He constantly petitioned Emperor for preventive war against Serbia or Italy in years leading to 1914.
Before war he was quoted saying:
"European war would probably bury Austria-Hungary, but still it was necessary to start, “for such an ancient monarchy and army they should not perish ignominiously and it’s better to let fall with glory, in a“ hopeless ”fight, then die in sleep"
If anyone watched Great War channel on youtube about WW1, its basically ode to his failures during war.
IgnoreMe304
Just read about this guy. He sucked, and so did the Austrians. They pretty much spent the war getting their ass kicked by whoever they were facing at the time unless they were being led by German officers.
josephtheepi
Interesting how their helmets resemble Germany’s from WWII. Ahead of the curve I guess.
daoxiaomian
How come some of them aren’t even wearing boots? Are they going clubbing?
WellingtonBlucher
You got to wonder what Vienna was thinking when they kickstarted war in 1914. I mean on a paper situation didn’t look bad, vast empire of more then 50 million people, huge army, solid navy, very industrialized regions in Bohemia and Austria proper etc…
But in reality situation was completely different, empire made of 10 plus different ethnicities and languages in age of rabid nationalism, a lot of this ethnicities wanted their own states and independence.
Hungary blocking increase of funding for united imperial army being afraid that Austria gonna use that army to crush them and take their autonomy. Questionable loyalty of Slavic soldiers of the army.
Surrounded by states that all wanted Austria destruction and just waited chance to pounce (Russia, Italy, Serbia, Romania).
Empire simply wasn’t in shape to fight major European war, it was total stupidity by their leadership to think they were.
Faced with all this, 3 different fronts (Russian, Italian and Balkan) and basically all Russian main offensives being focused vs Austria, its quite a miracle how Austria-Hungary managed to survive all the way until October of 1918, even out-survive their biggest opponent Russian Empire for a full year.
ThierryHenryArsenal
"We are shackled to a corpse of Habsburg Empire" -quote by one German general in 1917
"Germany is our secret enemy" -said one Austro-Hungarian general toward end of war
I remember those quotes from one British documentary about WW1
tosheroony
What does the black armband signify on some of the officers?
Mattcarnes
Why didnt american soldiers use those types of helments instead of the brodie ones they used which look like they are less protection
SlipperyTed
They all look quite blackish for central Europeans …
![Field marshal Conrad von Hötzendorf, chief of staff of Austro-Hungarian army, inspecting his soldiers somewhere on the front, WW1, 1917 [1082 x 632]](https://i.redd.it/qb13o6lt9wf41.jpg)
Kvaka1989
Original photo http://www.bildarchivaustria.at/Preview/15624851.jpg
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franz_Conrad_von_Hötzendorf
He constantly petitioned Emperor for preventive war against Serbia or Italy in years leading to 1914.
Before war he was quoted saying:
"European war would probably bury Austria-Hungary, but still it was necessary to start, “for such an ancient monarchy and army they should not perish ignominiously and it’s better to let fall with glory, in a“ hopeless ”fight, then die in sleep"
If anyone watched Great War channel on youtube about WW1, its basically ode to his failures during war.
IgnoreMe304
Just read about this guy. He sucked, and so did the Austrians. They pretty much spent the war getting their ass kicked by whoever they were facing at the time unless they were being led by German officers.
josephtheepi
Interesting how their helmets resemble Germany’s from WWII. Ahead of the curve I guess.
daoxiaomian
How come some of them aren’t even wearing boots? Are they going clubbing?
WellingtonBlucher
You got to wonder what Vienna was thinking when they kickstarted war in 1914. I mean on a paper situation didn’t look bad, vast empire of more then 50 million people, huge army, solid navy, very industrialized regions in Bohemia and Austria proper etc…
But in reality situation was completely different, empire made of 10 plus different ethnicities and languages in age of rabid nationalism, a lot of this ethnicities wanted their own states and independence.
Hungary blocking increase of funding for united imperial army being afraid that Austria gonna use that army to crush them and take their autonomy. Questionable loyalty of Slavic soldiers of the army.
Surrounded by states that all wanted Austria destruction and just waited chance to pounce (Russia, Italy, Serbia, Romania).
Empire simply wasn’t in shape to fight major European war, it was total stupidity by their leadership to think they were.
Faced with all this, 3 different fronts (Russian, Italian and Balkan) and basically all Russian main offensives being focused vs Austria, its quite a miracle how Austria-Hungary managed to survive all the way until October of 1918, even out-survive their biggest opponent Russian Empire for a full year.
ThierryHenryArsenal
"We are shackled to a corpse of Habsburg Empire" -quote by one German general in 1917
"Germany is our secret enemy" -said one Austro-Hungarian general toward end of war
I remember those quotes from one British documentary about WW1
tosheroony
What does the black armband signify on some of the officers?
Mattcarnes
Why didnt american soldiers use those types of helments instead of the brodie ones they used which look like they are less protection
SlipperyTed
They all look quite blackish for central Europeans …