Karl Graf Stürgkh
- Austrian Prime Minister
Stürgkh was an Austrian large estate owner and politician. In 1911, he was appointed Imperial-Royal Prime Minister by Emperor Franz Joseph. In March 1914, he was responsible for the adjournment of the Imperial Diet and during the July Crisis was one of the resolute supporters of a war against the Kingdom of Serbia. Thanks to the suspension of the Imperial Diet, his government worked on the basis of Imperial Regulations and without any parliamentary control. In his autocratic interpretation of politics, he always rejected the demands of the opposition for Parliament to be reconvened. On 21 October 1916, Stürgkh was shot dead by the Social Democrat Friedrich Adler on Vienna’s Neuer Markt. His successor as Imperial-Royal Prime Minister was Ernest von Koeber.
