Austro-Hungarian General Staff

The Imperial and Royal General Staff (German: k.u.k. Generalstab; Hungarian: Cs. es K. Vezérkar) of Austria-Hungary was part of the Ministry of War. It was headed by the Chief of the General Staff for the Whole Armed Forces (Chef des Generalstabes für die gesamte bewaffnete Macht; Az egész Fegyveres Erők Vezérkari Főnöke), who had direct access to the Emperor.

Imperial and Royal General Staff
k.u.k. Generalstab
General Staff building on Ringstraße, Vienna
Active	1867–1918
Country	Austria-Hungary
Allegiance	Armed Forces
Branch	Active duty
Type	Staff
Part of	Ministry of War
Garrison/HQ	Ringstraße, Vienna
Commanders
First Chief	Feldmarschall-Leutant Franz von John
Last Chief	Generaloberst Arthur Arz von Straußenburg

Responsibilities

The general staff was responsible for planning and preparations, while the Armeeoberkommando (AOK) was the operational high command. In fact, since the AOK was under the direct command of the Emperor and the Chief of the General Staff was his chief adviser, in practice the AOK was under the control of the Chief of the General Staff.

List of chiefs of the general staff

† denotes people who died in office.

No.	Portrait	Chef des k.u.k. Generalstab	Took office	Left office	Time in office
1		von John, FranzFeldmarschall-Leutant Franz von John (1815–1876)	20 December 1867	1869	1–2 years
2		von Gallina, Josef WilhelmFeldmarschall-Leutant Joseph von Gallina (1820–1883)	1869	1874	4–5 years
3		von John, FranzFeldzeugmeister Franz von John (1815–1876)	1874	25 May 1876 †	1–2 years
4		von Schönfeld, AntonFeldmarschall-Leutant Anton von Schönfeld [de] (1827–1898)	4 June 1876	1881	4–5 years
5		von Beck-Rzikowsky, FriedrichFeldzeugmeister Friedrich von Beck-Rzikowsky (1830–1920)	1881	1906	24–25 years
6		von Hötzendorf, Franz ConradGeneral der Infanterie Franz Conrad von Hötzendorf (1852–1925)	1906	1911	4–5 years
7		von Schemua, BlasiusGeneralmajor Blasius von Schemua (1856–1920)	3 December 1911	12 December 1912	1 year, 9 days
8		von Hötzendorf, Franz ConradGeneralfeldmarschall Franz Conrad von Hötzendorf (1852–1925)	12 December 1912	1 March 1917	4 years, 79 days
9		von Straußenburg, Arthur ArzGeneraloberst Arthur Arz von Straußenburg (1857–1935)	1 March 1917	3 November 1918	1 year, 247 days

Timeline

See also

• Supreme Commander of the Imperial and Royal Armed Forces

Bibliography

• Lackey, Scott W. The Rebirth of the Habsburg Army: Friedrich Beck and the Rise of the General Staff. Greenwood Press, 1995.
• Rothenberg, Gunther E. The Army of Francis Joseph. Purdue University Press, 1998.
• Sondhaus, Lawrence. Franz Conrad Von Hötzendorf: Architect of the Apocalypse. Humanities Press, 2000.