| Unit name | Imperial and Royal General Staff |
|---|---|
| Native name | k.u.k. Generalstab |
| Dates | 1867–1918 |
| Country | Austria-Hungary |
| Allegiance | Armed Forces |
| Branch | Active duty |
| Command structure | Ministry of War |
| Garrison | Ringstrasse, Vienna |
| Commander 1 | Feldmarschall-Leutant Franz von John |
| Commander1 label | First Chief |
| Commander 2 | Generaloberst Arthur Arz von Straußenburg |
| Commander2 label | Last Chief |
The Imperial and Royal General Staff (German: k.u.k. Generalstab; Hungarian: Cs. es K. Vezérkar) of Austria-Hungary was part of the Ministry of War. It was headed by the Chief of the General Staff for the Whole Armed Forces (Chef des Generalstabes für die gesamte bewaffnete Macht; Az egész Fegyveres Erők Vezérkari Főnöke), who had direct access to the Emperor.
Responsibilities
The general staff was responsible for planning and preparations, while the Armeeoberkommando (AOK) was the operational high command. In fact, since the AOK was under the direct command of the Emperor and the Chief of the General Staff was his chief adviser, in practice the AOK was under the control of the Chief of the General Staff.
List of chiefs of the general staff
† denotes people who died in office.
See also
Further reading
- Lackey, Scott W. The Rebirth of the Habsburg Army: Friedrich Beck and the Rise of the General Staff. Greenwood Press, 1995.
- Rothenberg, Gunther E. The Army of Francis Joseph. Purdue University Press, 1998.
- Sondhaus, Lawrence. Franz Conrad Von Hötzendorf: Architect of the Apocalypse. Humanities Press, 2000.