Franz Conrad von Hötzendorf
Feldmarschall | |
---|---|
Battles/wars | First World War |
Awards | See below |
Franz Xaver Josef Conrad von Hötzendorf (after 1919 Franz Conrad; 11 November 1852 – 25 August 1925), sometimes anglicised as Hoetzendorf, was an Austrian general who played a central role in World War I. He served as
For years he had repeatedly called for preemptive war against
Conrad was anxious about invading
In March 1917,
Life
Conrad was born in Penzing, a suburb of Vienna, to an Austrian officers' family. His great-grandfather Franz Anton Conrad (1738–1827) had been ennobled and added to his name the nobiliary particle von Hötzendorf as a predicate in 1815, referring to the surname of his first wife who descended from the Bavarian Upper Palatinate region. His father Franz Xaver Conrad (1793–1878) was a retired colonel of Hussars, originally from southern Moravia, who had fought in the Battle of Leipzig and took part in the suppression of the Vienna Uprising of 1848, wherein he was severely wounded.
Conrad married Wilhelmine le Beau (1860–1905) in 1886, with whom he had four sons.
In the latter part of his life, he was known to hold doubts about his fitness for office and occasionally suffered severe bouts of depression. These worsened after the death of his wife in 1905. In 1907, while attending a dinner party in Vienna, Conrad met Virginia von Reininghaus, an Italian aristocrat, and became quickly enamoured. In the weeks following this, he made many attempts to court Reininghaus, despite the fact that she was already married and with six children, which eventually resulted in the two conducting an affair. This illegitimate pairing continued until their marriage in 1915.
Upon his death in 1925, a journal titled "Diary of my Sufferings" was found. The journal compiled over 3,000 letters written to Reininghaus, some over 60 pages in length, detailing the extent of Conrad's love for her. In order to prevent a scandal breaking out from a potential leak, Conrad kept the letters private and they were never sent to their intended recipient.[5]
Military career
Conrad joined the cadet corps of the
In 1878–1879, upon the
Return to command and Chief of Staff
In 1892 he requested transfer back to command and took charge of the 93rd Infantry Regiment at
By the time of his appointment as Chief of Staff for the Austro-Hungarian military forces at the suggestion of the heir to the throne (Thronfolger),
Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria conferred the noble rank of a Freiherr on Conrad in 1910. Conrad's differences with Foreign Minister Alois Lexa von Aehrenthal, who objected several times to Conrad's suggestion of a preventive war with Italy, ultimately led to Conrad's dismissal as Chief of Staff in 1911, partly under the pretext of objection to Conrad's affair with Virginia von Reininghaus, who later became his wife. After Aehrenthal resigned and died the next year, Archduke Franz Ferdinand urged Conrad's re-appointment, which took place during the Balkan Wars in December 1912.
Although Conrad's ideas had considerable impact in the decision making process of the government, especially in the lead-up to the First World War, historian John Leslie describes him as a "loner" who did not easily win friends or influence people and was politically inept.[10]
First World War
Planning
Conrad and his admirers took special pride in his elaborate war plans that were designed individually against various possible opponents, but did not take into account having to fight a two front war against Russia and Serbia simultaneously. His plans were kept secret from his own diplomatic and political leadership—he promised his secret operations would bring quick victory. Conrad assumed far more soldiers than were available, with much better training than they actually had. In practice, his soldiers were inferior to the enemy. His plans were based on railroad timetables from the 1870s, and ignored German warnings that Russia had much improved its own railroad capabilities.[11]
Conrad assumed the war would result in victory in six weeks. He assumed it would take Russia 30 days to mobilize its troops, and he assumed his own armies could be operational against Serbia in two weeks. When the war started, there were repeated delays, which were made worse when Conrad radically changed plans in the middle of mobilization. Russia did much better than expected, mobilizing two thirds of its army within 18 days, and operating 362 trains a day – compared to 153 trains a day by Austria-Hungary.[12]
During the July Crisis upon the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, Conrad was the first proponent of war against the Kingdom of Serbia in response.[10] Germany is thought to have requested an immediate invasion of Serbia, but Conrad delayed for over a month. Many Army units were on leave to harvest crops and not scheduled to return until 25 July. To cancel those leaves would disrupt the harvest and the nation's food supply, scramble complex railroad schedules, alert Europe to Vienna's plans, and give the opposition time to mobilize. Meanwhile, Emperor Franz Joseph went on his long-scheduled three week summer vacation.[13]
Victories and defeats
On 12 August 1914, Conrad sent an army of 400,000 men
After the Germans scored major victories especially at
He urged the new Foreign Minister Stephan Burián von Rajecz to annex the occupied lands, and he continuously intrigued against the Hungarian prime minister István Tisza as well as against the Austrian minister president Count Karl von Stürgkh, whom he considered a fool, though to no avail. In addition, relations with the German Supreme Army Command (OHL) worsened due to the uneasy relationship between Conrad and General Erich von Falkenhayn.
Eased out of power
Following the accession of Emperor Charles I of Austria to the throne in November 1916, Conrad was elevated to the rank of field marshal, one of only three men in Austria-Hungary to hold that rank at the time.[17] While still the heir-apparent, Charles had reported to Emperor Franz Josef that the "mismanagement" in the army's high command could not be cleared out until Conrad was replaced, but admitted that finding someone to take his role would not be easy.[17] Yet under the new emperor, Conrad's powers were gradually eroded. In December, the commander-in-chief Archduke Friedrich of Austria-Teschen was removed from office, which the new emperor assumed himself. Charles took operational control of all combat units in the army and navy and on 1 March 1917 officially dismissed Conrad, who then requested retirement. The emperor personally asked him to remain on active duty, and when Conrad accepted, he was placed in command of the South Tyrolean Army Group.[18]
In the late spring of 1918, the failure of the Austro-Hungarian
Death
After the war, Conrad denied any personal guilt for the outbreak and the results of the war and blamed the Imperial court and politicians for it. Embittered and sickened, he died on 25 August 1925, while taking a cure in Mergentheim, Germany.
When he was buried at
Ennobled as Freiherr, usually translated as Baron, in 1910 and made a Graf, usually translated as count, in 1918, Conrad became simply Franz Conrad-Hötzendorf in April 1919, when the First Austrian Republic abolished nobility for its citizens.[Note 1]
Strategies and performance
Conrad's legacy as a commander remains controversial, with earlier historians regarding him as a military genius, while more recent works characterize him as an utter failure; at least one military historian considered him to be "probably the best strategist of the war."[21] In military matters, Conrad emphasized the importance of aggressive, well-trained infantry and the strategic and tactical offensive.[7] Historian Gunther E. Rothenberg argued that his unrealistically grandiose plans disregarded the realities of terrain and climate, and that the plans which he drew up frequently underestimated the power of the enemy and the potential of quick-firing artillery forces.[22] Conrad refused to take responsibility for the start of the war, or for Austria-Hungary's defeat, arguing that he had "been 'just a military expert' with no voice in the key decisions".[23]
To his admirers he was a military genius. Soviet general and theorist Boris Shaposhnikov presented Conrad as a model for a good Chief of the General Staff in his 1927 book Mozg Armii.[24] The historian Cyril Falls, in his 1959 book The Great War, argues that Conrad was probably the best strategist of the war and that his plans were brilliant in conception. He argues that German generals in the east based most of their successful offensive operations on Conrad's plans.[25] German general Paul von Hindenburg praised Conrad as a man of superior ability and a bold general, only hindered by the weaknesses of his army.[26]
Conrad's critics contend that his mistakes led to the disastrous first year of war that crippled Austro-Hungarian military capabilities. For example, in the 1914
Conrad was fully responsible for this disaster, for he had committed too many troops in Serbia, leaving severely outnumbered units to resist the Russian advance. Conrad blamed the German allies, who had driven out the Russian Army from
The disaster was mostly due to Austrian overconfidence as well as Conrad having sent reinforcements to Italy, ignoring the Russian threat. Most of Austria's victories on the eastern front were possible only in cooperation with the German High Command (OHL), on which the Austro-Hungarian army became increasingly dependent. After his defeats of the first year, Conrad was increasingly sidelined by the Germans on the eastern front.
Conrad was a Social Darwinist, and believed life consisted of "an unremitting struggle for existence" in which the offensive was the only effective form of defence.[10] The power of the Magyar elite within Austria-Hungary troubled him, as he believed it weakened and diluted what he saw as an essentially German-Austrian empire. He worried about Italian ambitions in the Balkans. His greatest ambition was for a pre-emptive war against Serbia in order to neutralize the threat that he believed they posed, and at the same time change the political balance within the Dual Monarchy against the Magyars by incorporating more Slavs in a third Yugoslavian component under Austrian control, denying the principle of self-determination. According to Hew Strachan, "Conrad von Hötzendorf first proposed preventive war against Serbia in 1906, and he did so again in 1908–09, in 1912–13, in October 1913, and May 1914: between 1 January 1913 and 1 January 1914 he proposed a Serbian war twenty-five times".[27]
Legacy
For decades, the reputation of the Austro-Hungarian Army and Conrad as one of the greatest military commanders in modern history was a matter of national pride among patriotic circles in post-war Austria—though his policies and tactics had already been criticized by contemporaries like Karl Kraus, who in his satirical drama The Last Days of Mankind portrayed him as a vain poser (I 2). Not until the 1960s, in the course of the renewed controversy over the causes of World War I, did the evaluation of his role shift from hagiography towards a widespread perception as a warmonger and imperialist. The massive casualties his forces took through wave attacks rather than any tactical or strategic acumen has given him a reputation of being a callous and incompetent commander.[citation needed]
Conrad's guard uniform and some of his personal belongings are on display at the
Decorations and awards
- National[28]
- Knight of the Imperial Order of the Iron Crown, 1st Class with War Decoration, 1908[29]
- Grand Cross of the Austrian Imperial Order of Leopold, with War Decoration, 1911[29]
- Military Merit Cross, 1st Class with War Decoration, 8 December 1914
- Grand Cross of the Military Order of Maria Theresa, 1917[29]
- Gold Military Merit Medal ("Signum Laudis")
- War Medal
- Medal for 35 years of military service for officers
- Bronze Medal for the 50th year of the reign of Franz Joseph
- Foreign[28]
- Kingdom of Prussia:
- Grand Cross of the Order of the Red Eagle
- Knight of the Royal Order of the Crown, 2nd Class with Star
- Knight of the Order of Merit of the Prussian Crown, 9 September 1909
- Pour le Mérite (military), 12 May 1915; with Oak Leaves, 26 January 1917[30]
- Bavaria:
- Grand Cross of the Military Merit Order
- Grand Cross of the Military Order of Max Joseph, 21 July 1915
- Saxony: Commander of the Military Order of St. Henry, 2nd Class
- Kingdom of Romania: Grand Cross of the Order of the Star of Romania
References
Informational notes
- ^ the proper family name is Conrad.
- Regarding personal names: Until 1919, Graf was a title, translated as Count, not a first or middle name. The female form is Gräfin. In Germany, it has formed part of family names since 1919. From April 1919 Conrad's official name was Franz Conrad-Hötzendorf, since the Republic of Austria abolished nobility for its citizens by law.
Citations
- ^ Geoffrey Wawro, A mad catastrophe: the outbreak of World War I and the collapse of the Habsburg Empire (2014).
- ^ Geoffrey Wawro, A mad catastrophe: the outbreak of World War I and the collapse of the Habsburg Empire (2014).
- ^ Geoffrey Wawro, A mad catastrophe: the outbreak of World War I and the collapse of the Habsburg Empire (2014).
- ^ Richard Holmes, ed. The Oxford companion to military history (2001) p 224.
- ^ Clark 2013, pp. 101–103, 360.
- ^ a b Reynolds, Francis J., ed. (1921). Collier's New Encyclopedia. New York: P. F. Collier & Son Company. .
- ^ a b c d Rothenburg 1976, p. 143.
- ^ a b Sondhaus 2000, p. 37.
- ^ Rothenburg 1976, p. 43.
- ^ a b c Leslie, John (1993). Elisabeth Springer and Leopold Kammerhofer (ed.). "The Antecedents of Austria-Hungary's War Aims". Wiener Beiträge zur Geschichte der Neuzeit. 20: 307–394.
- ^ Herweg, 1997, pp 53-56.
- ^ Herweg, 1997, pp 53-56.
- ISBN 9780521545303.
- ISBN 978-1-906626-14-3.
- ^ Herweg, 1997, pp 52-53.
- ^ Herweg, 1997, pp 87-96, 112-13.
- ^ a b c Rothenburg 1976, p. 202.
- ^ Rothenburg 1976, pp. 202–203.
- ^ Rothenburg 1976, pp. 213–214.
- ^ Rothenburg 1976, p. 214.
- ISBN 0-333-37913-6
- ^ Rothenburg 1976.
- ^ Sondhaus 2000, p. 244.
- ^ Sondhaus 2000, p. 240-241.
- ^ Falls, Cyril: The Great War, Putnam, New York 1959, p. 36.
- ^ World war I, the global revolution, Lawrence Sondhaus
- ^ Strachan, Hew. The First World War: Volume 1: To Arms. Oxford, 2001.
- ^ a b "K. und K. Heer", Hof- und Staatshandbuch der Österreichisch-Ungarischen Monarchie, 1914, p. 314, retrieved 23 July 2020
- ^ a b c "Ritter-orden", Hof- und Staatshandbuch des österreichischen Kaiserthumes, 1860, pp. 52, 58, 82, retrieved 23 July 2020
- ^ "Foreign Pour le Mérite Awards: Foreign Awards During World War I". pourlemerite.org. Archived from the original on 31 October 2019. Retrieved 12 August 2020.
Further reading
- Beaver, Jan G. Collision Course: Franz Conrad Von Hötzendorf, Serbia, and the Politics of Preventive War (2009).
- Fellner, Fritz. "Some reflections on Conrad von Hötzendorf and his Memoirs based on Old and New Sources." Austrian History Yearbook 1 (1965): 74-89. His memoirs contain many documents
- Fried, Marvin. Austro-Hungarian War Aims in the Balkans During World War I (Palgrave Macmillan, 2014).
- Clark, Christopher (2013). "Chapter 2 Hawks and Doves". The Sleepwalkers: How Europe Went to War in 1914. HarperCollins. ISBN 978-0-06-114665-7.
- Hadley, Tim. "Military Diplomacy in the Dual Alliance: German Military Attaché Reporting from Vienna, 1906—1914." War in History 17#3 (2010): 294-312.
- ISBN 978-0-91119-841-6.
- Sondhaus, L (2000). Franz Conrad von Hötzendorf. Architect of the apocalypse. Boston: Humanity Press. ISBN 978-0-391-04097-7.
- Wawro, Geoffrey (2014). A Mad Catastrophe - The Outbreak of World War 1 and the Collapse of the Habsburg Empire. New York: Basic Books. ISBN 978-0-465-02835-1.
- Zametica, John. Folly and Malice: The Habsburg Empire, the Balkans and the Start of World War One (2017)
External links
- Claudia Reichl-Ham: Conrad von Hötzendorf, Franz Xaver Josef Graf, in: 1914-1918-online. International Encyclopedia of the First World War.
- "Franz Graf Conrad von Hötzendorf". Austro-Hungarian Army. Archived from the original on 17 July 2012. Retrieved 31 July 2012.
- "Franz Conrad Graf von Hötzendorf". Austrian Commanders. Retrieved 31 July 2012.
- Auffenberg-Komarow, Moritz (1922). Encyclopædia Britannica(12th ed.). .
- Newspaper clippings about Franz Conrad von Hötzendorf in the 20th Century Press Archives of the ZBW