| Archduke Albrecht | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Archduke Albrecht,c. 1890s | |||||
| Duke of Teschen | |||||
| Reign | 30 April 1847 – 18 February 1895 | ||||
| Predecessor | Charles | ||||
| Successor | Friedrich | ||||
| Born | (1817-08-03)3 August 1817 Vienna,Austrian Empire | ||||
| Died | 18 February 1895(1895-02-18) (aged 77) Arco,Austria-Hungary | ||||
| Burial | |||||
| Spouse | |||||
| Issue | |||||
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| House | Habsburg-Lorraine | ||||
| Father | Archduke Charles, Duke of Teschen | ||||
| Mother | Princess Henrietta of Nassau-Weilburg | ||||
Archduke Albrecht Friedrich Rudolf Dominik of Austria,Duke of Teschen (3 August 1817 – 18 February 1895), was an AustrianHabsburg general. He was the grandson of EmperorLeopold II and one of the chief military advisors of EmperorFrancis Joseph I. As Inspector General for 36 years, he was an old-fashioned bureaucrat who largely controlled theAustro-Hungarian Army and delayed modernization. He was honored with the rank offield marshal in the armies ofAustria-Hungary (1863) andGermany (1893).
According to historiansJohn Keegan and Andrew Wheatcroft:
A grandson of the EmperorLeopold II, he was the eldest son of ArchdukeCharles of Austria, who defeated French EmperorNapoleon I atAspern-Essling (1809), andPrincess Henrietta of Nassau-Weilburg. He was the nephew of the EmperorFrancis I, and cousin to EmperorFranz Joseph I's fatherArchduke Franz Karl of Austria, and served under Franz Joseph.
Born in Vienna, from an early age he had a military disposition, which his father encouraged. Albrecht was subject to a mild form ofepilepsy, according to report, but this did not visibly interfere with his military career.
He entered theAustrian army in 1837 with FeldmarshalJoseph Radetzky as his military governor. Having received a thorough military education, Albrecht was named aGeneralmajor in 1840 and promoted toFeldmarschall-Leutnant in 1843.
Promoted toGeneral der Kavallerie in 1845, Albrecht was given command ofUpper Austria,Lower Austria, andSalzburg. Upon the death of his father in 1847, he inherited the Palais Weilburg inBaden bei Wien, which became the family's summer home. In the winter the family lived inVienna in the Palais Erzherzog Albrecht (the modernAlbertina museum).
As the commandant of Vienna,[2] Albrecht was wounded in the street fighting on 13 March 1848 at the start of therevolutionary disturbances. He issued live ammunition to his soldiers and secured the inner city, but was unable to suppress the disorder in the outlying districts. With the fall ofMetternich and the formation of a city guard led by students, Albrecht pulled his troops intobarracks. Radicals resented his attempt to quell the revolution while some fellow officers thought he showed a lack of resolve. Unsatisfactory to both factions and under pressure from city authorities, Albrecht was replaced by Count Auersperg.[3]
Albrecht was sent south to command a division under Radetzky, who faced acoalition of states of the Italian peninsula led by KingCharles Albert of Sardinia. Albrecht personally supervised the crossing of theTicino and by the handling of his division ensuring victory atNovara on 23 March 1849.
He became civil and military governor ofHungary in 1851, serving until his recall in 1860. When Albrecht's wife, ArchduchessHildegard, went to Munich in March 1864 for the funeral of her brother, KingMaximilian II, she became ill with a lung inflammation andpleurisy. She died in Vienna on 2 April 1864, two months short of her 38th birthday.
At the outbreak of theSeven Weeks' War in June 1866, Albrecht was named commander of the southern army facing the Italian forces of KingVictor Emmanuel II. Albrecht was decisively victorious in theBattle of Custoza (24 June 1866), but failed to exploit his victory when he neglected to pursue the beaten ItalianArmy of the Mincio. Any advantages for the Austrians however were canceled out by the crushing defeat on 3 July atKöniggrätz, whereLudwig von Benedek was surprised by the speed ofHelmuth von Moltke's concentric advance intoBohemia.
Albrecht was namedOberkommandeur (Commander-in-Chief) on 10 July 1866. Benedek's defeat made any further action againstPrussia impossible, however, and peace was shortly concluded with both Prussia andItaly. Besides the loss ofHolstein to Prussia andVenetia to Italy in 1866, the war resulted in the transformation of the Austrian realm in 1867 as theDual Monarchy – the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
Albrecht remainedOberkommandeur until 1869; when Kaiser Franz Josef I assumed the title that year, Albrecht becameGeneralinspekteur (Inspector General), the post he occupied until his death. In 1869 he publishedÜber die Verantwortlichkeit im Kriege (On Responsibility in War). His reform of theAustro-Hungarian Army was based on the Prussian model: development of railways and manufacturing, adoption of short-service conscription, procurement of modern weapons and reform of theAustro-Hungarian General Staff. Albrecht's program upgraded the army but he then froze it in place for the next three decades as it declined in quality. He fought liberals (including Crown PrinceRudolf) claiming their reforms would be too expensive and disruptive.
In public affairs, he was leader of the conservative Court Party, and opposed the ministry of CountFriedrich Ferdinand von Beust at every point, expressing the most inexorably reactionary views. As such he was an absolutist and opposed any liberal ideas and any weakening of the imperial power. He was somewhat more courteous to Beust's successors, though he remained given to bombastic pronouncements that may not have reflected his actual sentiments. He was widely thought, for instance, to be antipathetic toward Prussia after 1866, yet he modeled his military reforms on those of Prussia and even attended a parade of the Prussian Royal Guard in Berlin at the invitation of EmperorWilliam I. In December 1876 Albrecht advocated a preventive war against Italy on the grounds that of all Austria's neighbors, Italy was the most hostile, could be beaten most easily, and be forced to pay compensation to Austria-Hungary, whose victory would establish it as aGreat Power.[4]
At theCongress of Berlin in 1878, the Austro-Hungarian Foreign MinisterGyula Andrássy, in addition to theAustro-Hungarian occupation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, also obtained the right to station garrisons in theSanjak of Novi Pazar, which remained underOttoman administration. The Sanjak preserved the separation ofSerbia andMontenegro, and the Austro-Hungarian garrisons there would open the way for a dash toSalonika, supported by Albrecht, that "would bring the western half of the Balkans under permanent Austrian influence."[5] "High [Austro-Hungarian] military authorities desired [an ...] immediate major expedition with Salonika as its objective."[6]
On 28 September 1878 the Finance Minister, Koloman von Zell, threatened to resign if the army, behind which stood the Archduke Albert, were allowed to advance to Salonika. In the session of theHungarian Parliament of 5 November 1878 the Opposition proposed that the Foreign Minister should be impeached for violating the constitution by his policy during the Near East Crisis and by the occupation of Bosnia-Herzegovina. The motion was lost by 179 to 95. By the Opposition rank and file the gravest accusations were raised against Andrassy.[6]
Reputed to be the wealthiest of the Habsburgs, Albrecht owned some 300,000 acres (1,200 km2) in Hungary. He also owned a fine collection of paintings and engravings, later the nucleus of theAlbertina museum. His popularity was profound, for his generosity to the poor was genuine and unfeigned; he was widely known asEngelsherz (Angel's-heart).
When Albrecht was made aFeldmarschall in March 1888, Crown Prince Rudolf was appointed his subordinate asGeneralinspekteur der Infanterie (Inspector General of Infantry). The new Inspector found any move toward liberal reform blocked by the War Minister,FeldzeugmeisterFerdinand von Bauer, the Chief of the General Staff,FeldzeugmeisterFriedrich von Beck-Rzikowsky – and by Albrecht himself. Senior officers deferred to Albrecht who, after all, had laboriously modernized the Army after the disaster of 1866. However, the anomalous situation in the military administration was undoubtedly only one of many factors that contributed to Rudolf's suicide atMayerling on 30 January 1889.[original research?]
Having been made aFeldmarschall in his own army in 1863, Albrecht was the recipient of the equivalent rank ofGeneralfeldmarschall in theImperial German Army in 1893,Wilhelm II, German Emperor sending GeneralWalther von Loë to deliver the baton to Albrecht.
Archduke Albrecht continued to serve asGeneralinspekteur even into advanced age - a situation not uncommon in Austria-Hungary where many commanders retained posts and commissions into old age.[7] By 1895, though still holding his office, he was partially blind and his horse had to be led by an adjutant.[7]
When he died inArco on 18 February 1895, Archduke Albrecht received a state funeral and was buried in tomb 128 of theImperial Crypt in Vienna. His fortune and his title of Duke of Teschen were inherited by his nephew, ArchdukeFriedrich, who served asOberkommandeur in 1914–17.
Today, an equestrian statue of Archduke Albrecht stands near the entrance to the Albertina museum, his former city residence in Vienna.
On 1 May 1844 Albrecht married in MunichPrincess Hildegard of Bavaria, daughter of KingLudwig I andTherese of Saxe-Hildburghausen. Albrecht and Hildegard had 3 children:
Albrecht received the following decorations and awards:[8]
Austria:[9]
Sovereign Military Order of Malta: Grand Cross of Honour and Devotion
Tuscany:Grand Cross of St. Joseph
Russia:
Prussia:
France: Grand Cross of theLegion of Honour
Brazil:Grand Cross of the Southern Cross
Ottoman Empire:Order of Osmanieh, 1st Class in Diamonds
Italy:Knight of the Annunciation,21 September 1873[11]
Denmark:Knight of the Elephant,19 September 1881[12]
Portugal:Grand Cross of the Tower and Sword
Spain:
Bavaria:
Saxony:Knight of the Rue Crown,1851[15]
Württemberg:Grand Cross of the Württemberg Crown,1856[16]
Sweden-Norway:Knight of the Seraphim,20 April 1885[17]
Belgium: Grand Cordon of theOrder of Leopold,1 August 1856[18]
Greece:Grand Cross of the Redeemer
Hanover:[19]
Two Sicilies:
Romania:Grand Cross of the Star of Romania, with War Insignia
Serbia:
Baden:[20]
Grand Duchy of Hesse: Grand Cross of theLudwig Order,7 September 1843[21]
Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach:Grand Cross of the White Falcon,22 October 1859[22]
Nassau:Knight of the Gold Lion of Nassau,June 1858[23]
Brunswick:Grand Cross of Henry the Lion
Montenegro: Grand Cross of theOrder of Prince Danilo I
Netherlands: Commander of theMilitary William Order,27 June 1856[24]
Holy See: Knight of theSupreme Order of ChristAlbrecht's name was given to aPanzerschiff (armorclad, later battleship) launched in 1872 asErzherzog Albrecht. RenamedFeuerspeier in 1908, she was ceded to Italy in 1920 and renamedButtafuoco. The old ironclad survived as a hulk until she was scrapped in 1947.
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{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
Archduke Albrecht, Duke of Teschen Born: 3 August 1817 Died: 18 February 1895 | ||
| Titles of nobility | ||
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| Preceded by | Duke of Teschen 1847–1895 | Succeeded by |
