Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces of Austria-Hungary

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The Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Austria-Hungary was the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Power or Wehrmacht of Austria-Hungary until 1918 .

Supreme command

The commander-in-chief was the emperor , the supreme supreme command who communicated with the armed forces through the military chancellery of His Majesty the Emperor and King established on July 11, 1867 . Among their leaders, mostly with the title Adjutant General , were:

Since the disaster in the Sardinian War , Franz Joseph I no longer exercised the function of commander-in-chief personally. Therefore, after Field Marshal Archduke Albrecht's death - who had taken over the office in 1866 from Feldzeugmeister Benedek , the military leader in the Sardinian War - he appointed Archduke Friedrich von Österreich-Teschen as his deputy in 1905 , which reads as follows in the schematic: At the disposition of the Supreme Command - His kuk Highness General of the Infantry and Army Inspector Archduke Friedrich .

In addition to Friedrich, who mainly had ceremonial tasks, Archduke Franz Ferdinand was the heir to the throne in the last years of the monarchy of great influence on their armed power, which he tried to maintain and expand uniformly. After a career as an officer, he was placed at the disposition of the Supreme Command in 1898 to devote himself to the army as a whole and the navy. To this end, he maintained his own military chancellery in the Belvedere Palace in Vienna from 1899 (director December 1905 – autumn 1911: Alexander Brosch von Aarenau , autumn 1911 – June 1914: Carl von Bardolff ), which von Brosch gradually expanded to become a “subsidiary government”. In 1913 the heir to the throne was appointed inspector general of all armed forces by the emperor ; At his request, Franz Joseph I appointed General Conrad as Chief of Staff (1906–1911 and 1912–1 March 1917). The chief of staff, who had been chief of the general staff for all armed power since the reform in 1895 , had the right to present himself to the monarch (without the presence of the minister of war), whereby the chief of staff moved over the ministry of defense as well as the imperial chancellery and the inspectors general were subordinated to this - only the heir to the throne was still superior to him.

At the beginning of the First World War, the Emperor appointed Frederick as Army Commander-in-Chief , as was the custom in times of war to hand over the command to a deserving officer in an emergency. Friedrich held the function until December 2, 1916, when the new Emperor Karl I took over the supreme command himself.

Karl gave up the supreme command at the end of the war so as not to have to sign the surrender himself.

List of commanders in chief

The title given at the time is from December 21, 1867 until November 11, 1918 (demobilization)

Commander in chief

Deputy
  • se. kuk Highness Field Marshal Archduke Friedrich Maria Albrecht of Austria-Teschen (see above)
    • 1914 - December 2, 1916 (→ deputy)
    • Commander in chief of the entire armed force
-
  • se. kuk Highness Field Marshal Archduke Friedrich Maria Albrecht of Austria-Teschen (see above)
    • December 2, 1916 - February 11, 1917 (available for disposition)

literature

Individual evidence

  • Antonio Schmidt-Brentano: The kk or kuk generals 1816-1918 . Ed .: Austrian State Archives. Vienna June 2007 ( pdf , oesta.gv.at - name index with ranking data).
  1. ↑ Supreme Command - His Majesty the Emperor and King - Franz Joseph I. This is the official name of the Commander-in-Chief until 1916.
  2. ↑ a b H. Zeinar: History of the Austrian General Staff . 2006, p. 455 and footnote 336 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
  3. ↑ This is also the official name
  4. ↑ a b H. Zeinar: History of the Austrian General Staff . 2006, p. 416 ( limited preview in Google Book Search - footnote 251). Franz Joseph had already decided in 1908 to entrust his heir with the high command in the event of a decision. H. Zeinar: History of the Austrian General Staff . 2006, p. 455 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
  5. ^ Friedrich Weissensteiner: Franz Ferdinand. The prevented ruler. Österreichischer Bundesverlag, Vienna 1983, ISBN 3-215-04828-0 , p. 200 f.
  6. ↑ a b c d October 31, dissolution of the Joint Army, November 11 demobilization, retirement of the generals on December 1, 1918; For details on the November 1918 command, see:
    Georg Reichlin-Meldegg: Field Marshal Hermann Baron Kövess von Kövessháza . In: Federal Ministry for National Defense and Sport / Austria's Armed Forces (Hrsg.): Troop service . Issue 306, issue 6/2008. Vienna ( bmlv.gv.at ). H. Zeinar:     History of the Austrian General Staff . 2006, Colonel General Arthur Albert Freiherr Arz von Straussenburg - The last Chief of Staff of Austria-Hungary from 1917 to 1918, p.
     292–298 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
  7. ↑ H. Zeinar: history of the Austrian General Staff . 2006, bond to the highest command , p. 544 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
  8. ^ "In the exercise of his sovereign rights", order of the day of December 2, 1916.