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Archduke ‘Fritzl’ Goes to the Front 175
in time, then bringing it back again, and for agreeing first with one person, then with
another. By the time he had realised that he had made a mistake, it was too late. Ul-
timately, Conrad also wanted to accommodate the wishes of the German ally in a
particular way. Instead of relocating the deployment back to the interior of Galicia and
remaining on the defensive, as he had originally envisaged in the spring and also as late
as mid-July 1914416, he bowed to German pressure and to his own doctrine, allowed at
the last moment the deployment to be conducted after all, where it was still possible,
in the areas close to the border, and aimed to begin the offensive in the east as soon
as possible. In any event, on 31 July 1914, everything had become irrevocable : the
over-complete deployment against Serbia, the delayed deployment against Russia and
the intention of attacking in both Serbia and Russia as soon as possible.
Archduke ‘Fritzl’ Goes to the Front
Although the deployment of the Balkan forces was already in full swing, there was still
no clarity as to the highest level of command and, what is more, the mobilisation of
the A Echelon, the main force, had already started and the declaration of war had been
delivered to Russia, without the chain of command having really been agreed. With
the creation of the Army High Command, a recognisable military leadership may have
been installed, but there were still other high commands, in particular the Balkan High
Command. Furthermore, a decision had to be made regarding the role of the Austrian
and Hungarian governments. Should they be restricted to simply being informed occa-
sionally, or could they also assert their influence within the framework of the command
leadership ? The Army High Command, however, had no plans whatsoever to allow
others to participate in the higher command, and also wanted to drastically limit the
flow of information. Even the Prime Minister should no longer be informed. Count
Tisza then complained to the Military Chancellery of the Emperor and demanded
to be given daily reports on the situation by the Chief of the General Staff or by the
Military Chancellery. Conrad replied that he would rather resign than comply with
this request. The task of reassuring Tisza fell to the Chief of the Military Chancellery,
General of Artillery Baron von Bolfras.
As a next step, the command leadership in the Balkans was agreed, and on 6 August,
General of Artillery Oskar Potiorek was simultaneously given the title of Commander
of the Imperial and Royal 6th Army and commander of all the Balkan forces. This was
probably unavoidable. The only person who could have taken on the supreme command
without being a snub to anyone was Archduke Eugen. The Emperor had even directly
offered him the command. Yet Eugen consistently refused, pleading health problems by
way of explanation. However, the real reason is likely to have been that the Archduke
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