Field Marshals!

This is coolbert:

Soldier of Monarchy.

From the web site Mad Monarchist we have some descriptions of those most highest ranking officers of the Austro-Hungarian Empire during the Great War [WW1], their command performance and abilities during that conflict often questioned but to a degree unjustifiably so!

1. Baron Svetozar Boroevic.

"The military of Austria-Hungary often does not receive the respect it deserves despite having some excellent and hard fighting units as well as some very accomplished leaders. One of those was Svetozar Boroevic Baron von Bojna [my good Baron, a title bestowed for faithful and meritorious service], the only officer of a Slavic background to attain the rank of field marshal in the imperial and royal army."

Baron Boroevic rising through the ranks from child military cadet to Field Marshal without the advantage of inherited title, wealth, pull, etc. A military man achieving what he did the hard way.Those Imperial Central Powers the rulers of which hesitant to confer too much rank on the commoner, wishing to keep power within the "family", those of noble birth, independent means and wealth.

"From very early in life he was set on the path for a career in the military, attending his first cadet school at age 10 and afterwards studying at several military academies before but still worked his way up through the ranks. In 1872 he was a simple corporal but rose rapidly in rank to become a lieutenant in 1875, the same year he attended the officer-training school"

"Baron von Bojna performed extremely well on the Italian front, receiving further honors and finally promotion to the rank of General Field Marshal for his service."

2. Count Conrad von Hotzendorf. Field Marshal Franz Conrad von Hötzendorf .

That perceived lackluster performance of the Austro-Hungarian army during the Great War to an extent attributed to Count Conrad, his plans and operations normally deemed as too aggressive and not always comporting to reality.

"After the war, the former field marshal did little to redeem himself. His explanations of the war mostly focused on how disasters were the fault of others rather than himself "

"The truth, of course, is not so simplistic. In the basic sense, Conrad von Hötzendorf was a genius when it came to broad military strategy but it is also true that he was anything but that when it came to putting his plans into effect. He often ignored vital factors such as available resources, the weather and the terrain and his grand offensives were almost always out of all proportion to what his forces were capable of achieving"

MORE than anything else, Count Conrad a victim of vile treachery of the most evil sort. Colonel Redl a counter-intelligence officer betraying all secrets and operations plans as devised by Conrad to the Imperial Russian intelligence service. That one man [Redl] most entrusted to catch enemy spies himself a spy of the worst possible sort. Whatever wartime planning of Conrad passing through the hands of Redl without delay transmitted to the Russian.

Plan Three, the masterpiece of war planning as orchestrated by Count Conrad totally betrayed, variants of the original also not successful, so well "attuned to enemy conceptions of tactics and strategy" were the Russian and Serb adversary.

I recommend the web site Mad Monarchist without qualification. Mark as a favorite and visit from time to time.

coolbert.