The Rebirth of the Habsburg Army: Friedrich Beck and the by Scott Lackey

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For the Austro-German liberals, instilled with a hearty distrust of the military stemming from its brutal repression of liberalism in 1848-49, this interest took the form of tight parliamentary control over the military budget with the goal of keeping it as low as possible. Moderate Magyar nationalists, led by Andrassy, proved more accommodating toward the army's financial requirements, provided the army leadership agreed to certain changes in army organization. Since the early eighteenth century, political Hungary had clamored for military institutions independent of all others within the multinational Habsburg empire.

Responsibility for this crucial failure lies squarely with Benedek, whose personal distaste for the "green table" work of the military planner led him to ignore his duties as chief of the general quartermaster staff in favor of those he discharged as commander-in-chief of the Habsburg Italian Army and governorgeneral of Hungary. 11 The generarquartermaster staff did experience organizational growth during Benedek's tenure as chief, to include the establishment of bureaus for war planning, deployment, and military education.

Only Beck would consistently raise his voice in favor of a powerful general staff. Although Franz Joseph owed the success of the recent Ausgleich negotiations to Beck's efforts, he would continue for some years to ignore his calls for the reorganization of army command and control along Prussian lines. When the emperor finally heeded Beck's advice in 1874, he would bestow a permanence upon army administrative and command structures that they had not enjoyed since 1848. This page intentionally left blank Chapter 2 The General Staff Question The Kuhn System In the immediate aftermath of KGniggratz, the Habsburg high command addressed two of the most pressing issues: materiel shortcomings and the restructuring of the armed forces.