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An Empire
Mobilises 153
then issued that designated him Commander-in-Chief of the Balkan Armed Forces. It
follows that this was not a spontaneous decision, but had rather been carefully thought
through and prepared. Two archdukes, two brothers, were available, both of whom were
eligible by virtue of their age and their military experience, Eugen and Friedrich. It was
immediately apparent that it would not be the new successor to the throne, Archduke
Karl, who would exert supreme command. His youth and inexperience were the initial
and main obstacles. He enjoyed too little authority and would have been so obviously
dependent on others that not even the fiction of a personally wielded supreme com-
mand could have been created. Above and beyond that, there were additional dynastic
considerations. If the war were not to proceed as planned, the successor to the throne
would automatically be associated with the failure and the defeat. This could have
placed a huge burden on him. A further circumstance was the fact that the Supreme
Commander of the Imperial and Royal Army would perhaps have had to demonstrate
equality with the German supreme commander. As Kaiser Wilhelm II himself wielded
supreme command over the German armed forces, Archduke Karl would not have been
a real counterpart. Though, for that matter, neither would any other archduke.
Of the two available archdukes, Eugen and Friedrich, both grandsons of Archduke
Carl, who enjoyed legendary fame as the Victor of Aspern, and adopted sons of that
son of Archduke Carl who had achieved most militarily, namely Archduke Albrecht,
Victor of Custoza, it was Eugen who was militarily by far the more capable. He was,
however, the younger of the two. And one final consideration played a role : The Army
Supreme Commander should admittedly enjoy authority but leave the management of
operations to the man who was regarded as the undisputed military expert : the Chief
of the General Staff for the entire armed force of Austria-Hungary, Franz Conrad von
Hötzendorf. It was expected of Archduke Friedrich that he would content himself with
representative duties and provide the necessary signatures but otherwise let Conrad act.
The adjutant general of the Archduke and freshly selected commander-in-chief, Count
Herbert Herberstein, who can certainly not be accused of lacking loyalty towards His
Imperial Highness, summed up the situation as follows : ‘[…] the very passive and easily
intimidated character of the great lord seems to offer a secure guarantee of a good un-
derstanding with the Chief of the General Staff’.363 Nevertheless, it was not clear from
the outset that Archduke Eugen would be passed over, but he removed himself from
the running when he explained that he would not be available due to health reasons.
Archduke Friedrich was initially envisaged only as Commander of the Balkan
Armed Forces. But after mobilisation was expanded and war scenario Russia arose,
Friedrich was entrusted on 31 July with the supreme command of all the Imperial
and Royal armed forces at sea, on land and in the air. He was not a bad choice for the
reason that he possessed the necessary composure to put up with Conrad, who was
impulsive, hectic and decidedly difficult to deal with, and to provide a counterweight to
THE FIRST WORLD WAR
and the End of the Habsburg Monarchy, 1914 – 1918
- Title
- THE FIRST WORLD WAR
- Subtitle
- and the End of the Habsburg Monarchy, 1914 – 1918
- Author
- Manfried Rauchensteiner
- Publisher
- Böhlau Verlag
- Location
- Wien
- Date
- 2014
- Language
- English
- License
- CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
- ISBN
- 978-3-205-79588-9
- Size
- 17.0 x 24.0 cm
- Pages
- 1192
- Categories
- Geschichte Vor 1918
Table of contents
- 1 On the Eve 11
- 2 Two Million Men for the War 49
- 3 Bloody Sundays 81
- 4 Unleashing the War 117
- 5 ‘Thank God, this is the Great War!’ 157
- 6 Adjusting to a Longer War 197
- 7 The End of the Euphoria 239
- 8 The First Winter of the War 283
- 9 Under Surveillance 317
- 10 ‘The King of Italy has declared war on Me’ 355
- 11 The Third Front 383
- 12 Factory War and Domestic Front, 1915 413
- 13 Summer Battle and ‘Autumn Swine’ 441
- 14 War Aims and Central Europe 469
- 15 South Tyrol : The End of an Illusion (I) 497
- 16 Lutsk :The End of an Illusion (II) 521
- 17 How is a War Financed ? 555
- 18 The Nameless 583
- 19 The Death of the Old Emperor 607
- 20 Emperor Karl 641
- 21 The Writing on the Wall 657
- 22 The Consequences of the Russian February Revolution 691
- 23 Summer 1917 713
- 24 Kerensky Offensive and Peace Efforts 743
- 25 The Pyrrhic Victory : The Breakthrough Battle of Flitsch-Tolmein 769
- 26 Camps 803
- 27 Peace Feelers in the Shadow of Brest-Litovsk 845
- 28 The Inner Front 869
- 29 The June Battle in Veneto 895
- 30 An Empire Resigns 927
- 31 The Twilight Empire 955
- 32 The War becomes History 983
- Epilogue 1011
- Afterword 1013
- Acknowledgements and Dedication 1019
- Notes 1023
- Selected Printed Sources and Literature 1115
- Index of People and Places 1155