the republic in German-Austria , the Viennese police reported on the mood in the capital: In particular, Archduke Friedrich was criticized for his inability as an army commander, for his alleged avarice and for the immense loud war profits, which are said to have accrued to him through the latifundia and industrial plants in his possession .

Above all, the biting ridicule and sharp criticism with which the satirist Karl Kraus illustrates the intellectual and moral qualities of the Austrian ruling elite in the First World War in his drama The Last Days of Mankind apply to him . On the other hand, Ludwig Ganghofer , who spread patriotic sentiment during the war, described Friedrich as a lovable and benevolent prince of calm simplicity and benevolent humanity .

Monument to Archduke Frederick in Mosonmagyaróvar

Field Marshal Conrad remembers differently: […] it is significant that I […] did not receive the smallest souvenir. […] Nothing from Archduke Friedrich apart from a few amateur photographs, not even a minor souvenir. [...] During my long and serious illness [...] I have not received a question of my well-being, of regret or a wish for recovery from any member of the imperial family. Not even from Archduke Friedrich, whose Chief of the General Staff I was in the World War for two and a half years [...].

In the 1919 Treaty of Saint-Germain , Articles 173–176 stipulated that Austria had to hand over to the victorious powers persons who had violated the laws and customs of war . These people should be tried in military courts . Archduke Friedrich was also on the war crimes lists sent to Austria by Czechoslovakia , the state of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, and Italy . The extradition request was never granted.

Archduchess Elisabeth Franziska with her son Archduke Friedrich, Duke of Teschen and his wife Princess Isabella von Croy-Dülmen and their daughters, Queen Maria Christina Desirée of Spain and Queen Maria Theresia of Bavaria
Archduke Friedrich's wife Isabella von Croy-Dülmen

Expropriation in Austria, retirement home in Hungary

Archduke Friedrich had transferred a considerable part of his property to a foundation, the Archduke Friedrich Fideikommiss . As far as it was located in the territory of the Republic of Austria (excluding Burgenland ), it was expropriated in favor of the state with the Habsburg Law of 1919. Friedrich lost his Viennese residence, the Albertina , with its huge graphic collection to the state. However, he was able to keep items of furniture that were in his personal property (tables, armchairs, chandeliers, carpets, clocks, boxes, etc.) and take them with him.

Since he avoided professing himself to be a “loyal citizen of the republic” according to the Habsburg law, he had to leave Austria. Frederick's dominions in what is now Czechoslovakia and Poland - Teschen Chamber in the former Austrian Silesia and Seelowitz in Moravia - as well as in the state of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes - Béllye at the confluence of the Drava into the Danube - were expropriated by these states. Friedrich Habsburg-Lothringen moved to his rule in Hungarian Altenburg , not far from Pressburg on the southern bank of the Danube.

In this small town, from which he managed the rest of his property (he was also one of the major landowners in the smaller Hungary), Habsburg-Lothringen held the patronage of the Roman Catholic parish church and was regarded as the city's first citizen . When the annexation of German-West Hungary to Austria, as envisaged in the peace treaties with Austria in 1919 and Hungary in 1920, required a new demarcation between the two states, Habsburg-Lorraine and his wife, as far as the Seewinkel east of Lake Neusiedl is concerned, in the interests of his property in influenced the Hungarian proposals and demands on Austria in this area.

In 1926 he sued the Polish government for the return of his possessions in Polish Silesia to the extent of about forty thousand hectares .

Habsburg-Lothringen was founded in 1936 in Hungarian Altenburg (West Hungary) in the parish church “St. Gotthard ”is buried next to his wife, who died in 1931. At his funeral u. a. the Hungarian ruler Admiral Miklós Horthy participated.

progeny

⚭ 1902 Prince Emanuel Alfred zu Salm-Salm (1871–1916)
⚭ 1903 Duke Elias of Bourbon-Parma (1880–1959)
⚭ 1908 Prince Gottfried zu Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst (1867–1932)
  • Natalie (1884–1898)
  • Stephanie (1886-1890)
  • Gabriele (1887–1954)
  • Isabella (1888–1973)
⚭ 1912–1913: Prince Georg Franz Josef of Bavaria (1880–1943)
⚭ 1920 Friedrich Heinrich Freiherr Waldbott von Bassenheim (1889–1959)
⚭ 1930–1937: Irene Dora Lelbach (1897–1985)
⚭ 1938–1951: Katalin Bocskay de Felsö-Bánya (1909–2000)
⚭ 1951–1955: Lydia Strauss-Dörner (1930–1998).

literature

Web links

Commons : Friedrich von Österreich-Teschen  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Heeresgeschichtliches Museum (Ed.): 100 Years of the Heeresgeschichtliches Museum. Known and unknown about its history. Heeresgeschichtliches Museum, Vienna 1991, p. 8 f.
  2. ^ Friedrich Weissensteiner: Franz Ferdinand. The prevented ruler. Österreichischer Bundesverlag, Vienna 1983, p. 121 ff.
  3. ↑ Imperiale Reisen (PDF; 3.3 MB) accessed on May 27, 2010.
  4. ↑ Brigitte Hamann, Georg Hamann: The Habsburgs: A biographical lexicon. Edited by Brigitte Hamann. Revised, supplemented and corrected e-book edition. Edited and with a foreword by Georg Hamann, Amalthea Signum Verlag, July 7, 2016
  5. ^ Franz Conrad von Hötzendorf: From my service time , Vol. 4, Vienna / Leipzig / Munich 1923, p. 230.
  6. ↑ Felix Czeike (Ed.): Historisches Lexikon Wien in five volumes, Volume 2, Vienna 1993, p. 415.
  7. ^ Zbynek A. Zeman: The collapse of the Habsburg Empire 1914–1918. Verlag für Geschichte und Politik, Vienna 1963 (Original edition: The Break-Up of the Habsburg Empire. Oxford University Press, Oxford 1961)
  8. ↑ Gordon Brook-Shepherd: To Crown and Empire. The tragedy of the last Habsburg emperor. Molden, Vienna / Munich / Zurich 1968, p. 73 (original edition: The Last Habsburg).
  9. ↑ Handwriting from the Kaiser dated February 11, 1917, quoted after the war press headquarters sent out on February 15, 1917
  10. ^ Report of the Vienna Police Department of November 13, 1918 on the mood of the Viennese. In: Rudolf Neck (ed.): Austria in 1918. Reports and documents. Oldenbourg Verlag, Munich 1968, p. 155.
  11. ↑ cf. for example Karl Kraus, Die last Tage der Menschheit , Frankfurt / Main 1986 (= Schriften, Vol. 10), p. 365 f. (III 23) and Die Fackel , Vienna, XXII. Year, No. 551, August 1920
  12. ↑ Ludwig Ganghofer: Die Front im Osten , quoted from Archived Copy ( Memento of the original from July 14, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.wissen-im-netz.info
  13. ↑ Archduke Friedrich was very popular in Moonmagyarovár because of his charity. That is why a monument was erected to him in 2006 by the Hungarian sculptor Iván Paulikovics (* 1953 in Budapest).
  14. ^ Franz Conrad von Hötzendorf: Private records . First publications from the papers of the kuk general staff chief, ed. by Kurt Peball, Amalthea, Vienna / Munich 1977.
  15. ↑ Hans Hautmann: The crimes of the Austro-Hungarian army in the First World War and their failure to cope with them after 1918 , paper at the 23rd annual meeting of the American "German Studies Association" in Atlanta, 7. – 10. October 1999, quoted from Ludwig Ganghofer - The Front in the East ( Memento of the original from March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / doewweb01.doew.at
  16. ^ Website of the Albertina
  17. ↑ Report of the Provincial Administrator for Burgenland, Section Head Dr. Norbert Davy, on the memorandum of the Hungarian government of August 4, 1921. In: Eduard Hochenbichler: Republic in the shadow of the monarchy. Burgenland, a European problem. Europa-Verlag, Vienna 1971, p. 133.
  18. ↑ abroad. The former Archduke Friederich sued the Polish government. In: Badener Zeitung , November 6, 1926, p. 8, bottom left [1]
personal data
SURNAME Friedrich of Austria-Teschen
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Friedrich of Austria
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian archduke, military leader and entrepreneur
DATE OF BIRTH June 4, 1856
PLACE OF BIRTH Židlochovice
DATE OF DEATH December 30, 1936
Place of death Mosonmagyaróvár , Hungary