Joseph August of Austria

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Archduke Joseph August of Austria
Colonel General Joseph August of Austria, 1917

Archduke Joseph August Viktor Klemens Maria of Austria (* 9. August 1872 in Alcsút , Hungary , † 6. July 1962 in Straubing , Germany) was a member of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine and imperial field marshal during World War II. He came from the Hungarian branch of the House of Habsburg-Lothringen, which went back to Archduke Joseph († 1847) .

Life

Josef was the eldest son of Archduke Joseph Karl Ludwig of Austria (1833–1905) and Princess Clotilde of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (1846–1927). His grandfather Archduke Joseph (1776–1847) was a Palatine of Hungary, his father was an Austro- Hungarian General of the Cavalry and also lived mainly in Hungary.

Military career until the First World War

After attending the Benedictine grammar school in Raab , he joined Infantry Regiment 1 and became a lieutenant on April 26, 1890 , and on March 24, 1891 he received the Order of the Golden Fleece (Knight of the Order No. 1083). After transferring to Infantry Regiment No. 72, he became a first lieutenant on October 27, 1893 . From 1894 he served in the Dragoon Regiment No. 6 and rose to Rittmeister on January 1, 1898 . In 1902 he joined the Hungarian Honvéd Army after approval by Emperor Franz Joseph , and on May 1, 1902, he was promoted to major . In addition to his military career, he studied law at the University of Budapest .

On November 1, 1903, he was promoted to lieutenant colonel , in July 1904 he took over command of Hussar Regiment No. 1. On April 28, he became the owner of Dragoon Regiment No. 15 , and on May 1, 1905, the associated promotion took place to the colonel . After his promotion to major general on November 1, 1908, he was given command of the 79th Infantry Brigade. On September 20, 1911, he was honored by the Emperor with the Bronze Military Merit Medal, the Signum Laudis . At the beginning of April 1911 he was commander of the 31st Infantry Division in Budapest , on March 1, 1911 he was promoted to Lieutenant Field Marshal .

As a military leader in the First World War

Kostanjevica na Krasu , monument in honor of Archduke Joseph August (left) and the so-called " Boroević Throne" (right)

At the beginning of the war in August 1914, his division was with the kuk IV Corps (under General of the Cavalry Karl Tersztyanszky ) on the Danube front opposite Serbia . At the end of August, the 31st Division of the 2nd Army was transferred to Galicia and took part in the Battle of Lemberg south of Grodek . On October 25, 1914 he received the Order of the Iron Crown 1st Class and was promoted to General of the Cavalry on November 1, 1914 . At the end of October 1914 he handed over the 31st division to Lieutenant Field Marshal Kasimir von Lütgendorf and on November 18, 1914, he succeeded General Andreas von Fail-Griessler as commanding general of the kuk VII Army Corps. The corps fought with the 17th and 20th Infantry Divisions in the Association of the 2nd Army under Böhm-Ermolli in the Carpathians . His eldest son Archduke Joseph Franz also served in Galicia, he was Rittmeister in Hussar Regiment No. 7 and was awarded the silver medal of bravery at the end of the war.

After Italy entered the war, the VII Corps was relocated in May 1915, first to the Carinthian border and finally to the Isonzo front. Deployed on the southern section of the Austro-Hungarian 5th Army , the corps was the focus of the Isonzo battles . It alternately defended the positions on Monte San Michele, on the Wippach and on the Doberdo Plateau. Archduke Joseph August was promoted to Colonel General on November 1, 1916 and handed over his corps to General Georg Schariczer von Rény on November 22 .

180th doctorate of the Military Maria Theresa Order on August 17, 1917 in the Villa Wartholz (Archduke Joseph August is on the far right)

On December 2, 1916, he took over the Army Group in the Eastern Carpathians , which had been given up by the newly crowned Emperor Karl and which has now been renamed "Archduke Joseph Army Group". Colonel-General Joseph remained on the front in Moldova for the whole of 1917 until January 15, 1918, when the armistice with Romania came . On May 30, 1917 he was awarded the Pour le Mérite for his services and the Commander's Cross of the Order of Maria Theresa on August 17, followed by the oak leaves for the Pour le Mérite on March 26, 1918. In January 1918 he took command of the Austro-Hungarian 6th Army , which he led in the central section during the Battle of the Piave in June 1918.

On July 15, 1918, he took over the Tyrolean Army Group , between Lake Garda and the Grappa massif , made up of the Austro-Hungarian 10th and 11th Army. During the Battle of Vittorio Veneto , he handed over the Army Group to Field Marshal Alexander von Krobatin on October 26, 1918 .

On October 24, 1918, Emperor Karl I appointed Archduke Joseph August as field marshal as the last soldier in the Austro-Hungarian Army . Two days later, on October 26, 1918, the same monarch (now as Hungarian King Charles IV) appointed him homo regius , his deputy in Hungary, because of the unrest due to the constant presence of a monarchical decision-maker in the swearing-in of the government appointed by the king Karolyi , who proclaimed the republic on November 16, 1918, after the king had renounced any share in government affairs on November 13.

After the First World War

In the time of the Soviet Republic he called himself "Joseph von Alcsút". After the restoration of the monarchy, he was Reichsverweser from August 7 to 23, 1919 , followed by Vice Admiral Miklós Horthy . Archduke Joseph August became the first knight of the Hungarian order Vitézi Rend in August 1920 .

Archduke Joseph August of Austria and his wife Archduchess Auguste

Culturally interested and gifted, he received honorary doctorates from the Universities of Budapest and Kolozsvar (Klausenburg / Cluj ) and was President of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences from 1936 to 1944 . Among other things, a large diamond in his possession, the Archduke Joseph Diamond , with an estimated value of 15 million dollars in 2012, became known.

At the end of the Second World War , Joseph August left Alcsút Castle (like most of the Habsburgs of the Hungarian line living in Hungary) and fled to the USA at the end of 1944 . A short time later he came to Germany , where he first found shelter in Regensburg with his sister Margarethe Klementine Princess von Thurn und Taxis . Most family members lived (and died) in Germany after World War II. Joseph August died on July 6, 1962 at the age of 89 in Rain / Straubing, Germany. At this point in time he was the last remaining Austro-Hungarian field marshal.

Only after the turnaround and turning away from communism was it possible to bury family members (who died outside of Hungary) of the Hungarian branch of the House of Habsburg in the Palatine Crypt in Budapest. The remains of Joseph August and his wife Augusta Maria Luisa von Bayern (* 1875, † 1964) were transferred to Hungary in 1992 and reburied in the Palatine Crypt.

progeny

Archduke Joseph August married Princess Auguste Maria Luise of Bavaria (1875–1964) on November 15, 1893, daughter of Field Marshal Prince Leopold of Bavaria and Archduchess Gisela of Austria . They had six children:

Austrian military awards (as of December 31, 1918)

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ The former Archduke Josef as ruler of Hungary. In:  Neue Freie Presse , Abendblatt, August 7, 1919, p. 1 (online at ANNO ).Template: ANNO / Maintenance / nfp
  2. ^ The former Archduke Josef as ruler of Hungary. In:  Neue Freie Presse , Abendblatt, August 7, 1919, p. 1 (online at ANNO ).Template: ANNO / Maintenance / nfp
  3. ^ The official report on the resignation .. In:  Neue Freie Presse , Morgenblatt, August 24, 1919, p. 2, middle (online at ANNO ).Template: ANNO / Maintenance / nfp
  4. ↑ Auctioned by Christie's: $ 15 million for a clunker. In: Spiegel Online . October 3, 2012, accessed October 4, 2012 .
personal data
SURNAME Joseph August of Austria
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Joseph August Viktor Klemens Maria of Austria
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian archduke and officer
DATE OF BIRTH August 9, 1872
PLACE OF BIRTH Alcsút, Hungary
DATE OF DEATH July 6, 1962
Place of death Straubing