Seite - 647 - in THE FIRST WORLD WAR - and the End of the Habsburg Monarchy, 1914 – 1918

The Master’s New Servants 647 issued. It stated : ‘In the exercise of My sovereign rights, I assume the Army Supreme Command and thus the supreme command over the entire armed forces of My army and My fleet. I designate Field Marshal Archduke Friedrich as My deputy in the Army High Command.’1469 The order apparently had a ‘devastating impact’ on Friedrich,1470 although Friedrich must have known about it. The next day, Karl travelled to the head- quarters in Cieszyn. He had not been there for a long time, but he knew for the most part the situation there, Conrad and his way of exercising order and power, and above all his uncle Archduke Friedrich, whom he simply called a ‘fool’.1471 Perhaps Friedrich had pictured his removal differently. It had long been known that he wanted to retire into private life. The Archduke was the wealthiest man in the Dual Monarchy. His estates, mines, factories, castles and art treasures, above all the ‘Albertina’ in Vienna, constituted an unparalleled collection of material goods. To these were added the most modern facilities in agriculture, above all dairies, which had earned Friedrich the nick- name of the ‘cream rich’ (der Rahmreiche). However, the Archduke had never used this enormous wealth in order to win political influence. Friedrich contented himself with obtaining ever more economic power ; indeed, he counted nolens volens among the biggest war profiteers, since he was one of the most important suppliers for the arma- ments industry and furthermore earned vast sums of money by provisioning the home front. He had served faithfully, however, and to a certain extent also impartially. Karl’s judgement of the top members of the Army High Command and, above all, Archduke Friedrich was for the most part in accord with that of one of the numerous visitors to the Army High Command, the Swiss Captain Wille, who had taken a tour of the Austro-Hungarian front on behalf of his government. On 17 September 1916, Wille had visited Conrad in Cieszyn : ‘During the half-hour talk, it was above all his South Tyrol offensive that played the main role. I cannot rid myself of the impression of a person who was not above average. Perhaps I was already prejudiced beforehand, but I do not think without reason. Aside from that, the Chief of the General Staff was very amiable. […] Afterwards, I travelled to the Palace to report to Archduke Friedrich. Heavens above, my expectation of the Imperial & Royal grandpa had not been this bad !’1472 Friedrich had, to be sure, made no secret of not putting his heart and soul into being Army Supreme Commander. He was always good at provoking awful situations. He feared talks with the German Kaiser and the German Supreme Army Command, whilst his entourage feared other occasions. Even a short address could become a fiasco. On his 60th birthday, on 5 June 1916, he had driven his entourage to desperation. Re- sponses to the anticipated speeches had been prepared. Important passages had been underlined in red and pauses inserted. But then the Archduke first of all took the text upside down ‘and then it lasted a while before he found the first page’, as his Adjutant General wrote.1473 ‘Then, haltingly and with a completely false emphasis, he began to read the first page. The turning of the same lasted a while and the reading of the next