Person
Franz Conrad von Hötzendorf
- Head of the General Staff of the Austro-Hungarian Armies
Conrad von Hötzendorf was appointed head of the General Staff of the entire armed forces – the Austro-Hungarian Army, the Imperial-Royal Militia and the Austro-Hungarian Honved – by Archduke Franz Ferdinand in 1906. In this function, which he held until March 1917, he was only responsible to the Emperor and King, or his deputy. Conrad von Hötzendorf was regarded as a warmonger, and in the years before the First World War was already a vehement supporter of preventive wars against Italy and Serbia. After the assassination of the heir to the throne Archduke Franz Ferdinand, he pushed for an immediate military operation against the Kingdom of Serbia.
