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Civil-military conflict and the South Slav question in the Habsburg monarchy: A political biography of Franz Conrad von Hotzendorf

Jan George Beaver, University of Nebraska - Lincoln

Abstract

Franz Conrad von Hotezendorf was the last important chief of the general staff of Austria-Hungary. He occupied the top post in the Habsburg military from November 1906 to March 1917, with a twelve-month hiatus from December 1911 to December 1912. From his predecessor he inherited a modern general staff apparatus and a well-defined set of duties. Conrad took those duties, which revolved around strategic planning and general military preparedness, and, by exploiting the right of direct communication with the emperor, extended them so as to include himself in the foreign and domestic policy-making process to a degree unknown for a military chief in any contemporary European state. Conrad's interference in the foreign policy process in particular had the most far-reaching consequences, both for Austria-Hungary and for Europe at large. Over the long term, Conrad played a major role in bringing about Vienna's decision to attack Serbia in July 1914, the act which precipitated the outbreak of the First World War. Conrad was a product of the Habsburg officer training system of the last quarter of the nineteenth century and also a product of his times. He was exceptionally intelligent and well-educated and also a committed Social Darwinist in his worldview. He believed that conflict between states was both inevitable and desirable. He therefore thought it best to provoke wars with one's enemies at the moment that offered the best chance of quick victory. Following this doctrine of "preventive war," Conrad attempted to convince Austria-Hungary's civilian policy-makers that war offered the only possible solution to the foreign and domestic difficulties facing the Habsburg Monarchy. Although Conrad called for war with any number of Austria-Hungary's neighbors over the years, he considered the problem of Serbian nationalism most dangerous. It was his persistent and aggressive insistence that Austria-Hungary could solve all its nationality problems only through the conquest and annexation of Serbia that produced the most devastating results.

Subject Area

European history|Biographies|International law|International relations

Recommended Citation

Beaver, Jan George, "Civil-military conflict and the South Slav question in the Habsburg monarchy: A political biography of Franz Conrad von Hotzendorf" (1996). ETD collection for University of Nebraska-Lincoln. AAI9628221.
https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/dissertations/AAI9628221

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